11 Dec 14

Priorslee Lake: 7:01am - 9:33am
Map

2.5°C > 4.5°C  Variable cloud after overnight heavy showers: with fresh and gusty W wind easing slightly. Very good visibility.

No notable records again this morning.

(143rd visit of the year)

Counts over the lake
- 3 Cormorants
- 5 Black-headed Gulls
- c.100 large gulls: just 6 noted as Herring Gulls but most too distant to specifically identify.
- 3 Fieldfare
- 51 Redwings as well
- 819 Jackdaws
- 26 Rooks
- 3 Ravens

Birds seen leaving roosts around the lake (in addition to the over flights.
- 19 Redwings
- 41 Magpies
Redwing count of birds seen leaving in distance.

The counts from the water
1 Little Grebe
5 Great Crested Grebes
1 Grey Heron
2 Swans
4 (2) Gadwall
4 (2) Mallard
5 (5) Pochard
78 (48) Tufted Duck
Water Rail heard only
12 Moorhens again
170 Coots again
>140 Black-headed Gulls
>350 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
>25 Herring Gulls
2 Great Black-backed Gulls

Other notes
Little Grebe refound where I saw it on Monday: probably been lurking in the reeds all the while.
c.120 Black-headed and c.250 large gulls were present at 7:00am and seemed to have roosted although another c.50 large gulls dropped in by 7:15am so they could have all been very early arrivals.
The 2 Great Black-backed Gulls were different bird that arrived and left on their own.
Only two pairs of Gadwall noted this morning but conditions were far from ideal.
Cetti's Warbler in the NW area today, close to where I first noted it.
Large passage of Jackdaws this morning.
3 Ravens as a pair and a single much later.
and
Another species of fungus found: probably Clitocybe nebularis (aka Clouded Funnel or Clouded Agaric).

This fungus is probably Clitocybe nebularis (aka Clouded Funnel or Clouded Agaric). In Wikipedia it is noted as poisonous: elsewhere on the web it noted as “edible but causes gastric upsets in some people”.

The underside with crowded gills. I am afraid that while ‘gardening’ to remove the dead leaves and twigs to get a better shot I inadvertently uprooted this fruit. There were several others nearby.

Not often a Grey Heron allows this close approach.
 
An adult beginning to acquire the yellow bill of a breeding condition bird.

Here standing the Wesley Brook we can see it is not yesterday’s bird from The Flash as it has both feet undamaged.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Lock Pool: 9:43am - 10:27am
Map

 (54th visit of the year)

Notes
Possibly 2 Grey Herons today: 1 seen at S end; later 1 flew in from N. Not seen together.
Unusual preponderance of Herring Gulls among the rather few large gulls present.
Kingfisher again.

Count of birds passing over here
- 6 Redwings

The counts
4 Little Grebes
3 Great Crested Grebes
1 Cormorant
1/2 Grey Herons
2 Swans
26 Canada Geese
8 (5) Mallard
3 feral Mallard-type ducks
46 (18) Tufted Ducks
14 Moorhens
162 Coots
66 Black-headed Gulls
5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
46 Herring Gulls
This Black-headed Gull seems to have caught a fish! I had to check with the web that this species eats fish – amongst almost everything else. Seems likely it was an opportunistic ‘find’ rather than a fishing expedition as such.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day in 2009 and 2010
Priorslee Lake
2010
1 adult Caspian Gull
3 Yellow-legged Gulls (2 adults, 1 3rd-winter)
1 Great Black-backed Gull
(J Reeves)
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2009
Black necked Grebe
Adult Great Black-backed Gull
(John Isherwood)