28 Jan 20

Priorslee Lake, The Flash, Trench Lock Pool and Trench Middle Pool (not quite that order)

Priorslee Lake:  11:40 – 12:00
The Flash:  09:20 – 10:00
Trench Lock Pool:  10:10 – 10:25 // 11:05 – 11:30
Trench Middle Pool:  10:30 – 11:00

3.0°C > 6.0°C:  Scattered / broken cloud with light showers. Moderate WSW wind. Very good visibility.

[Sunrise: 07:59 GMT]

Priorslee Lake:  11:40 – 12:00

(18th visit of the year)

Short visit to check on water birds only

Bird notes:
- Typically low day-time count of Moorhens. Once they leave the SW grass soon after dawn they are always tricky to find.

Counts from the lake area only:
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- [no Gadwall]
- 3 (2♂) Mallard
- 14 (7♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Cormorants
- 1 Little Grebe
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Moorhen
- 52 Coots
- 73 Black-headed Gulls
- 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: 11 of these adults
- 12 Herring Gulls: 10 of these first winters

No other sightings:

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:20 – 10:00

(17th visit of the year)

Bird notes from here:
- One of the Cormorants in full breeding plumage.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans
- 10 Canada Geese
- 32 (19♂) Mallard
- 8 (8♂) Pochard
- 47 (29♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 (1♂) Goosander
- 2 Cormorants
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 7 Moorhens
- 13 Coots again
- 39 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull: one adult; one first-winter
- 1 Herring Gull: first-winter

Other sightings:
- 1 Grey Squirrel

Two Cormorants this morning. The bird on our left has its head twisted at an awkward angle though we can just about see the extensive white head-plumes that give breeding adults like this a crested appearance. Older birds tend to have the more extensive plumes like this bird. The other bird lacks these but now has a crisp white chin patch. It shows no other features of an immature bird, the belly being solid black.

At extreme range from the other side we also see the white thigh patch acquired ahead of the breeding season by both sexes.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Lock Pool:  10:10 – 10:25 // 11:05 – 11:30

(7th visit of the year)

Bird notes from here:
- Further decline in Great Crested Grebe numbers

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 2 Starlings

Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 17 Canada Geese
- 1 (1♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Pochard again
- 10 (8♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Little Grebe again
- 3 Great Crested Grebes only
- 1 Moorhen again
- 7 Coots
- 22 Black-headed Gulls
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all adults
- 7 Herring Gulls: six first-winters: one adults; one second-winter; five first winters
- 1 confusing immature Herring-type Gull (see pictures)
- 1 possible Yellow-legged Gull: (near) adult again
- 1 Great Black-backed Gull: near-adult

Additional bird species for 2020 recorded here this morning
- 38    Common Buzzard
- 39    Starling

A first-winter Herring Gull drops down to the water. The inner primaries are obviously pale.

Splat! We can see the pale grey on the mantle from this angle.

Possibly the same first-winter Herring Gull – the bill-pattern looks identical. There were several of this age present.

A good view of the underwing. A Lesser Black-backed Gull would show much more contrast in the markings. We can see the pale inner primaries on the right-hand wing – this feature is less obvious from below.

This, I thought, was the long-staying putative near adult Yellow-legged Gull .....

... however when it flew it showed more extensive dark marks on the coverts – including the secondary coverts. Still just one white mirror in the outer primary. It seems to show an unusually broad trailing edge to the wings. Also odd is that there appears to be no remnant black band in the tail, present in almost all immature gulls. It is a strange mix of features and I can find nothing like it in any of my books. It is clearly a ‘Herring Gull-type’. Beyond that ....?

Now THIS is our long-staying putative near adult Yellow-legged Gull.

But where are its yellow legs?

Splat again! How did it manage to pick up a sheet of water? Note the white mirror only in the outer primary also shows from the underside of the wing.

Those legs are NOT yellow. But then it is not an adult .... So?

This brutish-looking gull is, I think, a near adult female Great Black-backed Gull. With that massive bill I don’t think it could be a large male fuscus (dark) race of Lesser Black-backed Gull. The slight streaking on the crown and the black on the bill suggests it is not a full adult. The tone of the mantle matches that of the wing-tip – fuscus would appear a tad lighter on the mantle. In a full adult the folded wings should show larger white spots.

Here it flies away. While it did not seem to ‘lumber’ away – which is why I suspect it is a smaller female – then the white trailing edge to the wings extends more or less evenly on to the inner primaries whereas it tapers off on Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Middle Pool:  10:30 – 11:00

(7th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- Rather quiet: very little apart from the regular ‘bread-feeders’.
- The possible Yellow-legged Gull seemed to be commuting between here and Trench Lock.
- Two small groups of Chaffinches an unusual sighting.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
None

Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 4 Greylag Goose
- 34 Canada Geese
- 1 all-white feral goose-type
- 31 (20♂) Mallard
- 6 (3♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (1♂) Goosanders
- 2 Great Crested Grebes as ever
- 17 Moorhens
- 37 Coots
- 92 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult, briefly
- 1 Herring Gull: adult, briefly
- 1 possible Yellow-legged Gull: (near) adult, briefly

No other sightings:

(Ed Wilson)

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

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Local Area
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
12 Pochard
63 Tufted Duck
3 Greater Scaup
Velvet Scoter
3 Great Black-backed Gulls
16 Redwings over
555 Jackdaws
345 Rooks
(Ed Wilson, Gary Crowder)

The Flash
120 Tufted Ducks
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock Pool
3 Pochard
34 Tufted Duck
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Middle Pool
2 Goosanders
(Ed Wilson)

2013
Priorslee Lake
31 Wigeon 
10 Gadwall 
11 Pochard 
44 Tufted Ducks 
1 Greater Scaup 
177 Coots again 
38 Herring Gulls
1 Yellow-legged Gull
9 Redwings
52 Magpies
3 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
2 Shoveler 
4 Pochard 
57 Tufted Duck 
1 Goosander 
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
5 Great Crested Grebes
21 Pochard
38 Tufted Duck
150 Wood Pigeons
57 Redwings 
(Ed Wilson)

Priorslee Flash
36 Tufted Ducks
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock Pool 
7 Pochard
33 Tufted Ducks
(Ed Wilson)