16 Jan 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  06:45 – 09:40
The Flash:  09:45 – 10:15

7°C > 8°C > 6°C:  Clear start then partly cloudy until rain at 10:06. Moderate SW wind. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 08:14 GMT

The forecast was for rain at 10:00: it started at 10:06 and dropped the temperature. There was very little warning of the rain – no high or medium cloud ahead of the cloud-bank that dropped the rain

Priorslee Lake:  06:45 – 09:40

(16th visit of the year)

One new bird species added to my 2019 log from here
56      Feral Pigeon
well I had to add it sometime!

Another very quiet morning. Perhaps the forecast cold weather will move some things around

Bird notes
- the only goose party outbound contained 13 birds, all Canadas. Three of these looked as if they wanted to peel off and settle on the water, but in the end they carried on with the others
- back to 6 (3 pairs) of Gadwall
- 4 Mallard flew off E pre-dawn and remain unsexed for the log
- the courting Great Crested Grebes were together for only a short while: no display seen
- >150 Black-headed Gulls above the lake as early as 07:05. Increased to >>500 birds. These continued to circle around only thinking about settling after 07:30 and then many of them didn’t bother and left
- no idea where the big parties of Jackdaws were this morning. Perhaps I was distracted by the Magpie roost: perhaps the swirling mass of Black-headed Gulls masked them
- 7 Song Thrushes in song today. 3 non-singing birds seen, including one on the W end footpath hunting by the street lights at 06:50
- the only Reed Bunting I saw either left its roost or was flushed from along the S side

Bird totals

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake
- 13 Canada Geese [outbound in 1 group]
- 2 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 5 Feral Pigeons
- 10 Wood Pigeons
- 66 Jackdaws only

Birds recorded leaving roosts around the lake
- 51 Magpies
- 1 Reed Bunting (see notes)

The counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 6 (3♂) Gadwall
- 14 (7+♂) Mallard
- 6 (3♂) Pochard
- 17 (8♂) Tufted Ducks
- 3 Little Grebes
- 3 Great Crested Grebes again
- 11 Moorhens
- 64 Coots
- >>500 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull again

My log of other things, on lamp poles
- 1 unidentified Muscid fly

With rain on the way it ought to have been a red sky but wasn’t. Just a few good breaks.

The long view. Until last weekend the bottom left would have included a number of small trees.

An interesting cloudscape looking W.

What I assume is the same Buzzard has found another perch to look for prey.

And here about to pounce in the grass. Rather unusual behaviour as this grass is right alongside Castle Farm Way, though there is a crash-barrier between the road and the Buzzard.

Early morning on the SW grass and the Moorhens and Coots help to keep a short sward. In this view 4 Moorhens and 10 Coots (and 1 Black-headed Gull): often up to 9 Moorhens and 35 Coots. Later they scatter around the W end.

An interesting photo in that it illustrates how hard it is to make accurate estimates of flocks of birds. I took this shot of some of the Black-headed Gulls that had decided to settle after circling over the lake for more than 30 minutes. I thought there were c.350 circling and that only some of these had settled. Not all of those are in this view. In the calm of my lounge a rough count finds there are in fact >500 birds in this view alone. So just how many were there altogether? Can you spot the rarity? Neither can I!

Taken by the light of the bright LED lamps along the W end footpath at 06:50 this is one of the Song Thrushes that was not singing – well not at this time anyway.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:45 – 10:15

(15th visit of the year)

Rain stopped play

One new bird species added to my 2019 log from here
40      Grey Wagtail

Notes from here
- Gadwall present for their 4th day
- Mallard numbers restored
- the Ring-necked Parakeet screaming around again

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash
- 1 Grey Wagtail

The counts from the water
- 2 + 1 Mute Swans
- 4 Canada Geese
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall still
- 44 (26♂) Mallard only
- 43 (21♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Moorhens
- 21 Coots again
- 19 Black-headed Gulls only

Any excuse to photograph a drake Gadwall. Seconds later rain stopped play.

(Ed Wilson)

Note:

1. Click Here for a Summary of the 2018 Priorslee Lake Report.

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

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
4 Great Black-backed Gulls
(Gary Crowder/Ed Wilson)

2013
Priorslee Lake
Drake Scaup
1 adult Yellow legged Gull
6 Great Black-backed Gulls
1 Goldeneye
(Ed Wilson/ Jim Almond / John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Bittern

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Great Black-backed Gull
1 Yellow-legged Gull
(Ed Wilson)