23 Jan 18

Priorslee Lake: then Trench Lock Pool and Trench Middle Pool

7.0C° > 11.5°C: Started cloudy after some heavy overnight rain. Cleared for a while c.08:00, soon replaced by the Telford ‘hat’ of low cloud and becoming very dull. Later cleared again, still with light rain showers. Moderate / fresh S wind. Good visibility

Sunrise: 08:06 GMT

Priorslee Lake: 06:50 – 09:35

(6th visit of the year)

Another morning quiet for birds with much noise from the M54 drowning out calls / song

Other notes from today:
- another day with visiting Mute Swans coming and going. New in today were two cygnets. The residents are no longer reacting to the visitors and indeed I have rather lost track of which birds are which in the absence of being able to read any rings
- Gadwall are all getting very restive and flying about, making an accurate total hard to obtain
- there were 5 obvious adult Great Crested Grebes today, 4 of them behaving as two pairs. Also a 6th, apparent first-year, bird
- a combination of my concentration on the Magpie roost count and the loud road noise conspired to make me miss the main Jackdaw departure. A lone Rook was some small compensation!
and
- nothing on the street lights again: sluiced off by the rain?

Another new species: a lone Rook overhead taking my year total at this site to 53

Today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over / near the lake:
- 17 Greylag Geese (1 group and 1 single, outbound)
- 9 Canada Geese (2 groups outbound)
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 3 Wood Pigeons only
- 2 Collared Doves
- 23 Jackdaws only
- 1 Rook
- 3 Redwings
- 1 Greenfinch
- 3 Siskins

Birds noted leaving roosts around the lake:
- 61 Magpies
- 1 Redwing
- 1 Reed Bunting

The counts from the lake area
- 6 + 5 Mute Swans (see notes)
- 9 Canada Geese
- 12 (7♂) Gadwall
- 14 (9♂) Mallard
- 6 (5♂) Pochard
- 56 (33♂) Tufted Ducks
- 4 Cormorants
- 1 Little Grebe
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 8 Moorhens
- 167 Coots
- >140 Black-headed Gulls

This presents a conundrum: there were three Mute Swan cygnets at the base of the concrete ramp – as usual. I assumed these were the three residents. I then photographed one of what I thought was a visiting cygnet and lo – 7IVV: that is one of the three resident cygnets. So which were the birds at the base of the concrete ramp?

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Lock Pool: 09:45 – 10:05 // 10:45 – 11:05

(3rd visit of the year)

Notes from here
- 23 of the 36 Canada Geese flew in
- seemed to be 5 different Great Crested Grebes but could never find all five in a single sweep
- where were all the gulls?
and
- an early instar shield bug sp. found and photographed – likely a Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina)

No birds noted flying over here [apart from the local Wood Pigeons and Jackdaws coming and going]

New species for the year here were Pochard and Herring Gull

The counts from the water
- 1 + 6 Mute Swans
- 36 Canada Geese
- 4 (3♂) Mallards
- 1 (1♂) ‘feral’ Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Pochard
- 45 (22♂) Tufted Ducks
- 11 (5♂) Goosanders
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Little Grebe
- 4 (5?) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Moorhens
- 107 Coots
- 7 Black-headed Gulls only
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Herring Gull

The small instar Shield Bug sp. (the hairs are the back of my hand and I am not especially hairy so you can see it was quite small!). It is likely a Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) – this species is brown in winter.

Always tricky to get the correct exposure to capture a rainbow without the surrounding area being too dark: or blowing out the colours of the rainbow. Seem to have got it right here. With the added bonus of a drake and three duck Goosanders just about visible.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Middle Pool: 10:10 – 10:40

(3rd visit of the year)

Notes from here
- a noisy and back-firing car (rare in these days of electronic ignition) saw to the early and rapid departure of the Goosanders and all the gulls
and
- a fungus sp. found and photographed: possibly Snowy Waxcap (Hygrocybe virginea)

Birds noted flying over here
None

New species for the year here were: Great Spotted Woodpecker, Carrion Crow and Long-tailed Tit

The counts from the water
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 27 Canada Geese again
- 26 (21♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) ‘feral’ Mallard
- 18 (12♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 (3♂) Goosander
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 15 Moorhens
- 43 Coots
- 52 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull

Three shots of the fungus I found here.

Plan view.

And side elevation. There is a photograph of a similar specimen on the Naturespot web site identified as Snowy Waxcap (Hygrocybe virginea). Whether that would ever show the dark shown on my plan view is debatable. The web also suggests that this species usually grows in small groups: mine was a lone specimen.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day..........

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
6 Pochard
42 Tufted Duck
A drake Scaup
1 Velvet Scoter
111 Coots
78 Black-headed Gulls
2 Lesser Black-backed Gull
8 Herring Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
(Ed Wilson , Unknown Observer)

The Flash
1 Little Grebe
5 Pochard
116 Tufted Ducks
1 Goosander
8 Moorhens
5 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock Pool
5 Pochard
64 Tufted Duck
1 Goosander
72 Coots
69 Black-headed Gulls
15 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
43 Herring Gulls
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Middle Pool
1 Willow Tit
1 Tufted Duck
4 Goosander
(Ed Wilson)

2013
Priorslee Lake
28 Wigeon 
8 Gadwall 
25 Pochard 
99 Tufted Ducks 
1 Greater Scaup 
169 Coots
>1500 Black-headed Gulls
3 Common Gulls
>500 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
c.100 Herring Gulls
8 Great Black-backed Gulls
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
1 Glaucous Gull
1 Yellow legged Gull
(Richard Vernon)

2008
Priorslee Lake
1 Yellow-legged Gull
200 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1 Greater Black-backed Gull
27 Herring Gull
150 Black-headed Gulls.
(Martin Adlam)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
10 Pochard
17 Tufted Ducks
149 Coot again
1 Water Rail
2 Lapwings
10 Robins
13 Blackbirds
1 Willow Tit
37 Siskins
2 Redpolls
4 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)