Tuesday, 31st

- Little Grebe still present
- 1 immature/eclipse drake Shoveler
- 1 most strange Aythya duck, probably just an aberrant small juvenile Tufted Duck with extensive white on face and no hint of 'tuft'
- 1 Yellow Wagtail over: 3rd of year for me here

(Ed Wilson)

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Monday, 30th

Morning
- Little Grebe
- 1 Yellow Wagtail over: 2nd of year for me here
- Kingfisher roosted in hedge between lake and M54
- Lesser Whitethroat heard giving subdued song and seen at W end breeding site. Not recorded since
- 1 Linnet over: unusual date here

(Ed Wilson)

Priorslee Lake
- 4 Swift
- 1 Sand Martin

East Priorslee
- 2 Wheatear (on freshly ploughed field)
- 9 Red legged Partridge (2 adults,7 well grown juveniles)

Also
Sparrow Hawk and Willow Tit

(John Isherwood)

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Sunday, 29th

- 2 Sand Martins with other hirundines and 3 Swifts: late record here

(Ed Wilson)

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Saturday, 28th

- ***1 Turtle Dove flew W: my first anywhere this year and my first at this site for >5 years
- Ravens over: my 2nd record of year here

(Ed Wilson)

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Friday, 27th

- 1 Greenshank flew through: my first of year here

(Ed Wilson)

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August, 16th - 23rd

The results of a week or so of visits to the lake etc. and a sit-rep on what can be found

The highlights

- Monday, 23rd
---- Willow Warbler singing in the NW area - one been calling at the W end for some days
---- Linnet over

and
---- on a number of days single House Martins have flown over the lake before 05:45 and sometimes they seemed to emerge from roost in the reeds. On Wednesday 18th a Swallow did likewise

- Sunday, 22nd
---- 1 Green Woodpecker in flight at W end of the lake
---- 5 Whitethroats in the W end scrubby area mixing with other warblers: at least 3 juveniles

- Friday, 20th
---- a Little Grebe at the lake in the afternoon

- Thursday, 19th
---- larger than usual numbers of Swallows (c.9)

- Wednesday, 18th
---- 1 immature Shelduck at 05:20 but gone by 05:30. My first autumn record at this site and a site year-tick

- Tuesday, 17th
---- 2 Cormorants fishing in the lake for >30 minutes: seemed to be an adult and a juvenile (rather than an immature)

- Monday, 16th
---- 2 Ravens flew E

Non-birding highlights

- Monday, 23rd
---- a large bat sp. hawking at 05:45: only my 4th record of bats this year

- Wednesday, 18th
---- 1 large brown and ginger mustelid seen briefly on the W end path was, I assume, a feral ferret

and throughout
---- 8 new-for-the-year species of moth on the lamps, 3 of which were new for my Shropshire list
---- abundance of fruit - blackberries, sloes, elder and rose-hips but now especially along Teece Drive what seem to be Cherry-plums (Prunus cerasifera) with both yellow and red-fruited varieties over-laden with fruit

Otherwise some bird notes
- one pair of resident Great Crested Grebes at the lake have 2 fast-growing, noisily-begging juveniles.
- Herons irregularly back at the lake
- the Swans at the lake have repelled a number of interlopers, rather half-heartedly.
- outbound geese number c.175 with up to 60 Greylags usually after 06:00; and c.120 Canada Geese (and the odd hybrid) usually before 06:00 and favouring a field just E of Castle Farm Way to feed. Only the Canadas go inbound c.08:00
- Mallard the only dabbling ducks around with c.40 at each site, with some flying about. 1 unfledged juvenile at the lake. Only a few out of eclipse so far
- Tufted Duck numbers fluctuate with up to 5 at the lake
- Sparrowhawks just about daily at the lake after some weeks when I saw none: all seem to be adults but often giving brief/poor views
- the calling raptor in the NW area of the lake turned out to be a begging juvenile Buzzard: it and its parents frequent around the lake
- Kestrel very sporadic to the E and over the lake
- Moorhens still elusive at the lake (at least 3 juveniles)
- Coot numbers c.35 at the lake
- gull numbers lower than usual
----- managed c.65 Black-headed Gulls one day but usually fewer than 20 and these come and go between the lake and Ricoh fields
----- on Tuesday 17th c.50 Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew E away from the Ricoh fields.

