Sunday, 16th - Tuesday, 25th

For most of the last 10 days I have made early visits and flogged around the lake, twice, with side trips to Woodhouse Lane; and to The Flash and back

The best birds was another that got away - a suspected Ringed Plover this morning (Tuesday 25th) flushed. All I saw was a rather long-winged largish 'small wader' with a wing-bar. It did not call and although it appeared to fly across the lake I could not relocate it

The daily visits have allowed me to get a picture of the breeding this year and this report covers that in some detail

Overall the numbers of warblers are about average, but there are some notable absences
- there are no Grey Wagtails: perhaps due to the clearance of the Wesley Brook below the lake?
- there are no Pied Wagtails on the houses around The Flash
- there are no Goldcrests anywhere
but
- Long-tailed Tits did well with 4 nests around the lake and 2 more around The Flash

Apart from the detailed species reports below I note
- Herons absent in this period
- single Cormorants seen most days: occasionally stop to fish
- small numbers of Tufted Ducks with number and sexual composition varying daily. Mostly at The Flash with up to 8 birds. Do not seem to be breeding
- most days there are a few gulls
--- 1st year BHGs stop-off for a while but move on. There were 6 one morning
--- up to 6 large gulls fly W most morning, most are immature LBBGs, but 2 Herrings seen
- a few small parties of high-flying Wood Pigeons intriguing. Juveniles seen at both the lake and The Flash
- few House Martins but I suspect that this is due to the maturing of the gardens in the estates - the birds need a clear path to swoop up to the nest and shrubs are bad news. Seem in good numbers around farms and villages elsewhere in Shropshire
- after a poor hirundine passage the resident Swallows back near the lake and The Flash
- the number of Wrens around the lake seems to be about two-thirds normal
- very few Starlings around the estate and none on houses alongside The Flash this year. The young have just fledged so they are slightly more in evidence

Now details from the lake
- the Little Grebe from the early Spring seems to have moved on
- up to 5 Great Crested Grebes: perhaps 2 pairs breeding though they show little interest in displaying
- the Swans eventually produced a single cygnet for the first time Monday 24th. The cob seems to have lost his Darvic ring
- a single Canada Goose has been on the dam for 10 days: I wonder whether it has a partner on eggs in one of the copses as it declines to join any small parties that stop-by
- Mallard in very low numbers. Two ducks seen with 10 and 12 ducklings respectively with 7 and 11 extant at the last count - better effort than usual
- Moorhens are still about but you will be hard-pressed to find them!
- about 30 Coots with c.10 non/failed breeders gathering off the dam. Perhaps more hiding on nests. Many young seen but only 1 survived beyond the 'red head' stage so far. A poor showing after the record count in the winter
- Lapwing occasional: presumed from the Nedge area where they are breeding; also displaying to the far NE, probably beyond Redhill
- Buzzards very quiet: am sure they are breeding near-by but do not know where
- Kestrel seen intermittently: traditional area to the NE but I saw a bird carrying prey away to the SW in the direction of Stafford Park
- Stock Dove almost certainly breeding in the NW area
- 5 Song Thrushes singing
- after weeks of silence the Mistle Thrushes heard again: one bird with no tail and almost no secondaries on one wing!
- warbler data (as they start feeding young song stops so can be hard to find)
--- 8 Reed Warblers in song with 7 in the reeds and 1 in the bushes at the E end of the S side)
--- the Sedge Warbler moved on
--- Lesser Whitethroat breeding in the Ricoh hedge and seen carrying food most days: not singing
--- 3 Common Whitethroat territories: 2 in W / SW area and 1 on the M54 O-about!
--- 3 Garden Warbler territories: 2 along the N side and 1 on the M54 O-about
--- 9 Blackcaps in song
--- 5 or 6 Chiffchaffs in song - they still seem to be moving about a bit
--- 1 Willow Warbler on the M54 O-about!
- a Blue Tit is nesting inside a broken street-lamp just along from the Teece Drive gate and gets all-night lighting!
- a Great Tit is nesting, for at least the 3rd year, in the loose-fitting cover at the base of the next street-lamp along!
- Willow Tits seem to be nesting in the SE area though are often by the sluice exit as well
- Jays nesting but, for Jays, rather quiet
- up to 4 male Bullfinches seen: no song of course
- 4 Reed Bunting singing
and
- 12 species of moth identified on the lamps with my first-ever Chocolate-tip moths
- the Hawthorn blossom came on a treat in the hot weather and the bushes are laden. Doesn't that mean a cold winter ahead?

