Priorslee Lake and The Flash
Priorslee Lake: 07:05 – 09:40
The Flash: 09:45 – 10:45
6.0°C > 5.0°C: Overcast at medium level. Later more low cloud. Light / moderate E wind. Good visibility.
Sunrise: 08:22 GMT once again
Good wishes for 2020 to all my readers
Best of the day were the second-winter Common Gull at the lake and a drake Teal at The Flash
Priorslee Lake: 07:05 – 09:40
(300th visit of the year)
300 up!!!
A small arrival of Pochard and a pair of Great Crested Grebe new.
Bird notes:
- The fifth Mute Swan cygnet left to the W and was away for just about one hour.
- A different challenge today with the Jackdaws and Rooks. Many of the Rooks preceded the Jackdaws. Some of the Jackdaw groups were skimming the fields to the E and partially hidden behind hedges. Others groups were high overhead with some Rooks mixed in.
- Six singing Song Thrushes.
- One Linnet flew NE: later one flew SW – same bird?
- No Reed Buntings seen or heard in the roost area. One was calling in the SE area pre-dawn – an unusual location for this species. Then three flew together over the N side at 09:15: no idea where they had come from.
Bird totals:
Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 9 Greylag Geese: outbound in one group
- 24 Canada Geese: 22 outbound in one groups; two inbound
- 3 Black-headed Gulls
- 19 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 28 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Collared Doves: pairs
- c.750 Jackdaws
- 127 Rooks
- 3 Fieldfares
- 7 Redwings
- 3 Pied Wagtails
- 1 or 2 Linnets
Birds logged leaving roosts around the lake:
- 12 Redwings
- no Reed Buntings (see notes)
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 8 (6♂) Pochard
- 41 (23♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (0♂) Goosander: arrived
- 6 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron again
- [no Little Grebes seen]
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 10 Moorhens
- 122 Coots
- 1 Kingfisher
Gulls:
The first Black-headed Gulls arrived at 07:35. Again c.250 arrived at this time. Twenty large gulls arrived at this time as singles / small groups separately from the Black-heads
As usual almost all these gulls left. As they did so I noted a second-winter Common Gull departing with them. Later a similar number of Black-headed Gulls was present but whether these were returning birds, new birds or a mixture is impossible to say. Sadly the Common Gull was not with them. More large gulls all drifted in as a spread-out group.
Early arrival counts
- >250 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Common Gull: second winter
- 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 8 Herring Gulls
Gull count at 09:15
- >250 Black-headed Gulls
- 43 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 4 Herring Gulls
On the lamp pole pre dawn:
- 1 Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)
- 1 unidentified spider sp.
There was also a small moth flying around, likely a Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) but just possibly the first Early Moth (Theria primaria) of the winter.
Other sightings
- 1 Grey Squirrel
Not at all sure about this spider. No real features to begin to identify it.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 09:45 – 10:45
(285th visit of the year)
A postscript to yesterday’s note about the man throwing a weighted object in to the water. It was suggested that he was not fishing but throwing a magnet in to the water, searching for metal objects.
Bird notes from here:
- My second Teal record here this year – previously on 19 April when no doubt on Spring passage.
- I had only found six brownhead Goosanders. One seen in flight is recorded as a fly-over but may have been lurking on the water earlier.
- A calling Great Spotted Woodpecker was my first record this month.
- A group of 18 Goldfinches around the island.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 (0♂) Goosander (see notes)
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 9 Feral Pigeons
- 2 Wood Pigeons
Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans
- 5 Canada Geese
- 1 (1♂) (Common) Teal
- 40 (23♂) Mallard
- 8 (8♂) Pochard again
- 25 (14♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 (0♂) Goosander: departed
- [no Grey Heron seen]
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Moorhens
- 13 Coots
- 56 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gull: 1 adult; 1 second-winter
- 2 Kingfishers flying about
No other sightings.
Here endeth 2019!
(Ed Wilson)
Note:
Click Here for the FoPL 2019 Summary
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On this day..........
2018Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2013
Priorslee Lake
Two 1st-winter female Scaup
(Ian Grant)
2012
Priorslee Lake
Drake Scaup
(Jim Almond and Paul Spear)
2010
Priorslee Lake
c.1500 Black-headed Gulls
1 Common Gull
1 Great Black-backed Gull
Water Rail
(Ed Wilson)
2005
Priorslee lake
11 Great Crested Grebes
31 Pochard
48 Tufted Duck
237 Coot
Golden Plover
1 Water Rail
700 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
c.1250 Black-headed Gulls
300 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1 Yellow-legged Gull
37 Herring Gulls
6 Great Black-backed Gull
374 Jackdaws
178 Rooks
1 Kingfisher
1 Willow Tit
2 Redpolls.
2 Redwings
14 Robins
19 Blackbirds
13 Greenfinches
5 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)
