Bird around lake is quail (6)
I believe the answer is:
flinch
'is quail' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'bird around lake' is the wordplay.
'bird' becomes 'finch' (finch is a kind of bird**).
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'lake' becomes 'l'.
'finch' enclosing 'l' is 'FLINCH'.
(Other definitions for flinch that I've seen before include "Shrink back with fear" , "Recoil, shrink back" , "Wince or draw back in fear" , "Draw back in fear, recoil" , "Cower, baulk" .)