8 Jan 20

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 – 10:40 // 11:30 – 11:50
Trench Middle Pool:  10:45 – 11:25

10.0°C > 9.0°C:  Cloudy again; somewhat brighter than of late. Light W wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 08:20 GMT

Priorslee Lake:  07:00 – 09:35

(8th visit of the year)

A very quiet morning – apart from seven noisy singing Song Thrushes at the lake.

Other bird notes:
- Several groups of large gulls flew directly overhead while it was still too dark to ID them.
- Another morning with a huge mixed party of Rooks and Jackdaws high overhead – as well as the usual express groups of Jackdaws passing low across the area.
- Two Starlings leaving a roost around the lake were unexpected.
- A Reed Bunting was in song at the W end. Seems an early date to me.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls only
- 69 unidentified large gulls
- 11 Wood Pigeons
- >1200 Jackdaws
- >100 Rooks

Birds logged leaving roosts around the lake:
- 2 Redwings
- 2 Starlings
- 1 Reed Bunting

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans again
- 6 (4♂) Gadwall
- 5 (3♂) Mallard again
- 4 (4♂) Pochard
- 28 (19♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Little Grebe
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 11 Moorhens
- 85 Coots

Gulls:
The first Black-headed Gulls mostly dropped in from high overhead just after 07:30.
By 07:45 a group of 34 large gulls had landed.
As usual most of these birds gone soon after 08:00.

Early arrival counts
- >500 Black-headed Gulls
- 28 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 Herring Gulls

Later there was only a small number of gulls overhead with a few of these stopping off:
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls

On lamp poles pre dawn: [* = new species for the year]
- 1 Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata)
- 1 *Early Moth (Theria primaria)
- many ‘winter midges’
- 1 *weevil sp., possibly Apion frumentarium
- 2 *Common European Earwigs (Forficula auricularia)
- 2 *Nursery Web Spiders (Pisaura mirabilis)
- 2 different unidentified spider sp.
- 2 *Dicranopalpus ramosus (harvestman)

No other sightings

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

Not my best-ever photo of a Reed Bunting but my first of a singing male in January.

A bonanza on the lamps after a mild night. This is my first Early Moth (Theria primaria) of the year. Not dissimilar to Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) – same size and colouration. A subtle difference in wing shape. However the clue is the wavy sub-terminal band across the forewings.

Now here is something I did not expect in January – quite obviously a weevil and very tiny. I suspect Apion frumentarium, a seed weevil, though it should not be active at this date.

Three for the price of one: bottom left is a Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis); on the right a Common European Earwig (Forficula auricularia) – a male as it has curved ‘pincers’; and at the top an unidentified small spider.

I also have had to give up with this spider. It is too elongated to be another Nursery Web Spider and I thought it might be one of the stretch spiders. However the palps are too prominent. Pass

This is the harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus. Identify this species by the obviously thicker basal part of the legs.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:40 – 10:20

(7th visit of the year)

Bird notes from here:
- My first Greenfinch here this year was a bird already making its wheezy territorial ‘song’.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 10 Feral Pigeons
- 2 Starlings

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans as ever
- 10 Canada Geese
- 31 (19♂) Mallard
- 9 (9♂) Pochard
- 55 (32♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 (1♂) Goosander again
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens
- 15 Coots
- 73 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: both adults

No other sightings:

Additional bird species for my 2020 bird list at this site:
43      Sparrowhawk
44      Greenfinch

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Lock Pool:  10:30 – 10:40 // 11:30 – 11:50

(3rd visit of the year)

Bird notes from here:
- A Cormorant, new for the year here, the only real excitement.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
None

Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 21 Canada Geese
- 13 (8♂) Mallard
- 10 (6♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 (2♂) Goosander: departed
- 1 Cormorant again
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- [no Moorhens]
- 7 Coots
- 48 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: both adults
- 2 Herring Gulls: both first-winters
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull

Additional bird species for my 2020 bird list at this site:
32      Cormorant

A small group of Tufted Duck went for a fly-about. Three ducks with a drake at the rear – see how the white on the flanks is clearly delineated and extends right in to the ‘arm-pits’.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Middle Pool:  10:45 – 11:25

(3rd visit of the year)

Highlights
- The Pink-footed Goose again flew in with the smaller number of Greylag Geese.
- The Yellow-legged Gull also made it over from Trench Lock Pool where I saw it earlier but showed worrying pink legs in photos I took of it.

Other notes from here:
- Food had been provided at the E end of the embankment, away from the island, and this probably allowed a more accurate count of the number of Coots present as they left cover to scramble for the goodies.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
None

Counts from the water:
- 1 Pink-footed Goose: with Greylags again
- 27 Greylag Geese: 25 of these arrived
- 34 Canada Geese
- 1 all-white feral Goose-type
- 25 (18♂) Mallard
- 12 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 (2♂) Goosanders
- 1 Cormorant again
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 14 Moorhens
- 40 Coots
- 66 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls: all first-winters
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull

Other sightings:
- 1 Grey Squirrel

Additional bird species for my 2020 bird list at this site:
29      Herring Gull

A good angle to see all the features of a flying first-winter Herring Gull. Above the dark tail-band the upper-tail is spotted – on a Lesser Black-backed Gull the tail-band stands out black and clearly contrasting with a white upper-tail. The inner primaries are obviously paler than the rest of the wing trailing-edge.

This is, I assume, the same Yellow-legged Gull that has been present for some weeks – the dark smudges on the greater coverts suggest it is not quite a full adult. The sequence of photos that I took this morning sent me back to the literature. Note the bold white ‘mirror’ on the outer primary only.

Here as it is about to land we see the legs are ... not yellow! I might be persuaded that the legs are pale yellow and the feet are pink, but ...

... here I am less convinced.

A shot of the underside does not really help. It confirms that the ‘mirror’ is on the outer primary only. Any gull that is not fully adult would be expected to show some dark smudging in the tail – this does not. But if it is an immature then that might explain why the legs are pink and not yellow. Puzzled of Newport!

(Ed Wilson)

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

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2017
Local area
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
Drake Scaup
Goldeneye
(Martin Grant)

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

2012
Priorslee Lake
Caspian Gull
41 Great Black-backed Gulls
11 Bullfinches
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
29 Swans
4 Gadwall
c.22 Pochard
c.66 Tufted Duck 
c.280 Coots 
c.1500 Black-headed Gulls
c.500 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
c.60 Herring Gulls
Caspian Gull
2 Buzzards 
1 Siskin over
(Ed Wilson/Unknown Observer)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Iceland Gull
(Paul King)

2008
Priorslee Lake
1 Yellow-legged Gull
500+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls
23 Herring Gulls
(Martin Adlam)

2007
Priorslee Lake
2 Great Crested Grebes
3 Pochard
28 Tufted Ducks
>1050 Black-headed Gulls
51 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
34 Herring Gulls
10 Great Black-backed Gulls
31 Robins
13 Blackbirds
32 Fieldfares
34 Redwings
5 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
1 Little Grebe
1 Kingfisher
1500 Black-headed Gulls
1 Common Gull
c.84 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
8 Herring Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
22 Pochard
54 Tufted Duck
210 Coot
2 Water Rail
1 Reed Bunting
21 Robins
20 Blackbirds
10 Greenfinches
(Ed Wilson)