14 Feb 15

Priorslee Lake: 6:37am - 9:12am

Map

Telford sunrise: 7:28am

4.5°C > 6.0°C Low cloud with drizzle again, mainly early. Moderate NNE wind. Poor visibility, improving somewhat.

Very little seen moving on another murky morning

The Teece Drive entrance remained firmly blocked and contractors were busy along the roadway: I was led to believe access to the yacht club would be possible at weekends during the work

Best were
- the drake Teal that flew out of (through?) The Flash
- 2 Woodcock arriving together at their daytime roost at the lake at 06:45

(11th visit of the year)

Notes
- very poor number of gulls
- apart from c.90 Wood Pigeons in the trees around the lake almost no others were seen: scanned the distant woods and trees and no groups: just a few singles flying about. There were 3 birds ‘singing’ at 06:35
- the few Jackdaws that were seen were all at the extreme of the morning’s poor visibility: does not entirely explain why there were so few Rooks as these have been passing more or less overhead recently
- much smaller Redwing roost count this morning: later two small groups passing over much later, one of which included my first Fieldfare of the year at this site

Counts of birds flying over the lake (therefore in addition to those on / around lake)
- 14 Canada Geese
- 21 Black-headed Gulls
- [no large gulls over]
- 1 Stock Dove
- c.120 Jackdaws
- 4 Rooks only
- 9 Fieldfare
- 39 Redwings
- 2 Pied Wagtails

Counts of birds leaving roosts around the lake
- 22 Magpies (partial count in poor weather)
- 61 Redwings

The counts from the water
- 2 Mute Swans
- 6 (3♂) Gadwall
- 3 (1♂) Mallard
- 2 (2♂) Pochard
- 21 (12♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Water Rail
- 9 Moorhens
- 104 Coots
- 2 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
- 143 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls

(Ed Wilson)

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Priorslee Flash: 9:17am - 10:00am
Map

(10th visit of the year)

Notes
- still more Goosanders initially: again more drakes than ducks. Someone fired a shotgun somewhere in the NW wooded area (putting up >100 Wood Pigeons) and 13 (6♂) shot off, with just 2 (2♂) returning to rejoin the 5 (4♂) less jumpy birds
- 2, at least, Great Crested Grebes new in to join the bird that arrived earlier this week. Just perhaps a 4th: as noted previously there is no single point where all the water can be seen

Birds counted flying over The Flash
- 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 4 Feral Pigeons

The counts from the water
- 2 Mute Swans
- 9 Canada Geese
- 1 all-white feral goose
- 1 (1♂) Teal
- 34 (23♂) Mallard
- 1 white feral duck
- 5 (3♂) Shoveler
- 6 (3♂) Pochard
- 33 (17♂) Tufted Ducks
- 18 (10♂) Goosanders
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 10 Moorhens
- 16 Coots
- 7 only Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

8 of the many Goosanders flushed off The Flash in response to the nearby gunshot. Note the wing pattern of the ducks with the white area confined to the rear part of the wing – on the drakes this patch is across the complete width of the wing as can be seen on the two drakes (well one and a bit!) shown here.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Lock Pool: 10:08am - 10:34am
Map

(7th visit of the year)

Notes
- Coots seem to be drifting away
- very few gulls here as well

The counts from the water
- 2 Mute Swans
- 15 Canada Goose
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 8 (5♂) Mallard
- 3 feral Mallard-type ducks
- 3 (3♂) Shoveler
- 32 (10♂) Tufted Ducks
- 3 (1♂) Goosander
- 1 Cormorant
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Moorhens
- 84 Coots
- 16 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day in 2008, 2009 and 2012

Priorslee Lake
2012
1st winter Iceland Gull
5 Great Black-backed Gull
(John Isherwood)

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2009

Juvenile Glaucous Gull
(Observer Unknown)

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2008
Adult Iceland Gull
2 winter Iceland Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
(Ed Wilson / Rich Vernon / Andy Latham)