25 Dec 19

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******** MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR READERS *********

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Priorslee Lake, The Flash, Trench Lock Pool and Trench Middle Pool

Priorslee Lake:  07:00 – 09:35
The Flash:  09:40 – 10:20
Trench Lock Pool:  10:30 – 10:35 // 11:10 – 11:35
Trench Middle Pool:  10:40 – 11:05

4.0°C > 6.0°C:  Mainly clear and sunny. Light W wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 08:21 GMT again

Festive Greetings again to all my readers

Priorslee Lake:  07:00 – 09:35

(294th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Both adult Mute Swans chased the fifth cygnet. It flew right away from the lake to the W and out of sight only to return a few minutes later.
- Coot number back to ‘recent normal’. Much better light this morning probably explains.
- It is an unusual date to see Wood Pigeon movements. A party of 96 birds flew N at 08:45. A few minutes later a group of 61 flew SW to the SE. Then 10 minutes after that 79 (and one Stock Dove) also flew N. Odd
- Another huge Jackdaws passage. After the first large group of c.600 birds at the early time of 07:31 the rest were spread over a longer 15 minute period.
- A good number of Rooks also. The first group of 46 just preceded the first Jackdaws. They passed very high and I doubt I would have seen them had I not heard them call – which I probably could only do because there was almost no traffic noise. Another 16 as singles / pairs c.08:45 was also unusual.
- Three Song Thrushes singing: a Mistle Thrush was seen but did not sing.
- For many days a pair of Pied Wagtails has taken up residence in the lay-by at the E end. With no burger van today there were no crumbs so no birds.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 6 Greylag Geese: outbound
- 1 Canada Goose: outbound with the Greylags
- 84 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 1 Stock Dove
- 257 Wood Pigeons (see notes)
- >1100 Jackdaws
- 62 Rooks

Birds logged leaving roosts around the lake:
- 1 Redwing only

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 38 (19♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 Little Grebes
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 14 Moorhens
- 133 Coots

Gulls:
At 07:15 there were c.20 Black-headed Gulls and two Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the water. Could not tell whether these had roosted or had arrived under cover of darkness. The latter assumed for logging purposes.

A very few large gulls arrived before 08:00 when >250 Black-headed Gulls arrived high from the W

A scatter of gulls arriving later, all quickly moving on.

Gull arrival counts
- c.300 Black-headed Gulls
- 15 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 Herring Gulls

Also: on lamp poles pre dawn:
- 5 Winter Moths (Operophtera brumata)
- 1 caddis fly sp.: an unusual date for this group of insects
- 1 Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)
- 1 Common Stretch-spider (Tetragnatha extensa)
- 1 ‘spiderling’

No other sightings

‘Our’ fifth Mute Swan cygnet makes off after being chased by both its parents. Only departed for a few minutes. Zoom in and you can just about read the ring – 7JSJ?

A stately Grey Heron. Unusual of this species to allow so close an approach ...

... and was soon off, here still tucking in its neck and feet to their flight positions.

Now all tucked away.

Not often I get the opportunity for a shot of a flying adult winter Herring Gull. Note the light streaking on the head of this individual. The outer primary has a large white ‘mirror’ and the adjacent primary a rather small ‘mirror’. Both these feathers also have white tips.

Like #11 buses: two come along together. Here is Mr. Grumpy, another adult winter Herring Gull with heavier head streaking.

The underwing pattern of the same bird. Note the dark area under the secondaries (the inner part of the trailing edge). On a Lesser Black-backed Gull the dark is almost continuous across the whole trailing edge apart from a small area around the inner primaries.

“I can see you hiding”. The rufous on the flanks and the just-about-visible supercilium, tell us it must be a Redwing.

And indeed it is. Two Redwings in fact.

A species not noted for sitting out at the tops of trees – Bullfinch. The red-breasted male is at the bottom right and the browner-breasted female partially hidden is on the left. The third bird displays the prominent white rump – often what catches the eye as these birds make off.

Here is the caddis fly sp. on one of the lamp poles this morning. To even begin to identify most caddis flies you need to be to see the arrangement of spurs on each set of legs. A few have distinctively patterned wings. Any pattern cannot be seen here due to the effect of the camera flash. So I am not going to be able to ID this! Only when I looked at the photo did I realise there was a spiderling present as well.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:40 – 10:20

(279th visit of the year)

Bird notes from here:
- Food was being made available so all the Mallard were easy to count.
- On recent visits a few brownhead Goosanders have been tucked up against the island with the loafing Pochard. Perhaps some are ‘residing’ at the moment and not leaving each evening.
- A drake Goosander flew over without pausing.
- I now understand what all the recent Sparrowhawk activity has been about: three birds today = territorial dispute! Difficult to judge their sizes as birds were at different heights: looked like two males and one female.
- A Song Thrush singing again.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 (1♂) Goosander
- 3 Sparrowhawks (see notes)
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: adults

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans as ever
- 4 Canada Geese
- 43 (25♂) Mallard
- 11 (10♂) Pochard
- 24 (14♂) Tufted Duck
- 10 (0♂) Goosander
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens
- 12 Coots
- 92 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: 2 adults; 1 first-winters
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull: first-winter
- 1 Kingfisher yet again

Other sightings
- on one of the lamp poles around the water
        - 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman

- on one of the lamp poles in squirrel alley
        - 1 Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata)

- on the Ivy bank by Priorslee Academy
        - 1 unidentified Muscid fly
nothing else.

