1.0°C > 8.0°C: Clear but hazy. A calm start with light / moderate southerly breeze developing. Good visibility.
Sunrise: 06:45 GMT
* = a species photographed today
Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:45 – 09:20
(54th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- four small ducks (Teal? Tufted Duck?) were seen in flight at 06:05. They may or may not have been birds from or to the lake.
- six Great Crested Grebes. As usual too some finding at times and I don't think I missed any. Two pairs.
- an Oystercatcher was on the south-west grass at 08:00 at least. I did not see or hear it arrive or leave.
- two Great (White) Egrets present for some time before one was chased away.
- I hope I have the split between Jackdaws (107) and Rooks (168) correct. Passage of apparently mixed groups started before 06:00 with birds distant in still low light levels.
- now two Chiffchaffs singing: one in the north-west area where it has been for a week or so. The other heard singing from across the other side of Castle Fame Way.
- a month ago I was noting 12 or 13 singing Song Thrushes. Now only five or six. Were the others winter visitors that have now left us?
- two Mistle Thrushes were again on the south-west grass. At c.08:45.
- just one Reed Bunting calling and then singing at the West end.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Canada Goose: outbound
- 2 Greylag Geese: outbound together
- 1 Feral Pigeon: an all-white bird
- 54 Wood Pigeons
- 18 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 21 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 107 Jackdaws
- 168 Rooks
Counts from the lake area:
- 13 Canada Geese: of these a pair and a trio arrived; and a quartet departed
- 1 Mute Swan: plus one dead
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall
- 5 (3♂) Mallard
- 6 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhen
- 65 Coots
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- *1 Oystercatcher
- 11 Black-headed Gulls
- 20 Herring Gulls
- 24 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 4 Cormorants: arrived individually
- *2 Great (White) Egret: one chased away
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Kingfisher
Seen later:
Nothing
On the street lamp poles pre dawn:
On the street lamp poles pre dawn:
Nothing noted
An amazing glow pre-dawn but with no clouds, just haze, to provide the colour.
A distant record shot, taken from the dam, of the Oystercatcher on the south-west grass.
One of four Cormorants that dropped in. The fishermen will be please. They call them "black death".
Legs akimbo the two Great (White) Egrets begin to spar.
Some photos of each of them as they flew around.
I lost track of which was which.
They looked the same anyway.
One heads off.
"So what did you have for breakfast?" Can almost see inside this Wren.
A very scruffy-looking tail on this bird.
Open wide...
....wider..
...wider still. It is not just the tail that looks as if it could do with a good preen.
Very loud for such a small bird.
A smart male Greenfinch catches the morning sun.
(Ed Wilson)
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Woodhouse Lane area:
I paid my first visit of the year here. It was very quiet.
Ponds
In the two ponds / storm overflows for the new estate I noted
- 10 (8♂) Mallard: they had all flown off when I passed back
- 2 Yellowhammers were moving between trees ahead of me
That was about it. no Pheasants, no Skylarks, no wagtails, no Linnets and just one calling Chaffinch being the only finch. The singing Chiffchaff around the sluice exit could be heard from the dam top and so is included in the main list.
*Also noted were my first Lesser Celandine Ficaria verna flowers this year.
A small copse in the middle of a field against the sunrise.
Looking rather battered and frosted are these Lesser Celandine Ficaria verna flowers on the verge.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 09:25 – 10:20
(52nd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- definite reduction in Tufted Duck numbers (as there had been, less obviously, at the Balancing Lake).
- no gulls noted: all gone?
- I was told a Grey Heron had been seen alongside one of the bridges some 15 minutes before I arrived.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 3 Jackdaws
Noted on / around the water:
- *16 Canada Geese
- 4 Greylag Geese
- *3 Mute Swans
- *20 (12♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) feral Mallard [’Aylesbury Duck’]
- no Pochard
- 37 (26♂) Tufted Duck
- 13 Moorhens
- 30 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- no gulls
- 2 Cormorants
Of note:
Nothing else
A Canada Goose makes a noisy approach.
Last year's Mute Swan cygnets fly strongly and usually stay close together.
Lord and Lady Mallard survey the scene from a rood in Westcroft Walk.
(Ed Wilson)
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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)