18 Dec 18

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  06:30 – 09:05
The Flash:  09:10 – 09:35

9°C > 8°C:  Overcast with periods of rain. Strong S wind. Very good visibility

Sunrise: 08:17 GMT again

Perhaps not as wet as forecast, though rain started earlier than predicted. Enough to dampen things

Priorslee Lake:  06:30 – 09:05

(183rd visit of the year)

Other bird notes:
- outbound geese back to 10 (after the 11 yesterday). Again only Greylag Goose calls heard but still too dark to ID
- all 5 pairs of Gadwall seen
- some drake Pochard back again
- exactly the same number of Tufted Duck as counted yesterday: slightly more drakes. Neither day likely to 100% accurate in the conditions
- at 08:10 Goosanders appeared overhead, circling a couple of times and then 22 flew off E. A few moments later I noticed that 8 (2 drakes) were on the water. Unusually some of these stayed for over 15 minutes before flying off SW
- Coots not counted: at one stage 43 on the SW grass in front of the sailing club shelter (with 8 Moorhens and a Blackbird)

Bird totals

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake
- 10 Greylag Geese? [1 group outbound]
- 22 (?♂)Goosanders
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 2 Wood Pigeons only
- >70 Jackdaws

Birds recorded leaving roosts around the lake
- 2 Redwings
- 1 Reed Bunting
Not the weather for seeing / hearing birds leaving roost-sites

The counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans remain
- 10 (5♂) Gadwall
- 10 (7♂) Mallard
- 4 (4♂) Pochard
- 102 (55♂) Tufted Ducks
- 8 (2♂) Goosanders
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Little Grebe
- 3 Great Crested Grebes still
- 9 Moorhens
- [Coots not counted]
- >400 Black-headed Gulls

Nothing on any of the lamp poles this morning – blown off!

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:10 – 09:35

(142nd visit of the year)

Bird notes from here
- the 2 Canada Geese seem to be a permanent fixture at the moment. Where are all the other geese?
- 8 of the duck Goosanders were flying off as I arrived. Several more seen in flight later may have been coming or going

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash
None

The counts from the water
- 2 + 1 Mute Swans
- 2 Canada Geese: same?
- 34 (20♂) Mallard
- 18 (6♂) Tufted Ducks
- 47 (3♂) Goosanders
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 1 Moorhen
- 12 Coots
- 45 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: same?

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day..........
2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's sightings Here

2014
Local Area
Today's sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
5 Gadwall 
7 Pochard
48 Tufted Ducks 
233 Coots
324 Black-headed Gulls
19 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
11 Herring Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
6 Fieldfare
151 Redwings
284 Jackdaws
156 Rooks
4 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe.
4 Gadwall.
12 Pochard.
43 Tufted Ducks.
182 Coots
189 Wood Pigeons
20 Redwings
184 Jackdaws
3 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
1 Black-necked Grebe
4 Great Crested Grebes
29 Swans
42 Pochard
2 Water Rails
c.900 Black-headed Gulls
c.2200 large gulls
127 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
12 Redwings
2 Fieldfare
16 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
3 Gadwall
13 Pochard
(John Isherwood)

2005
Priorslee Lake
c.2500 Black-headed Gulls
c.200 Lesser Black-backs
20 Pochard
58 Tufted Duck
A drake Wigeon
6 Great Crested Grebe
2 Little Grebe
c.200 Coot
2 Water Rail
202 Rooks
247 Jackdaws
11 Pied Wagtails
23 Siskin
5 Redpoll
19 Reed Bunting
(Martin R Adlam)