29 Feb 20

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

Priorslee Lake:  07:30 – 08:50
The Flash:  08:55 – 09:40
Trench Lock Pool:  09:50 – 09:55 // 10:30 – 10:55
Trench Middle Pool:  10:00 – 10:25

6.0°C > 5.0°C > 6.0°C:  Clearing after yet more rain. Brief sleet shower, then fine. Fresh and gusty WSW wind. Very good visibility.

[Sunrise: 06:57 GMT]

Priorslee Lake:  07:30 – 08:50

(45th visit of the year)

I avoided the early rain and made only a short, shower-interrupted, visit to the E end lay-by area.

Notes:
- Only two Mute Swan cygnets located. One of these was with the adults. The other ‘nearby’.
- The drake Goosander flew off and was not the bird seen flying over.
- An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull dropped in during the shower but soon left again.
- A Skylark was singing over the fields to the E.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 1 (1♂) Goosander
- 2 Common Buzzards
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult
- 1 Herring Gull: immature
- 10 Wood Pigeons

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans only
- 6 (4♂) Mallard
- 8 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (1♂) Goosander
- 2 Little Grebes
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Moorhens
- 47 Coots
- 105 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult

Nothing else of note.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  08:55 – 09:40

(44th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- If the Greylag Goose seen at the edge of the island, intermittently, is ‘standing guard’ then it does not seem to be very reliable.
- Numbers of Tufted Duck continue to vary without any obvious reason. Some do haul out on the island and can be hard to find: not that many?
- One of the drake Goosanders was likely the same still-moulting first-year as seen on several days recently.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 2 Jackdaws

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 12 Canada Geese: 2 of these departed
- 26 (14♂) Mallard
- 8 (8♂) Pochard
- 35 (19♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 (3♂) Goosander
- 1 Cormorant
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 7 Moorhen
- 18 Coots
- 13 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull: immature
- 1 Kingfisher

 Its that time of year again: Mallard sitting on the roofs. Here a drake ....

... meanwhile the duck sips water from the gutter!

Another in the ‘compare and contrast’ series: a drake Goosander compared with a Moorhen.

Now the Moorhen with a pair of Goosanders. I can’t make up my mind about the expression on the Goosanders’ faces. Are they perplexed? amused? or deciding who should eat it?

Here is the first-year male Goosander still in moult. Great hair-do.

And again. Side-on we see the extent of white along the flanks.

No mistaking the sex now: the white goes all the way across the wing so it must be a drake.

Folding the wings away.

Best view yet.

I have many photos of Goosanders diving, usually with a lot less visible than this. This duck shows their diving technique well.

And you thought Carrion Crows were black. They have a slight blue gloss like this when the light is right – Rooks gloss even more. Note the small white area in the folded wing. When this species moults in summer some birds, especially (but not exclusively) juveniles, acquire extensive white tips to wing-feathers. These mostly soon wear off.

An ‘ordinary’ male House Sparrow. A challenge for you with this common bird: draw an outline of a bird and then, without looking at any pictures, mark the plumage details and colours.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Lock Pool:  09:50 – 09:55 // 10:30 – 10:55

(16th visit of the year)

Bird notes from here:
- Now 13 Coots
- Stock Dove overhead was new for me at this site this year.

Birds noted flying over / near here [other than local Wood Pigeons and Jackdaws]:
- 2 Common Buzzards
- 1 Stock Dove
- 2 Starlings

Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 24 Canada Geese
- 4 (4♂) Mallard
- 5 (3♂) Tufted Ducks
- [no Goosander]
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Moorhen again
- 13 Coots
- 23 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Additional bird species for my 2020 bird list at this site:
#45     Stock Dove

Just two large gulls here – two different adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls. I suppose this has yellow legs?

The Canada Goose pair formation team prepare to land.

A few of the nearly one hundred Black-headed Gulls. Here, unlike at the lake, very few show a lot of black in the head as yet.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Middle Pool:  10:00 – 10:25

(16th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- Nothing noted on the side pool today.
- Both Great Crested Grebes confirmed. Not taking much notice of each other.
- Just 48 Black-headed Gulls when I arrived: the rest spiralled down from high overhead.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
None

Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 9 Greylag Geese
- 37 Canada Geese
- 1 all-white feral duck?-type
- 12 (9♂) Mallard
- 12 (7♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 11 Moorhens
- 14 Coots only
- 98 Black-headed Gulls

(Ed Wilson)

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

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2012
Priorslee Lake
4 Great Crested Grebes
4 Pochard
32 Tufted Duck
Iceland Gull
11 Song Thrushes
c.33 Redwing
(Ed Wilson, Ian Grant)

Priorslee Flash
4 Great Crested Grebes
10 Pochard
45 Tufted Duck 
(Ed Wilson)

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

Nedge Hill
A pair of Wheatear
6 Sky Larks
1 Fieldfare
3 Redwings
Lapwing
Green Woodpecker
14 Linnets.
(Ed Wilson)