20 Dec 18

Priorslee Lake and The Flash: then Trench Lock Pool and Trench Middle Pool

Priorslee Lake:  06:30 – 09:40
The Flash:  09:45 – 10:30
Trench Lock Pool:  10:45 – 10:55 // 11:30 – 11:45
Trench Middle Pool:  11:00 – 11:25

5°C > 10°C:  Broken cloud with mainly light showers. Clearer for a while. Light / moderate SW wind. Very good visibility

Sunrise: 08:19 GMT

Priorslee Lake:  06:30 – 09:40

(185th visit of the year)

Other bird notes:
- Mute Swans went for several flights around their estate: never looked like leaving
- all geese today certainly Greylag Geese both on call and visually – but not the ‘group of 10’
- only one pair of Gadwall noted: perhaps I was not diligent-enough in their revised W-end feeding area?
- drake Pochard new in
- significant reduction in Tufted Duck numbers
- 3 Goosanders dropped in: a brownhead quickly left: the pair remaining stayed mostly together for well over an hour with some strange ‘lying flat on the water’ behaviour from the duck
- slight increase in Coot numbers likely due to brighter viewing conditions
- first Black-headed Gulls not until 07:35: many fewer at any one time though usual confusion of later arrivals and / or returnees
- 2 Redwings seen feeding on ground along S side: unusual

Bird totals

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake
- 4 Greylag Geese? [1 outbound; 3 inbound]
- 3 small ducks sp. – Teal or Tufted Duck?
- 16 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Stock Doves
- 26 Wood Pigeons
- 124 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook again
- 1 Raven
- 2 Starlings

Birds recorded leaving roosts around the lake
- 64 Magpies
- 3 Redwings only

The counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 9 (7♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Pochard
- 65 (34♂) Tufted Ducks
- 3 (1♂) Goosander
- 1 Little Grebe still
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 11 Moorhens
- 84 Coots
- >250 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

My log of other things, on lamp poles
- 1 Mottled Umber moth – very fresh specimen
- 1 Nursery Web Spider
- >10 ‘winter midges’ [Trichocera relegationis?]
- small fly sp. later (?Black Legionnaire type?)

I was at the wrong end when the cloud cleared and some colour appeared in the sky. Looking west.

The actual sunrise was behind trees.

Behaviour I have not seen before from Goosanders. The pair on the lake mostly stayed together. The duck (brownhead) spent long periods apparently ‘drowning’ – in binoculars I could not see that her bill was just above water. His ‘sky-pointing’ is presumably a display to her.

Whatever she is doing seems to ‘get his tail up’!

I managed to catch this Jay on the ground. He was throwing leaves around just like the Blackbird that is hopping away on the left. No doubt looking for food underneath those leaves. Note the Blackbird has a few white feathers around the eye.

Something has caught the Jay’s beady eye.

This wary bird flew to a different area when I attempted to get any closer.

And here, at extreme range, is an even more wary Redwing hunting in the grass. We cannot see the ‘red wing’ but the face pattern is diagnostic.

A Song Thrush also in the grass. He was wary but less so.

And this Song Thrush was not worried about me – much.

A ‘new’ Mottled Umber moth this morning.

“Come in number 7”. We can see comparing the size of the fly with one of the numbers of the lamp just how small it was. There are not too many fly species active at this time of year. This is unusual in having wings much longer than its body. I suspect it might be one of the Black Legionnaire (Beris sp.) flies. But then again ....

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:45 – 10:30

(144th visit of the year)

Bird notes from here
- yesterday’s increased number of Mallard maintained: were not the birds missing from the lake yesterday as those had returned today
- drake Pochard new in
- first Kingfisher for a while: still no sightings at the lake though

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Jackdaws
- 1 Siskin

The counts from the water
- 2 + 1 Mute Swans: as usual
- 2 Canada Geese: as usual?
- 48 (29♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Pochard
- 23 (7♂) Tufted Ducks
- 46 (7♂) Goosanders
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 3 Moorhens
- 15 Coots
- 42 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Kingfisher

With a lot of white around the base of the bill is this a duck Scaup? No! We can see a vestigial ‘tuft’ indicating this is just a duck Tufted Duck.

