22 Nov 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  11:25 –13:00
The Flash:  10:20 – 11:20

7.0°C:  Mostly cloudy. Some rain c.11:15. Light ESE wind. Good visibility.

[Sunrise: 07:44 GMT]

I had intended to make an afternoon visit today. The weather forecast suggested otherwise and I escaped the worst of the rain.

Priorslee Lake:  11:25 –13:00

(270th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The two adult and four of the Mute Swan cygnets have Darvic rings confirming they are the breeding group returned from their air-tests at the start of the month. The ring on the fifth cygnet could not be read but it must be the reluctant flyer born here: any other bird would not be tolerated by the resident cob.
- Throughout small groups of large gulls, mainly adult Lesser Black-backs, flew from the N with many stopping off to bathe, drink and loaf for a while. Some carried on overhead without stopping.
- Up to eight first-winter Herring Gulls seemed to be a more permanent fixture.
- What was presumably the same first-winter Caspian Gull – white head; jet-black bill – was present again for at least part of the time.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- c.35 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans again
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall again
- 9 (6♂) Mallard
- 3 (2♂) Pochard
- 37 (20♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 (0♂) Goosander: arrived
- 2 Cormorants: one out; one in
- 2 Little Grebes again
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens
- [Coots not counted]
- c.110 Black-headed Gulls again
- c.225 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: mostly adults; most stopped off
- c.15 Herring Gulls: few adults
- 1 Caspian Gull: first winter; arrived?

This duck Goosander dropped in – I saw it in flight and can therefore confirm from the wing-pattern that it was not an immature drake still with a brown head.

The Goosander proceeded to paddle off in to the middle distance but I was just about able to take a poor ‘compare and contrast’ shot between it and a Great Crested Grebe.

Here is an instructive trio of gulls. In front a first-winter Herring Gull. Behind it the first-winter Caspian Gull, the bird seen here on and off for several weeks. And at the back an adult winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. The typical first-winter Caspian Gull features of clean white head and all jet black bill are well seen. Here the bird is clearly a lot larger than the Herring Gull. This is not a reliable identification feature as male Herring Gulls are typically larger than females and ‘northern race’ birds (winter visitors here) are typically larger than ‘our’ Herring Gulls. I would suspect the Herring Gull is a southern race female.

Here is the same first winter Caspian Gull compared with an adult winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. It does not look so large yet a typical Lesser Black-backed Gull is smaller than a typical Herring Gull. Perhaps this is a male Lesser Black-back. The bird stretching its wings behind is another adult winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. All the bird books tell you this species has proportionately longer and narrower wings than a Herring Gull – a feature I have found to be no use whatsoever in the field!

Another instructive photo. Bottom left and top right are adult winter Lesser Black-backed Gulls, the bird on the right showing less head-streaking. The bird at the top left is a typical adult winter Herring Gull. But what about the bird at the bottom right? The mantle is clearly darker. There are brown feathers evident in the folded tertials suggesting this is a second-winter bird. Is it a ‘northern race’ Herring Gull? Or could it be a Yellow-legged Gull? My vote would be the former as the bill seems too long and narrow for the latter species which would also typically show a squarer head profile.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  10:20 – 11:20

(256th visit of the year)

Bird notes from here:
- 9 Pochard a good count – all drakes too.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Counts from the water: quiet again.
- 3 Mute Swans
- 14 Greylag Geese: departed
- 2 Canada Goose
- 29 (15♂) Mallard
- 9 (9♂) Pochard
- 37 (>16♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Great Crested Grebe again
- 3 Moorhens
- 9 Coots again
- 66 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all briefly: two adults; one second winter
- 1 Herring Gulls: both briefly: first winters
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull: first winter flew off
- 1 Kingfisher again

Other things:
- on the usual lamp pole
        - 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus harvestman
- elsewhere
        - 1 Grey Squirrel

A photo of what I assumed was a first-winter Herring Gull cruising by, leaving the water.

As it passed then several things not quite right. The very well-defined tail band and clean-looking upper tail is quite different from the typical smudgy tail band a spotted upper tail of a first-winter Herring Gull. And only four, perhaps five, of the inner primaries are paler

Another ‘going away’ view shows the inner wing coverts to have some barring. These features point the bird being a first-winter Yellow-legged Gull.

This first-winter Herring Gull was at the lake but is included here for comparison. Note the more extensive and obvious pale inner primaries typical of this species at this age.

(Ed Wilson)

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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

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
8 Wigeon
6 Gadwall
4 Teal
2 Shoveler
2 Pochard
116 Tufted Duck
2 Water Rails
222 Coots
1 Snipe
c.90 Lapwing over
4 Yellow-legged gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
A Ring-billed x Lesser Black-backed Gull hybrid
134 Fieldfare
22 Redwings
171 Jackdaws
3 Ravens
3 Siskins
3 Redpolls
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood/JW Reeves)

Horsehay Pool
Caspian Gull
1  Yellow-legged Gull
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
1 Kingfisher
12 Goosander
Raven
(JW Reeves)

2012
Priorslee Lake
3 Gadwall
8 Pochard
24 Tufted Ducks 
152 Coots 
8 Redwings
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
8 Great Crested Grebes
1 Cormorant
56 Greylag Geese
12 Pochard
187 Tufted Duck
1 Goosander
2 Water Rails
149 Coot
c.800 Black-headed
c.2200 Lesser Black-backed
<20 Herring Gulls
1st winter Common Gull
50 Redwings
8 Fieldfare
1 Treecreeper
c.1000 Starlings left a roost
c.20 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
23 Greylag Geese
27 Pochard
55 Tufted Ducks
3 Buzzards
>1650 Black-headed Gull
>4022 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
246 Wood Pigeons
1 Kingfisher
26 Robins
27 Blackbirds
4 Fieldfares
34 Redwings
male Blackcap
1 Willow Tit
246 Jackdaws
160 Rooks
8 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)