15 Jan 20

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

Priorslee Lake:  07:00 – 09:10
The Flash:  09:15 – 09:55
Trench Lock Pool:  10:10 – 10:15 // 10:55 – 11:20
Trench Middle Pool:  10:20 – 10:50

6.0°C > 8.0°C:  Cloudy start, clearing from W after 10:00. Light / moderate SW wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 08:15 GMT

Priorslee Lake:  07:00 – 09:10

(14th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- All four ‘resident’ cygnets (7JSI, 7JSL, 7JSN, 7JSP) back with their parents (7JNU, 7JSS) after one left for a fly-around yesterday. An additional cygnet landed c.08:25. It soon got the message from the adults and left.
- The outbound group of seven geese went over when too dark to ID: sounds of Greylags but likely the group of 1 Greylag, 1 Canada and their 5 mixed siblings.
- Very large number of Jackdaws with many of these rather low and distant to the E. No Rooks noted with these groups – would not expect it as the Jackdaws were so low. No Rooks seen at this time elsewhere, just a lone bird flying N – the wrong way – later.
- Still unable to locate a Goldcrest here since the turn of the year. They seemed quite regular in December and I would not have thought it has been cold-enough to move them on.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 7 unidentified geese: outbound
- 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 11 Herring Gulls
- 6 Wood Pigeons only
- c.1300 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook

Birds logged leaving roosts around the lake:
None

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans: additional cygnet briefly
- 10 Canada Geese: arrived and later departed
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall
- 6 (4♂) Mallard
- 20 (11♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Grey Heron
- [no Little Grebes]
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 13 Moorhens
- 71 Coots

Gulls:

Early arrival:
- Only c.300 Black-headed Gulls arrived, with none before 07:45.
- No large gulls arrived before 08:00
counts
- c.300 Black-headed Gulls

After 08:00 very few large gulls arrived and none stayed any length of time:
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 7 Herring Gulls

Nothing on any lamp pole pre dawn: either blown or washed away.

Other sightings:
- 1 Grey Squirrel: first of year here

New bird species for my 2020 bird list at this site.
None

The visiting Mute Swan cygnet on its way. Not enough light to be able to see whether it is ringed.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:15 – 09:55

(13th visit of the year)

Bird notes from here:
- Some of the Pochards seem to have moved on.
- My first log of multiple Cormorants for a long while.
- At least 13 Goldfinches around the top end.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 4 Herring Gulls
- 1 Jackdaw

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans
- 6 Canada Geese
- 39 (23♂) Mallard
- 6 (6♂) Pochard only
- 39 (20♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 (3♂) Goosander
- 2 Cormorants
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Moorhens
- 15 Coots
- 32 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult
- 5 Herring Gull: two first winters; two second winters; one adult – all briefly
- 1 Kingfisher: heard only

No other sightings:

New bird species for my 2020 bird list at this site.
None

A trio. From the left duck Goosander, drake Tufted Duck and drake Pochard all with very individual silhouettes. Not sure why the Pochard is showing pale between the eye and the bill. It is not a feature of juveniles so would not appear to indicate this is a first-winter bird acquiring adult drake plumage.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Lock Pool:  10:10 – 10:15 // 10:55 – 11:20

(5th visit of the year)

Bird notes from here:
- two pairs of Moorhens seen battling away like Coots – not seen that too often.
- A single Goldfinch in the trees was a new species for me here in 2020.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
None

Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swans as usual
- 30 Canada Geese
- 6 (4♂) Mallard
- 4 (3♂) Tufted Ducks: 3 (2♂) of these flew off
- 2 (1♂) Goosander
- 5 Great Crested Grebes still
- 4 Moorhens
- 7 Coots
- 29 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: both adults
- 2 Herring Gulls: both first-winters
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull: (near) adult again

Additional bird species for my 2020 bird list at this site (in sighting order):
36      Goldfinch

Good light and some close approaches provided the opportunity to snap a few gulls! These two adult winter Black-headed Gulls were chasing about and crashing in to the water, apparently for the enjoyment of doing so.

Here is an adult winter Lesser Black-backed Gull, still with head streaking. This species typically looks long-winged. Here the angle of the right wing makes it look rather paddle-shaped.

And here from the front. This species is supposed to have yellow legs. Look pink to me.

An even closer view. I suppose the legs might be described as ‘flesh coloured’: the feet are certainly pink.

And from below again. Note the dark sub-terminal area along the underside of the secondaries. Herring Gulls do not show this.

And here showing that the dark sub-terminal area does not extend across the inner primaries.

