Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash
8.0°C > 11.0°C: Mostly cloudy with a very few almost sunny spells. Light easterly wind. Very good visibility
Sunrise: 05:54 BST
* = a species photographed today.
Early rain and car in for MOT it was a late start and The Flash first.
Priorslee Balancing Lake: 09:05 – 10:40
(101st visit of the year)
Numbers affected by my later visit; my single lap around the lake; and mostly dull and cool conditions.
Bird notes:
- no Gadwall seen..
- the duck Pochard still present.
- no Tufted Duck.
- another high number of Sedge Warblers with two birds in a different location to any heard previously. Last Spring there were record numbers for me – they were all passage birds, though this species has bred here occasionally. This year is threatening to exceed last year's numbers.
- many fewer Blackcaps.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Canada Geese: a pair inbound
- 3 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Herring Gulls
Counts from the lake area:
- 3 Canada Geese: of these a pair departed
- 2 Mute Swans
- no Gadwall
- 1 (1♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Pochard
- 6 Moorhens
- 25 + 3 (2 broods) Coots: hiding from the cold and damp?
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Common Sandpipers
Hirundines etc. noted:
- 3 Sand Martins
- 2 Barn Swallows
Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 17 (12) Chiffchaffs
- 5 (5) Sedge Warblers
- 4 (4) Reed Warblers
- 9 (6) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler again
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat again
Also noted:
Hoverflies:
Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
*Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis
Other flies
unidentified flies of several species
New flowers for the year:
*Horse-chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum
*Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna
*Common or Field Forget-me-not Myosotis arvensis
*Greater Stitchwort Stellaria holostea
*Bush Vetch Vicia sepium
*unidentified flower, possibly mallow Malva sp. or sorrel Oxalis sp.
A spike of Horse-chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum flower.
My first fully-open Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna flowers. There are many bushes with only flower-buds and some yet to show any sign of flowering.
Zoomed in on a trio. Each flower has five petals that are deeply divided such that at casual glance it appears there are ten petals.
This flower has defeated me – again. I tried about 10 days ago without success and today I managed a better angle using my phone camera. The flower is now more open but that does not seem to help and of the apps. all of whom are better at botany than I am. It does not help that it is growing among a mass of plants and it is impossible to work out whose leaves are whose. Access is very limited along the bank of the Wesley Brook without waders! The choices seem to be one of the mallows Malva sp. (but the flower should show dark veins): or a sorrel Oxalis sp. (but are they ever this brightly-coloured?). Is it perhaps a garden escape?
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Flash: 08:20 – 09:00
(98th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Great Crested Grebes the same as yesterday: a pair displaying by the island and another asleep in the middle of the water.
- the second Sedge Warbler of the year here was muttering away occasionally along the East side.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Greylag Goose
Noted on / around the water:
- 15 Canada Geese
- 4 Greylag Geese: of these three arrived
- 1 Mute Swan: the other presumed to be on the island.
- 16 (14♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) feral Mallard x ?
- 5 (3♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens only
- 24 + 4(?) {1 brood) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- *2 Herring Gulls: adults, departed separately
Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 6 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
- 3 (3) Blackcaps again
Noted elsewhere:
Nothing
The Frosted Green moth Polyploca ridens no longer present.
One of the two adult Herring Gulls that departed as I walked around. This one has lost one or more primaries - #6 for sure and I would judge #7 and possibly #8. Too early for it to have started a post-breeding moult (normally June onwards) so probably battle-damage. They will probably regrow before the moult.
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013
Priorslee Lake
2 Great Crested Grebes
3 Greylag Geese
1 Grasshopper Warbler
2 Reed Warblers
8 Blackcaps
9 Chiffchaffs
4 Willow Warblers
(Ed Wilson)
The Flash
1 Richardson's-type Canada Goose
8 Tufted Duck
1 Blackcap
2 Chiffchaffs
6 Willow Warblers
(Ed Wilson)
Nedge Hill
6 Swallows
8 Meadow Pipits
1 Fieldfare
3 Blackcaps
3 Willow Warbler
4 Chiffchaffs
1 Whinchat
1 Lesser Whitethroat
29 Wheatear
1 Lapwing
(John Isherwood, Ed Wilson)
2012
Priorslee Lake
Green Woodpecker
5 Great Crested Grebes
4 Tufted Duck
12 Blackcaps
2 Willow Warblers
14 Chiffchaffs
1 Sedge Warbler
(Ed Wilson, John Isherwood)
In the lane / fields to the E
5 Skylarks
2 Whitethroats
2 Blackcaps
3 Chiffchaffs
9 Linnets
5 Yellowhammers
(Ed Wilson)
Priorslee Flash
5 Great Crested Grebes
23 Tufted Duck
1 Common Sandpiper
5 Blackcaps
1 Willow Warblers
4 Chiffchaffs
(Ed Wilson / John Isherwood)
Nedge Hill
1 Raven
(John Isherwood)
2011
Priorslee Lake
1 Common Sandpiper
2 Lesser Whitethroat
(John Isherwood)
Nedge Hill
3 Yellow Wagtail
6 Wheatear
(John Isherwood)
2008
Priorslee Lake
2 Sedge Warblers
2 Lesser Whitethroats
(Ed Wilson)
The Flash
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)
Nedge Hill
2 Common Whitethroat
3 Wheatears
(Ed Wilson)
The Wrekin
1 Pied Flycatcher
(Mike)
Ercall Woods
3 Pied Flycatcher
Buzzards
2 Ravens
(Mike)
2007
Priorslee Flash
2 Common Sandpipers
Garden Warbler
(Ed Wilson)
2006
Priorslee Lake
6 Great Crested Grebes
6 Tufted Ducks
2 Ruddy Duck
5 Common Sandpipers
100+ Sand Martin
5 Swallow
1 House Martin
23 Wrens
19 Robins
19 Blackbirds
1 Sedge Warbler
1 Reed Warbler
1 Lesser Whitethroat
2 Garden Warblers
7 Blackcaps
5 Chiffchaffs
3 Willow Warblers
1 Willow Tit
3 Greenfinches
2 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)