6 Mar 24

The Flash and Priorslee Balancing Lake

3.0°C > 4.0°C: Mist, gradually lifting at the lake. Light easterly breeze. Mostly poor visibility.

[Sunrise: 06:44 GMT]

* = a species photographed today

As is usual when it is not worth a dawn visit to the lake it was a visit to The Flash first and then viewing at the Balancing Lake from the dam area only.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 09:35– 10:15

(48th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- now a third Great Crested Grebe.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
NB: only birds flying low and more or less directly overhead were visible.
- 1 Canada Goose
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 5 (3♂) Mallard
- 21 (12♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (0♂) Goosander
- 3 Moorhens
- 36 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorant: one arrived; the other departed

Noted later:

New flowers:
- *Common Whitlow-grass Erophila verna

Lichen:
- *common orange lichen Xanthoria parietina

New fungus:
- *Lumpy Bracket Trametes gibbosa

The dam and dam-top is a very different environment to most of the area. It gets more light than anywhere else. Much of the substrate of rocks and stones is probably imported. And much of the top is subject to trampling. It hosts several plant species that are not found elsewhere around the lake. This small white flowering plant, dew covered here, is Common Whitlow-grass Erophila verna.

Many of the larger stones on the dam have patches of lichen. This is Xanthoria parietina. NatureSpot does not provide a vernacular name: Obsidentify calls it Common Orange Lichen which seems fair-enough.

I noted this fungus on dead wood on the dam. The colour did not look right for the common Turkeytail fungus Trametes versicolor. It is probably the closely related Lumpy Bracket Trametes gibbosa. In any event the green tone is probably enhanced by algae.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 10:25 – 11:20

(50th visit of the year)

Very foggy here.

Other bird notes:
- one pair of Gadwall seen: what was probably the other pair heard calling – well the drake was.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 15 Canada Geese
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall: presumed – see notes
- 15 (11♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- 51 (26♂) Tufted Duck
- 12 Moorhens
- Coots not counted
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 5 Black-headed Gulls
- *1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: second year

Also noted:
- *first flowers of Cow Parsley Anthriscus sylvestris
- *first flowers of Dandelion Taraxacum sp.
- *a mystery plant, just possibly Cypress-leaved Plait-moss Hypnum cupressiforme.

Another chance to see.... the second year Lesser Black-backed Gull. I suspect this is a male – males are typically larger than females and the bill on this individual looks larger than usual.

These flowers of Cow Parsley Anthriscus sylvestris have appeared since yesterday. My 'first dates' for these here were 19 March in 2023 but 22 February in 2022.

Also apparently brought out by yesterday's sun is my first Dandelion flower of the year Taraxacum sp. A reminder: only two people in the UK can positively identify these flowers to individual species – there are over 400 involved. And the seeds from each plant all produce clones of the single parent (which begs the question of how come there are so many species. But then I am not a botanist).

Not sure what to make of this. I was trying to identify what appeared to be the pale green flowers showing here. Looking more closely there are several different mosses and / or plants in view which is, I suspect, why Obsidentify was confused. Its options were Neat Feather-Moss Pseudoscleropodium purum; Biting Stonecrop Sedum acre or Bristly Haircap Polytrichum piliferum. I suspect it is none of those! The first may well be present in the photo but is not the target; the second occurs here but has bright yellow flowers in mid-June; and in the latter the tight florets have a red tinge. Try again!

 This time the suggestion was more positive: Cypress-leaved Plait-moss Hypnum cupressiforme. Looking at the photos on NatureSpot suggests this is more of a possibility. I knew nothing much about mosses and I am not much the wiser!

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2014
Priorslee Lake
1 Velvet Scoter
3 Scaup
9 Pochard
9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
c80 Black-headed Gulls
(Gary Crowder)

Telford Central Railway Station
35 Redwing
(Gary Crowder)

Horsehay Pool
1 Caspian Gull
(Tom Lowe)

2013
Little Wenlock, Candles Landfill Site:
2 Glaucous Gulls
1 Caspian Gull
(Kris Webb)

2012
Priorslee Lake
4 Great Crested Grebes
15 Pochard
54 Tufted Duck
c.1200 Black-headed Gulls
1 Common Gull
c.420 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
c.30 Herring Gulls
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
(Ed Wilson)

Priorslee Flash
10 Pochard
47 Tufted Duck
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock
2 Little Grebes
30 Tufted Duck
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
3 Pochard
6 Goosanders
4 Pale Brindled Beauty moths
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
34 Greylag Geese
9 Pochard
56 Tufted Ducks
1 Water Rail
775 Black-headed Gulls
488 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
3 Herring Gull
1 Great Black-backed Gull
28 Robins
19 Blackbirds
8 Song Thrushes
1 Redwing
1 Willow Tit
41 Magpies
250 Jackdaws
100 Rooks
4 Greenfinches
2 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
22 Pochard
63 Tufted Ducks
164 Coots
600 Wood Pigeons
c.1300 Black-headed Gulls
84 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
9 Herring Gulls
21 Robins
24 Blackbirds
9 Song Thrushes
3 Willow Tits
11 Greenfinches
15 Siskins
17 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)