Otherwise fewer than 10 most days
- Wood Pigeon numbers have faded back to c.100 a day after several days with >200 logged over the lake - I think when there were fresh stubbles in the fields adjacent to Castle Farm Way. I assume they are going elsewhere now
- Grey Wagtails can be seen on many days around the dam but not so frequently as many years
- Pied Wagtails in low numbers - up to 5 singles over and many flying rather atypically NW, perhaps from Nedge where John Isherwood tells me there are up to 20 most days
- Great Spotted Woodpeckers very vocal and several seen most days
- Swallows seen very infrequently and those seen are usually singles / small parties that seem to be moving through rather than local birds
- c.30 House Martins over the estate with new juveniles begging
- Song Thrush last sang on Monday 16th and have now, typically, become scarce / non-existent
- up to 7 Mistle Thrushes could be seen on the wires to the NE for a few days but these have moved on
- warblers
---- 5 Reed Warblers remain around the W end and along the N side. Mostly seen outside the reed beds at the moment. Occasional stuttering song
---- no Lesser Whitethroats seen or heard during the period
---- Common Whitethroat daily in the W end scrub at the lake. The 5 together on Sunday was exceptional
---- Blackcaps mainly heard calling and while they start very early (c.05:30) there only seems to be c.5 at the lake and none left around
---- c.12 Chiffchaffs
---- 2 Willow Warblers
- Goldcrest still infrequent
- Long-tailed Tits were abundant post-breeding but are now much less obvious with only a single small party logged most days
- Willow Tits most days near the Teece Drive gate
- otherwise Coal, Blue and Great Tits in typical numbers
- both Nuthatch and Treecreeper almost daily, usually in the NW area / alongside the Teece Drive track. This is the first year I have had more than three Nuthatch records at the lake
- very variable numbers of corvids on roost dispersal: between c.20 birds to c.250. Jackdaws usually in larger numbers and pass later than the Rooks
- Starlings used the wires to the E / NE when the stubbles were fresh but have gone elsewhere. Almost none about the estate at the moment
- Chaffinches in very low numbers: some days I see / hear none
- a roost of Greenfinches in the bushes by the football field at the lake has reached c.45 - a few years ago I was logging over 300(!) from a roost around the lake itself
- small family(?) parties of Goldfinches, mainly feeding in the thistle-heads at the W end
- Bullfinches bred successfully with adults and juveniles in small numbers anywhere around the lake and Wesley bridge
- no Reed Buntings: seem to have disappeared, as they usually do in autumn

From a single visit to the lanes and fields to the E
- no Sky Larks
- a few calling Chiffchaffs the only warblers
- 2 Linnets in the trees at the bottom of the lane
- just 1 Yellowhammer: a juvenile. Song seemed to finish early this year

and
- a few Cinnabar caterpillars on the small amount of ragwort in the set-aside field (have yet to find any of these caterpillars on the abundant ragwort around the lake)

(Ed Wilson)

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Monday, 9th

Early morning. Nothing of special interest

Some notes
- 2 juvenile Great Crested Grebes doing well
- geese now back flying: 35 Greylags and 165 Canadas noted, mainly outbound overhead but 27 Greylags visited
- Mallard in higher numbers than many years - 36 logged
- just 5 Tufted Ducks - many seemed to have moved on
- 53 Coots: of these 6 dependent juveniles growing well; 2 recognisable independent juveniles but others probably now not safely separable from adults
- still rather few gulls with just 13 Black-headed and 3 LBBGs on the water and very few over
- unidentified juvenile raptor calling from the NW area: not a Buzzard and from area previously used by Sparrowhawk, though not seen in the area this year
- higher numbers of Wood Pigeons over - 113 in total
- no Swifts now (but a few still over Newport)
- party of 24 House Martins high over included juveniles: seemed to be heading S, but may have been estate birds on local movement
- calling Green Woodpecker unusual here at this time of year
- 3 Grey Wagtails on the dam-face (but no Pied Wagtails seen or heard)
- 1 Song Thrush still singing away!
- warblers no longer singing but still around
---- 3 Reed Warblers at least in N side reeds
---- 2 Common Whitethroats at W end in Ricoh hedge
---- 9 Blackcaps heard
---- 13 Chiffchaffs with 9 of these seen including a noisy gang of 5.
One of these had very distinctive supercilium more reminiscent of Willow Warbler but while it did not call it otherwise seemed to be a juvenile Chiff
- almost no finches apart from
---- party of 8 Goldfinches on thistles included begging juveniles

and
- plenty of butterflies when the sun came out with belated site year-tick of Peacock!
- 3 species of moth on the lamps, but nothing unusual
- a hawker sp. dragonfly flushed at 05:30 but none seen later
- much ragwort at the W end but unusually none on the dam. Could not find any Cinnabar caterpillars even though there were plenty of adults earlier

(Ed Wilson)

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Thursday, 5th

- 1 Teal (female)

(John Isherwood)

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Tuesday, 3rd

- 4 Shoveler (all females/immatures)

Also
- family party of Grey Wagtails
- single Willow Tit

(John Isherwood)