Map
Update: 10:00am - 1:00pm
Cetti's Warbler
Gadwall pair
6 Pochard (pair + 4 males)
Great Spotted Woodpecker
2 Pheasant
5 Mute Swan (pair + 2 adults and a juvenile,which were soon chased off
4 Goldcrest
Coal Tit
2 Long-tailed Tit
2 Bullfinch
Note: I had good view of the warbler and the call heard almost continually for an hour, along with Pete Jordan. Jim Almond and Ian Grant followed soon after we left at 1:00pm, they heard it calling and had brief views, we all were in agreement with Cetti's Warbler.
(Martin Grant)
Morning Report: 7:03am - 10:39am
1.5°C > 3.5°C: Mainly overcast with a few breaks. Calm / light and variable, mainly WSW wind. Moderate visibility
An extended visit trying to get a positive ID on the skulking warbler: latest thinking favours a Cetti's Warbler. Would be a first for the site though somewhat less of a ‘mega’ than Dusky Warbler.
Today’s highlights were
- my first Woodcock of the season
- c.150 Golden Plover in their characteristically-shaped formation very high and climbing higher and higher to the far NW well before dawn: my first in Shropshire this year.
(136th visit of the year)
Today’s counts over the lake
- 3 Greylag Geese, outbound
- 1 drake Goosander
- 1 Woodcock as highlighted
- c.150 Golden Plover as highlighted
- 10 Black-headed Gulls
- c.290 large gulls
- 3 Feral Pigeons
- c.630 Jackdaws
- 26 Rooks
- 1 Raven
- 1 Starling
Other notes
The drake Goosander looked headed for The Flash but was not there later
Large gulls started arriving by 7:00am and many skeins from the far W as well as from Bayliss Pool dropped in for a short wash, though almost as many carried on over the top. Then at 9:00am >500 large gulls again started arriving well before dawn with >250 birds appearing high over apparently arriving from the SW. Only about half these birds actually settled on the water and these stayed less than 19 minutes. Most other gulls came from the E. There was no significant arrival from the N / tip area today.
2 Song Thrushes singing this morning
Just 4 Redwings seen leaving the roost along the N side: later 1 in the trees.
No Starlings seen leaving the reed-bed roosts but I was at the ‘wrong end’ and may have missed them: a single bird over flew with one of the parties of Jackdaws
>40 Goldfinches in the Alders near the Teece Drive gate
The counts
3 Great Crested Grebes
1 Grey Heron
2 Swans
6 (3) Gadwall
11 (7) Mallard
5 (5) Pochard
90 (54) Tufted Duck
16 Moorhens
172 Coots
c.55 Black-headed Gulls
c.160 large gulls with very few of these Herring Gulls
More on the Cetti's Warbler
What was thought to be a probable Dusky Warbler, is now considered to be a Cetti's Warbler: I was about to leave after another frustrating session trying to find what I believed to be a Dusky Warbler from yesterday, when I came across it at the E end of the N shore.
After I relocated the bird I spent over an hour in parts of the undergrowth that I didn't even know existed. I glimpsed the bird about 5 times, four of which were through a maze of stems. On the 5th occasion it popped out on to a branch momentarily without me being able to add anything to my description.
What I did manage was to make some recordings of both the call and what I believe was an alarm. The latter is not 100% confirmed as I had lost track of the bird at that stage and cannot be certain it wasn't being given by one of the Wrens that was causing some confusion - not that it sounds that much like a Wren alarm.
The recordings were made on a simple Olympus Digital Voice Recorder and so are not exactly hi-fi - in fact distinctly lo-fi.
However having spoken to others and learnt that one was ringed at Atcham on 9th September this year and one had been recorded at Aqualate only c.1 mile across the border in Staffs, it does suggest that this is a Cetti's Warbler and was confirmed later by Jim Almond and Martin Grant. A first for the lake and one of only a few Shropshire records. (Ed Wilson)
Audio of Cetti's Warbler (Ed Wilson)
Audio of Cetti's Warbler (Ed Wilson)
Audio of Cetti's Warbler (Ed Wilson)
Audio of Cetti's Warbler for comparison - courtesy of exeno-canto
(Ed Wilson)
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Priorslee Flash: 10:42am - 11:12am
Map
(113th visit of the year)
Today’s counts over here:
- 273 large gulls of which at least 21 were Herring Gulls
Other notes
Great Crested Grebes have gone AWOL.
The 3 Canada Geese flew in.
No Goosanders again.
Kingfisher here.
Counts
2 Swans
3 Canada Goose
1 all-white feral goose
26 (20) Mallard
1 all-white feral duck
52 (20) Tufted Ducks
2 Moorhens
15 Coots
69 Black-headed Gulls
2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
4 Herring Gulls
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day in 2009
- 3 Yellow legged-legged Gulls (all Adults)
- 1 Great Black-backed (Adult)
(John Isherwood)