I think this is the same bird. It dived in to the water and emerged with this in its bill ....

Much over-enlarged. Best guess would be a crayfish, possibly the American invader, the Signal Crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus).

I spent a while with the putative near-adult Yellow-legged Gull that has been present for several weeks. It is the dark feathering in the primary coverts that suggests that this bird is not quite a full adult. Note however that there is no trace of any remnant dark tail band.

From the underside. Here is also looks as if some of the inner primaries are not quite full-grown.

Slightly different angle from above. Note that only the outer primary has a white ‘mirror’. On adult Yellow-legged Gulls the outer two primaries should show this feature.

Another angle (with a distant passing Magpie in the background). The inner primaries do look slightly shorter than they should.

Last flying shot (this week!)

As it settles on a buoy ....

... and nearly falls off.

Try and tell me this bird has yellow legs! As I have concluded previously this could be because it is not a full adult. On the other hand I could be completely wrong with my identification.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Middle Pool:  10:20 – 10:50

(5th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- I noted a Pink-footed Goose arriving with Greylag Geese. Only later did I notice there were in fact four Pink-footed Geese together.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull

Counts from the water:
- 4 Pink-footed Geese: arrived with Greylags
- 14 Greylag Geese: 11 of these arrived
- 26 Canada Geese
- 1 all-white feral Goose-type
- 18 (12♂) Mallard
- 24 (11♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 (3♂) Goosanders
- 2 Great Crested Grebes as usual
- 8 Moorhens only
- 33 Coots
- 57 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull: adult, briefly

No other sightings:

New bird species for my 2020 bird list at this site.
None

Well now: four Pink-footed Geese with one Canada Geese. Note how much smaller than the Canada Goose they are. Note the variation in the extent of the pink on the bill and also that three of the birds show a variable amount of white around the base of the bill. This is not something I had ever noted before, though checking with the literature this is not unusual.

This is the pink-foot with the most extensive pink on the bill. A drake Tufted Duck gets in on the action.

This appears to be an adult Herring Gull that has already lost any winter head-streaking. However .... I cannot explain why it has a white ‘mirror’ only on the outermost primary. The only other candidate with a back this pale would be Caspian Gull and that should have white mirrors on the outer two primaries (as well as a longer, more slender bill).

A different view. A Caspian Gull would likely look more ‘deep-chested’.

(Ed Wilson)

Note:

1. Click Here for a Summary of the 2019 Priorslee Lake Report.

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

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
1 Velvet Scoter
3 Scaup
10 Pochard
87 Tufted Duck
2 Goosander
121 Coot
23 Herring Gull
4 Great Black-backed Gull
181 Lesser Black-backed Gull
157 Black-headed Gull
Kingfisher
(Gary Crowder, Chris Cameron)

2013
Priorslee Lake
1 Greater Scaup
4 Gadwall
1 Goldeneye
82 Tufted Ducks 
15 Pochard
143 Coots
1 Dunlin
1 Great Black-backed Gull
3 Redwings
1 Fieldfare
184 Jackdaws
4 Siskins
(Ed Wilson, Mike Cooper, John Isherwood)

The Flash
29 Tufted Duck 
8 Goosanders 
14 Goldfinches
(Ed Wilson)

Little Wenlock, Candles Landfill Site
Caspian Gull
Yellow-legged Gull.
(Observer Unknown)

2012
Priorslee Lake
5 Great Crested Grebes
19 Pochard
22 Tufted Duck
2 Goosanders
14 Magpie
1 Yellowhammer
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Mediterranean Gull
2 Yellow legged Gulls
3 Great Black-backed Gulls
20 Herring Gull
100 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
80 Black-headed Gulls
c. 60 Tufted Duck 
9 Pochard
(Mike Cooper, Andy Latham)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Glaucous Gull
(Geoff Holmes) 

2007
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
8 Cormorants
11 Pochard
29 Tufted Ducks
>252 Black-headed Gulls
>66 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
23 Herring Gulls
200 Wood Pigeons
35 Robins
15 Blackbirds
76 Fieldfares
17 Redwings
1 Willow Tit
39 Magpies
217 Jackdaws
175 Rooks
11 Greenfinches
4 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
9 Cormorants
200 Wood Pigeons
11 Great Crested Grebes
11 Pochard
24 Tufted Duck
243 Coot
1 Water Rail
236 Jackdaws
216 Rooks
33 Siskins
15 Pied Wagtails
24 Robins
19 Blackbirds
8 Greenfinches
(Ed Wilson)