Priorslee Lake: 07:00 – 09:15
The Flash: 09:20 – 10:10
7.0°C: Low cloud beginning to break. Moderate SSE wind. Good visibility.
Sunrise: 08:22 GMT again
Another generally quiet morning
Priorslee Lake: 07:00 – 09:15
(298th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- The fifth Mute Swan cygnet again went for a fly on its own. It seemed to be unmolested by the resident cob.
- A mixed group of c.450 Jackdaws and c.50 Rooks went over at 07:50 with another c.425 Jackdaws two minutes later. Thereafter a steady stream of small numbers of, mainly, Rooks.
- Just four singing Song Thrushes.
- A single Reed Bunting seen flying away. From my position in the SE area I was unsure of its origin. It seemed to come from the S side reeds rather than the usual W end roost.
Bird totals:
Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 9 Greylag Geese: outbound again
- 2 Canada Geese: outbound
- 1 Common Buzzard again
- 17 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 5 Wood Pigeons only
- >900 Jackdaws
- c.100 Rooks
- 7 Starlings
- 1 Linnet again
Birds logged leaving roosts around the lake:
- [Magpies not counted]
- 1 Reed Bunting
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall again
- 11 (7♂) Mallard
- 42 (23♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 (0♂) Goosanders: departed
- [no Cormorants]
- 1 Grey Heron
- [no Little Grebes]
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 8 Moorhens
- 119 Coots
Gulls:
The first c.120 Black-headed Gulls arrived at 07:25 quickly building to c.600 before a passing Common Buzzard put them all in the air and many never resettled. Birds swirling around for much of the time, assumed to be the same as these. At c.09:00 I counted 85 on the academy’s football field and 52 on the ‘football’ field – again assumed to be from the original arrivals.
A few large gulls came and went
Arrival counts
- >600 Black-headed Gulls again
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 7 Herring Gulls
Nothing on any lamp pole pre dawn again. Windy.
Other sightings:
- 1 Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus) on Belisha beacon in Teece Drive
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Flash: 09:20 – 10:10
(283rd visit of the year)
Bird notes from here:
- Pochard numbers keep creeping up. No ducks noted for several days, only drakes.
- Small influx of Tufted Ducks – not from the lake where numbers have been fairly constant for some days.
- Great Crested Grebe(s) apparently gone again.
- At least 160 Black-headed Gulls on the water when I arrived. Something put them all up and later I could only log 52. The 23 noted flying over seemed to be different birds, travelling with one of the groups of Lesser Black-backed Gulls.
- Song Thrush in song
- One Redwing in the trees alongside squirrel alley.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 23 Black-headed Gulls
- 35 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans
- 8 Canada Geese
- 36 (21♂) Mallard
- 15 (15♂) Pochard
- 28 (13♂) Tufted Duck
- 11 (1♂) Goosander
- 1 Grey Heron still
- [no Great Crested Grebes]
- 1 Moorhen
- 12 Coots
- >160 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: 2 adult; 1 first-winters
No other sightings
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On this day..........
2018Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2012
Priorslee Lake
Drake Scaup
2 Yellow-legged Gulls
3 Great Black-backed Gulls
(Martin Grant)
2011
Priorslee Lake
4 Yellow legged Gull
22 Great Black-backed Gulls
(John Isherwood)
Priorslee Flash
Tundra Bean Goose
(John Isherwood)
Holmer Lake
9 Goosander
(John Isherwood)
2009
Priorslee Lake
1 Black-necked Grebe
4 Gadwall
2 Water Rail
2 Caspian Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Ring-billed Gull
(John Isherwood/Richard Vernon/Dawn Balmer/Peter Wilson)
2007
Priorslee Lake
1 Cormorant
3 Wigeon
30 Tufted Duck
4 Pochard
180+ Coot
3 Yellow-legged Gulls
4000+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls
65 Herring Gulls
1000+ Black-headed Gulls
(Martin Adlam)
2006
Priorslee lake
1 Little Grebe
3 Pochard
10 Tufted Ducks
1 Lapwing
>550 Black-headed Gulls
>108 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
c.40 Redwings
(Ed Wilson)
2005
Priorslee lake
c.3200 Lesser black-backed Gulls
c.1700 Black-headed Gulls
c100 Herring Gulls
8 Great Black-backed Gulls
4 Yellow-legged Gull
(Martin Adlam/Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)