(Ed Wilson)

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Saturday, 15th

Shorter than usual visit without too much of note

Best was a Sedge Warbler at the W end of the lake in the same hedge as the Lesser Whitethroat. The Sedge Warbler was singing very intermittently; the Lesser Whitethroats appear to be busy nesting and are not singing at the moment

Of general interest
- Cormorants fishing in both the lake and The Flash - the first I have seen in the water at The Flash for some years
- no Goldcrests heard at either location all week

Otherwise the notes
from the lake
- unable to determine how many Great Crested Grebes there are and where nests might be: 2 birds seem to be sparring all around the lake and I never see any others. Calls from the N reeds suggest there might be a nest here
- a quite large juvenile Coot - all red long-gone and white on the breast - I had previously overlooked. 28 adults counted but with birds on the nests likely to be more
- 3 single Lesser Black-backed Gulls over were the only gulls seen
- 4 Whitethroats logged but these seemed very mobile and probably 2 birds looking for territories
- 2 Garden Warblers again - territories seem stable
- 5 Blackcaps in song
- 5 Chiffchaffs in song as well: this year 2 have the strange 'hic-cup' in the song and tempting to think that one of these at least may have learned the accent from its father here

and
- rather chilly and clear for moths: what seemed to be a mosquito on one of the lamps
- also rather chilly for butterflies but a rather lethargic Small White was my first of the year here

(Ed Wilson)

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Friday, 14th

Another visit completed, more or less, before the rain started

Bird of the day for me was
- 1 Common Sandpiper at the lake - a site year-tick after my absence

Otherwise much as yesterday expect
- a pair of Tufted Duck on The Flash, though they promptly seemed to vanish
- the Sedge Warbler in Woodhouse Lane seemed to have moved on
- now 5 Reed Warblers at the lake
- the Lesser Whitethroat not heard
- only 1 Garden Warbler at the lake, but another near the sluice exit across Castle Farm Way
- juvenile Long-tailed Tits in with adults at both the lake and The Flash

some other notes
- 2 Cormorants at the lake: an immature fishing for about 5 minutes with another overhead at the same time
- a duck Mallard with 10 small ducklings
- 3 single Lesser Black-backed Gulls over were the only gulls
- the Stock Doves in the NW area again
- after the onset of the rain a small gathering of Swifts and all 3 hirundines feeding low over the water
- no sign of Grey Wagtails here (or around the sluice exit; or along the line of the Wesley Brook from The Flash)
- a Blue Tit using one the lamps with a shroud fractured by air-gun pellets / stones as a nest site

and
- a splendid fox (and a very dark animal) near the Teece Drive gate
- new molehills all around the lake
- Common Pug and Common Marbled Carpet moths on the lamps
- an ichneumon and a plumed midge on the lamps as well

in the lanes
- a Lapwing displaying over a field to the far NE - perhaps even the other side of the A5
- a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling
- a steady passage of 25 Rooks, mainly singles, flying too and fro along the usual flightline
- 3 Linnets at least

(Ed Wilson)

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Thursday, 13th

So first visit to the lake, the lanes and The Flash since 29 March and was pleased that it produced all the expected 'new' species for me

- 2 Swifts flew over the W end of the lake
- 7 Swallows over the lake
- 3 House Martins, eventually, over the lake (but none around the estate or The Flash)
- 1 Sedge Warbler singing intermittently along Woodhouse Lane
- 2 Reed Warblers only in song at the lake - 1 at the W end; and 1 along N side. Still arriving?
- pair of Lesser Whitethroats in the Ricoh hedge at the W end of the lake for at least the 6th year
- 7 Common Whitethroats in song: 2 heard to S of the lake; and 5 around the Woodhouse Lane area
- 2 Garden Warblers in song along N side of the lake
- 12 Blackcaps in song around the area, 6 of them at the lake

Other notes
- an unseasonal (here) Cormorant flying to the E
- the Gadwall (long-?) gone
- a surprising number of gulls for mid-May: 2 single Black-headed Gulls; 17 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (including a party of 11); and 1 Herring Gull. All overhead
- Stock Doves in and around the NW trees again
- Jays in the N side copse and seen to the NW as well
and
- plenty of Ladies Smock / Cuckoo Plant, but no Orange-tip butterflies - too cold early on

in the Woodhouse Lane area
- 1 distant Sky Lark only: but these are crop dependent and no oil-seed rape in the immediate area this year
- 8 Goldfinches, but
- no Linnets seen or heard
- 2 Yellowhammers in song

(Ed Wilson)

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Saturday, 8th

- 1 Wheatear (female on dam)
- 1 Common Sandpiper
- 1 Sedge Warbler

(John Isherwood)

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Monday, 3rd

- 1 Sedge Warbler
- 4 Reed Warbler

(John Isherwood)

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Saturday, 1st

- 5 Reed Warbler

(John Isherwood)