25 Feb 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 12.0°C: Sunny intervals. Moderate southerly wind. Very good visibility.

[Sunrise: 07:06 GMT]

* = a species photographed today
$ = a new species for me in this area

I HATE shopping on line. When will the expensive package be dumped on the door-step in full view? I eventually became frustrated at staying in and visited anyway.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 12:15 – 13:15

(42nd visit of the year)

Viewing only from the dam area.

Bird notes:
- no Pochard and a decrease in the Tufted Duck numbers. Still a preponderance of drakes.
- *what seemed to be six brownhead/female Goosanders resting on cut reeds. It is possible one of these was the recently seen immature drake.
- just four Great Crested Grebe with only two behaving as a pair.
- *one of the local Common Buzzards went for a fly about.

One of the fishermen was just leaving and reported:
- a trio of Mute Swans visited for a short while.
- a drake Goosander had been present earlier.
- at least five Cormorants had been present [none when I arrived with two arriving]
- the Great (White) Egret and a second Grey Heron were noted earlier.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 3 Cormorants

Counts I made from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese: the resident pair
- *3 (3♂) Mallard
- 22 (15♂) Tufted Duck
- *6 (0?♂) Goosander
- 5 Moorhens
- 32 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 13 Black-headed Gulls: all arrived
- 2 Cormorants: arrived
- 1 Grey Heron

Also noted:

Insect:
- *1 small probable ichneumon.

There are two drake Mallard and six brownhead Goosanders loafing on the cut reeds. The Goosander dead-centre might be an immature drake. I could not get much closer without the view being obstructed.

Now a few photos of a circling (Common) Buzzard.

I took these out of the car window.

I was parked at the time!

 I am not sure what caused it to hold its wings like this with the primary feathers curled up.

Back to soaring.

The (relatively) long antennae suggests this is probably a species of ichneumon wasp. It should have a "wasp waist": it is hard to be certain. There are many hundreds of species in the UK, very few of which can be readily identified.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 11:00 – 12:05

(39th visit of the year)

New Bird Species
Another new bird species for the year here this morning: #53. A Chiffchaff was singing as I arrived while the sun was fully out. It is possible this is an early migrant but just as likely to be an unseen over-wintering bird tempted to sing by the warm sun. This is my earliest date for this species here (just: 26 February in 2019). Also my earliest-ever song in Shropshire.

Other bird notes:
- fewer Canada Geese noted. Perhaps because I was later? Or possibly pairs are inside the island establishing nesting territory though if so they were uncharacteristically quiet about it.
- the single Mute Swan remains.
- only one Great Crested Grebe noted again.
- two of the local (Common) Buzzards were circling and calling over the wooded area as I arrived.
- *the feeding station was almost exclusively occupied by Siskins. A female Blackbird and a male and female Chaffinch were feeding on spilt seed. No tits were at the feeders.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Herring Gull

Noted on / around the water:
- 11 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Geese
- 1 Mute Swan
- 24 (16♂) Mallard
- 20 (12♂) Tufted Duck
- 11 Moorhens
- 35 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe only again
- 26 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls: both first-years
- no Cormorants
- no Grey Heron

Noted around the area:

Springtails:
- *1 springtail Orchesella cincta

The sun had gone behind clouds by the time I got to the Ivy bank. No insects were tempted out despite the mild temperature.

I could not make up my mind what this Long-tailed Tit was doing. Was it probing for insects in the moss? Or was it (practising?) collecting moss to line its nest?

This does not help? Is that something in its bill or just part of the mossy area?

Another one of the flock was watching intently.

This Dunnock would not turn its head to show its face more clearly. A good view of the brown feathering on the wings and the grey rump.

A female Blackbird on the look-out for dropped food.

Mrs. Chaffinch. This species has an erect stance which probably explains why they find feeders difficult to manage and, as here, forage for scraps dropped.

And Mr. Chaffinch. The leaves are those of Cow Parsley Anthriscus sylvestris

There were many Siskins here today. Three males and a partially hidden female share a feeder.

With so many birds around I was able to take photos of birds not on feeders. Here a female on the ground...

...allowing a close approach.

A male on the ground illustrates that the black crown feathers have white fringes. These wear away to leave the crown looking smart and jet-black by the start of the breeding season.

There were also Siskins sitting in the vegetation awaiting their turn at the feeders. Here a male...

...singing?

Another, not so brightly coloured.

This male is almost Canary-yellow.

There was much twittering among the birds.

A quizzical female Siskin.

A springtail, probably Orchesella cincta

Not new for the year: a Snowdrop Galanthus nivalis

Plane of the day. It is a Cessna 150M Aerobat assembled by Reims Aviation in France. The Aerobat models are reinforced and designed for basic aerobatics with a +6g/-3g load limit though I have never known one to be used as such. This aircraft is operated by the Romeo Romeo Flying Club out of Tatenhill Airfield, near Burton-on-Trent. "Romeo" stands for "R" in the standard phonetic alphabet used for all Air Traffic Control communication. "Romeo Romeo" was chosen as the flying club's name to match the identity of its aircraft.

(Ed Wilson)

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2014
Priorslee Lake
8 Pochard
5 Tufted Duck
5 Cormorant
1 Kittiwake
1 Great Black-backed Gull.
1 Iceland Gull
1 Caspian Gull
23 Redwings
c.800 Jackdaws
>300 Rooks
9 Siskins
(Ed Wilson, J. Reeves, P. Jordan, John Isherwood, Gary Crowder)

The Flash
1 Little Grebe
215 Tufted Ducks
2 Goosanders
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Middle Pool
11 Tufted Duck
(Ed Wilson)

Telford Crematorium
Cackling Goose
300 Lesser Black-backed Gull
c.20 Herring Gull
500 Black-headed Gull
1 Great Black-backed Gull
(Gary Crowder)

Nedge Hill
1 Stonechat
(John Isherwood)

2013
Priorslee Lake
3 Great Crested Grebes
25 Wigeon
4 Gadwall
17 Tufted Ducks
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
Greater Scaup
50 Tufted Duck
12 Pochard
(Jim Shannon)

2012
Priorslee Lake
5 Redpoll

Priorslee Flash
1 Goosander

Nedge Hill
8 Lapwing
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
5 Great Crested Grebes
4 Gadwall
47 Pochard
55 Tufted Duck
c.550 Black-headed Gulls
c. 800 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
56 Herring Gulls
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
7 Pochard
7 Tufted Duck
1 Ruddy Duck
2 Kestrel
1 Peregrine Falcon
1 Lapwing
3 Grey Wagtail
26 Wren
28 Robin
21 Blackbird
15 Redwing
53 Magpie
14 Greenfinch
6 Reed Bunting
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
6 Great Crested Grebes
2 Gadwall
9 Pochard
56 Tufted Ducks
5 Cormorants
121 Coot
1 Mediterranean Gull
c.1100 Black-headed Gulls
211 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
33 Herring Gulls.
741 Wood Pigeon
289 Jackdaws
108 Rooks
290 Starlings
21 Reed Bunting
1 Skylark
11 Greenfinches
6 Siskins
23 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)
29 Pied Wagtails
23 Blackbirds
6 Greenfinches
17 Siskins
1 Redpoll
6 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)