“My tuft is better than your tuft”. A duck Tufted Duck compares head-dress with a brownhead Goosander.

This looks to me like a first-winter Yellow-legged Gull. Note the rather white head and the almost unmarked tertials. I still have a lot to learn about gulls.

It was great light and this bird sat still long enough ... and it is a species I do not often photograph. A female House Sparrow. Seen like this you realise how large the bill is.

The bank of Ivy was in the sun. I could find only this single Muscid fly and that was just sitting around warming up.

More (premature) signs of Spring. Hazel catkins.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Lock Pool:  10:30 – 10:35 // 11:10 – 11:35

(56th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- Now a pair of Mute Swans after a long period with just one bird, or this bird chasing off multiple intruders. Neither bird is ringed.
- Number of Mallard back to a more usual value.
- No Little Grebes found for the second visit.

Birds noted flying over / near here [other than local Wood Pigeons and Jackdaws].
None

Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swan: both unringed
- 33 Canada Geese
- 8 (5♂) Mallard
- 2 (0♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 (0♂) Goosander
- 7 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Moorhens
- 6 Coots
- 19 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all adults
- 1 Herring Gull: 2nd winter

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Middle Pool:  10:40 – 11:05

(55th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- Rather fewer Moorhens and Coots this visit. It would be churlish to complain about the sun in my eyes ... This is more likely to have impacted the Coot count than that of the Moorhens.
- What seemed to be a adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Counts from the water:
- 56 Greylag Geese
- 37 Canada Geese
- 1 all-white feral Goose-type again
- 23 (17♂) Mallard
- 19 (8♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 (2♂) Goosanders
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Great Crested Grebe still
- 12 Moorhens
- 24 Coots only
- 76 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult
- 2 Herring Gulls: 1 1st winter; 2nd winter (different to bird at Trench Lock)
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull: adult

The first of a quartet of gulls. Here an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, likely of the darker fuscus race, sometimes known as Baltic Gull. In this race the mantle (back) is almost indistinguishable in tone from the very dark wing tips. Note the bill structure – long with rather parallel sides. Note too the dark smudging on the bill of what is obviously an adult bird – also typical of fuscus.

The lighting conditions were very different here from anywhere else this morning. This first-winter Herring Gull looks almost strange. Note the base of the bill has started to go brown. Note too the well-marked tertials.

Here is a classic second-winter Herring Gull with many new and adult-looking grey back feathers. On this individual the extent of brown on the bill and the marks on the tertials are very similar to the first-winter bird

This is an adult winter Yellow-legged Gull. Even more difficult light as the sun-lit bird is against very dark-looking water, the reflection of the island. Note the clean white head and darker back than any Herring Gull. Note too the red eye-ring around the yellow eye. There is some black on the upper mandible of this bird. I ruled out Caspian Gull because that species has a very parallel-sized bill. Here, at the red-spot (the gonys), the bill is kinked (it makes an obvious ‘gonydeal angle’).

(Ed Wilson)

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

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
5 Gadwall 
2 Teal 
6 Pochard 
78 Tufted Ducks 
1 female Greater Scaup
222 Coots counted
Caspian Gull
2 Fieldfare
17 Redwings 
429 Jackdaws
173 Rooks
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
1 Pochard 
110 Tufted Ducks 
17 Goosanders
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock Pool
11 Swans 
1 Shoveler 
c.115 Tufted Duck 
7 Goosander
129 Coots 
41 Black-headed Gulls
51 Lesser Black-backed Gull
1 Yellow-legged Gull
21 Herring Gulls
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Black-necked Grebe
26 Mute Swans today
4 Great Crested Grebes
>17 Greylag Geese
4 Gadwall
26 Pochard
97 Tufted Ducks
Common Gull
309 Coot
5 Goldfinches
c.20 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee lake
1 Great Crested Grebe
31 Pochard
33 Tufted Ducks
58 Coots
c.500 Black-headed Gulls
c.3200 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
12 Herring Gulls
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
15 Pied Wagtails
1 Redpoll
3 Reed Buntings
(Martin Adlam)