9.5°C > 10.0°C: Cloudy with some rain to start; clearing but staying mainly cloudy. Moderate W wind, dropped light. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 06:41 GMT
(24th visit of the year)
A drake Shelduck present for c.20 minutes was my 70th confirmed species at the lake this year
Other notes from today:
- the 2 Mute Swans had 2 Canada Geese to see off as well as the feral goose to terrorise again. Strangely they either did not see or care about the Shelduck
- yesterday’s extra drake Gadwall gone again
- one Grey Heron left to the E at 06:30 as another arrived from the W; that too left later and yet another came in from the N. Only a single bird at any one time
- one of the Great Crested Grebes later seen flying off low W towards The Flash
- I stayed in the area from where the most accurate count of Magpies leaving their roost can be made: at 58 rather more than I had though present recently, but still many fewer than 2 months ago
- just one big group of Jackdaws seen today
- early unseen party/ies of Rooks overhead at 05:55 again. Later many more than yesterday
- the two Mistle Thrushes did seem to fly right across the lake and away to the SW
- Dunnocks now very noisy: at least 10 singing around the lake and 4 more seen
and
- 1 March Moth found on a different lamp this morning
Birds noted flying over the lake
- 6 Canada Geese (3 pairs)
- 2 (0♂) Goosanders
- 3 Cormorants
- 5 Black-headed Gulls
- 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 2 Feral Pigeons
- 13 Wood Pigeons
- 140 Jackdaws (19 groups) (see notes)
- >50 Rooks (21 singles / groups) (see notes)
- 2 Mistle Thrushes
- 2 Pied Wagtails
- 2 Goldfinches
- 22 Siskins (3 groups)
Roost / departure counts
- 58 Magpies
- 1 Redwing
The counts from the lake area
- 2 Mute Swans
- 2 Canada Geese
- 1 all-white feral goose remains
- 1 (1♂) Shelduck
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 27 (19♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Cormorants
- 3 Grey Herons
- 11 Great Crested Grebes
- 8 Moorhens
- 33 Coots
- 41 Black-headed Gulls
Acting rather coy?
A slight shake of the head: interested?
Apparently not.
But then again ...
Perhaps if I raise my crest that might do the trick?
Seems more interested.
But no: both swam off. Of course Murphy’s Law applied and as soon as I walked away ...
As shown here.
They even managed to dance and he offered her some weed.
All over ... for now.
A few Siskins were finding enough in the Alder cones to be worth attacking.
A female tucks in.
Her bill seems rather oddly shaped with the upper mandible having an ‘overhang’.
But she seems to be managing OK.
Another view of that bill in use.
Siskins seem to very happy feeding upside down.
(Ed Wilson)
Trench Lock Pool: 16:27 – 16:45 // 17:40 – 17:50
(8th visit of the year)
I decided to make a late afternoon visit to check any gull roost. There was not a single gull on the water here either before or after I walked to Middle Pool!
The only birds noted flying over here were the many Black-headed Gull en route to Middle Pool with a very few large gulls passing over
Otherwise much the same as my previous visit apart from the Shoveler having moved on
The counts from the water
- 4 + 3 Mute Swans
- 24 Canada Geese
- [no Mallard seen]
- 2 (2♂) Pochard
- 39 (27♂) Tufted Ducks
- 8 (2♂) Goosander
- 1 Cormorant again
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Moorhens yet again
- 51 Coots yet again
- no gulls at all!
An interesting reflective backdrop to this Mute swan cygnet. With this amount of white the adults will almost certainly start chasing the three cygnets away. Last year the adults were rather late to breed so the youngsters may get a respite.
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Trench Lock Pool: 16:27 – 16:45 // 17:40 – 17:50
(8th visit of the year)
I decided to make a late afternoon visit to check any gull roost. There was not a single gull on the water here either before or after I walked to Middle Pool!
The only birds noted flying over here were the many Black-headed Gull en route to Middle Pool with a very few large gulls passing over
Otherwise much the same as my previous visit apart from the Shoveler having moved on
The counts from the water
- 4 + 3 Mute Swans
- 24 Canada Geese
- [no Mallard seen]
- 2 (2♂) Pochard
- 39 (27♂) Tufted Ducks
- 8 (2♂) Goosander
- 1 Cormorant again
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Moorhens yet again
- 51 Coots yet again
- no gulls at all!
The local cob Mute Swan ‘rests’ a leg. Swans seem well-able to swim sideways – so as to speak.
(Ed Wilson)
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Trench Middle Pool: 16:50 – 17:35
(7th visit of the year)
Went here to follow up a walk past in January when I found 100s of Black-headed Gulls and a dog-walker had told me that a big roost was usual in winter. At Trench Lock Pool it was obvious many birds were headed this way. And so it proved. >1600 were present when I arrived and more arrived all the time peaking at c.2500 with birds still arriving
Every single one of these birds was a Black-headed Gull! Less than 15% of these I would judge were adults with full black hoods and most were certainly immatures. A few larger gulls arrived in the overhead with the Black-heads but these flew on W
Other notes
- one of the Cormorants flew off: the other 4 were in the trees on the island
- a Stock Dove flew in to the trees along the N side
and
- a Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) was new for me here this year
Birds noted flying over here
- 1 Buzzard
- c.20 large gulls
The counts from the water
- 2 Mute Swans
- 11 Greylag Geese
- 52 Canada Goose
- 17 (13♂) Mallard
- 21 (14♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 (0♂) Goosander again
- 5 Cormorants
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 9 Moorhens
- 16 Coots
- >2500 Black-headed Gulls
As a postscript one of the dog-walkers reported that the drake Mandarin Duck reported from Trench Lock had also been seen here.
A tree-full of Cormorants.
And they do get ‘spooked’. As far as I could tell there were no collisions.
But soon settled back, still with no collisions.
An adult in ‘full-cry’.
‘Fly me to the moon’!
‘Fly me to the moon’ again.
Another shot with an interesting background.
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day in ...........
2016Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2012
Priorslee Lake
1 Iceland Gull
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
(John Isherwood)
Holmer Lake
1 Goosander
(John Isherwood)
2011
Priorslee Lake
13 Pochard
41 Tufted Ducks
1 Oystercatcher
(Ed Wilson)
2007
Priorslee Lake
9 Cormorant
15 Tufted Duck
1 Woodcock
311 Wood Pigeon
36 Robin
24 Blackbird
10 Redwing
53 Magpie
5 Reed Bunting
(Ed Wilson)
2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Ruddy Duck
1 Little Grebe
4 Great Crested Grebes
2 Herons
1 Cormorant
6 Pochard
42 Tufted Ducks
2 Ruddy Ducks
103 Coots
1 Water Rail
1 Ring-billed Gull
141 Wood Pigeon
142 Jackdaws
23 Blackbirds
11 Song Thrushes
1 Redwing
14 Greenfinches
6 Reed Buntings.
(Ed Wilson and et al)