And when she turns sideways the tuft does not look ‘vestigial' at all.

Another duck with somewhat less white at the base of the bill. Not really asleep.

A drake Tufted Duck from an unusual angle – see just how wide the bill is. Tufted Ducks are vegetarians, plucking underwater plants. Hence the bill shape to squeeze out the water.

Clap hands: it’s nearly Christmas. A duck Goosander celebrates.

This adult winter Lesser Black-backed Gull ticks all the species ID boxes. Note the fine streaking on the head; the red spot on the lower mandible; the dark trailing edge along the whole underwing with only the tips of the inner primaries slightly paler; the dark upperwing noticeably paler than the black of the wing tips; a wide-ish white trailing edge on the upper secondaries; white ‘mirrors’ in the three outer primaries only with white tips on all the upper primaries.

It cannot be Christmas without a Robin. A ‘climate change Robin’ – no snow!

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Lock Pool:  10:45 – 10:55 // 11:30 – 11:45

(30th visit of the year)

Bird notes from here
- Shoveler gone again
- drake Pochard new in [bird at Middle Pool still present]
- further small decline in Coot numbers

Birds noted flying over / near here
None

The counts from the water
- 1 Mute Swan again
- 21 Canada Geese
- 3 (2♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) ‘feral’ Mallard again
- 1 (1♂) Pochard
- 22 (8♂)Tufted Ducks
- 24 (6♂) Goosanders
- 2 Little Grebes again
- 1 Great Crested Grebe still
- 3 Moorhens
- 108 Coots
- 12 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls again

A quintuple of drake Goosanders [I think quintuplet would mean they were siblings?]. Strange how often these will stick together and ignore the plethora of ducks dancing around their handbags.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Middle Pool:  11:00 – 11:25

(29th visit of the year)

Notes from here
- a duck ‘feral-type Mallard’ back after some weeks. I have not seen it elsewhere
- the over-flying Goosanders did not seem to have gone to Trench Lock when I returned there
- Great Crested Grebe gone again
- most of the gulls left after a car backfired
and
- red-eyed Muscid fly found sunning on a lamp post (Phaonia subventa)

Birds noted flying over / near here
- 8 (2♂) Goosanders

The counts from the water
- 2 Greylag Geese remain
- 30 Canada Geese
- 31 (23♂) Mallard again
- 1 (0♂) ‘feral-type Mallard’
- 1 (1♂) Pochard yet again
- 6 (4♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 (0♂) Goosanders again
- 1 Cormorant 
- 9 Moorhens
- 29 Coots
- 41 Black-headed Gulls

I think this is the Muscid fly Phaonia subventa – no vernacular name. Noted as active though November it is likely that after the mild Autumn its flight season has been extended.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
5 Gadwall 
2 Teal 
6 Pochard 
94 Tufted Ducks 
10 Goosander
1 Water Rail
229 Coots
2 Fieldfare
85 Redwings
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
1 Little Grebe 
151 Tufted Ducks 
1 Greater Scaup 
2 Goosanders
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock Pool
1 Little Grebe 
1 Shoveler 
1 Pochard 
95 Tufted Duck 
133 Coots 
54 Black-headed Gulls
4 Lesser Black-backed Gull
1 Yellow-legged Gull
7 Herring Gulls
(Ed Wilson)

Horsehay Pool
Iceland Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
(Tom Lowe)

2010
Priorslee Lake
1 Mallard x Pintail
c.200 Black-headed Gulls
1 Common Gull
110 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
6 Herring Gulls
1 Redwing
4 Fieldfare
5 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Little Grebe
Black-necked Grebe
Water Rail
>3000 Black-headed Gulls
28 Swans
2 Gadwall
52 Pochard
112 Tufted Ducks
287 Coots
10 Redwings 
199 Jackdaws
6 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
31 Pochard
33 Tufted Ducks
c.400 Black-headed Gulls
c.2800 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
31 Herring Gulls
1 Yellow-legged Gull
18 Pied Wagtails
2 Redpolls
7 Reed Buntings
(Martin Adlam)