21 Dec 18

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  10:50 – 11:35
The Flash:  09:45 – 10:40

9°C:  Broken cloud with mainly light showers. Fresh W wind. Very good visibility

Sunrise: not relevant

Early rain kept me away until later. The Flash at normal time. The lake later and only birds on the water logged

Priorslee Lake:  10:50 – 11:35

(186th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- better attempt at counting the Gadwall today, though one of the usual pairs not located
- the Yellow-legged Gull was a 1st winter bird and only ID-ed from photos

Bird totals

The counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 8 (4♂) Gadwall
- 8 (6♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Pochard
- 68 (32♂) Tufted Ducks
- 4 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Little Grebe
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 5 Moorhens
- 87 Coots
- 71 Black-headed Gulls
- 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull

This gull gave, and gives, me some confusion. When I saw it on the water I thought the mantle colour indicated it was a 1st winter Herring Gull. However in flight the upper-wing pattern did not look right. It was hard to see as the strong wind was blowing both me and the gull around. The best shots I could manage in those conditions helped. Here we can see that the inner primaries are not pale as they would be on a Herring Gull, only pale-edged. It also seems that while the primary and outer secondary coverts are dark the inner secondary coverts are not. It may be ‘blown out’ but there seems to be no spotting on the tail above the neat white-tipped black tail-band.

On this view the underside looks rather streaked and we get confirmation that the inner secondary coverts are indeed pale.

Confirmed here. My vote is for Yellow-legged Gull. The only other Herring Gull-like gulls reported in the area recently are Caspian Gulls and these show rather white / pale heads – the previous shot.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:45 – 10:40

(145th visit of the year)

Refurbishment of one of the footbridges has been completed and the path is again open all around the water. It will be closed again from 05 January for 3 weeks for the other footbridge to be done

The wooden steps behind The Priorslee (pub) have been recovered. Most of them now have close wire-mesh as an anti-slip measure. The large-gauge wide mesh installed a few weeks ago seemed likely to do more harm than good

Highlight was finally tracking down the strange loud calls I heard yesterday. I should have been able to recognise the calls as I was bemused by the same species at the lake only 6 weeks ago. A Ring-necked Parakeet. Managed some photos of it today. Became my 73rd species at / from The Flash in 2018, back-dated to yesterday

Other bird notes from here
- the usual 2 Canada Geese were joined by 46 more that flew in with 2 Greylag Geese
- the Lesser Redpoll fly-over was new for me here this year: my 74th species at / from The Flash in 2018

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 7 Jackdaws
- 2 Starlings
- 1 Lesser Redpoll

The counts from the water
- 2 + 1 Mute Swans: as usual
- 2 Greylag Geese
- 48 Canada Geese
- 35 (20♂) Mallard
- 20 (7♂) Tufted Ducks
- 70 (14♂) Goosanders
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 1 Great Crested Grebe again
- 3 Moorhens again
- 14 Coots
- 35 Black-headed Gulls

Part of the Goosander flock today: 11 of the 14 drakes present are in this group: only 9 of the 56 brownheads.

Here is the Ring-necked Parakeet.. Only males have a dark collar – there is a hint of one here at the side of the neck. Another name for this species is Rose-ringed Parakeet: not a particularly good name though on birds with the dark collar there is a red-edging.

Here it is doing what all parrots enjoy doing – chewing sticks.

(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 
7 Pochard 
74 Tufted Ducks
221 Coots
2 Fieldfare
65 Redwings
228 Jackdaws
119 Rooks
13 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
4 Gadwall.
12 Pochard
12 Goosanders
51 Tufted Ducks
145 Coots
c.280 Black-headed Gulls
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
c.265 Jackdaws
5 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

The Flash
12 Goosanders
4 Pochard
38 Tufted Duck
12 Goosanders
7 Coots
42 were Herring Gulls
44 Black-headed Gulls only on the water
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

Trench Lock Pool
32 Mute Swans
42 Tufted Duck
168 Coots counted
1 Great Black-backed Gull.
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Black-necked Grebe
Little Grebe
8 Great Crested Grebes
22 Swans
1 Gadwall
51 Pochard
148 Tufted Ducks
1 Water Rail
1 Snipe
1 Woodcock
274 Coots
8000+ gulls
2 Yellow-legged Gulls
7 Redwings
16 Goldfinches
13 Siskins
3 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson/Martin Adlam/Jim Almond)

2005
Priorslee lake
9 Pochard
16 Tufted Duck
c.2000 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
c.500 Black-headed Gulls
5 Great Black-backed Gulls
11 Herring Gull.
c.200 Coot 
1 Water Rail
15 Pied Wagtails
243 Rooks
532 Jackdaw
31 Siskin
2 Redpoll
16 Reed Bunting
(Martin Adlam)