Priorslee Lake: 06:40 – 09:15
The Flash: 09:20 – 10:15
0.0°C: Clear and frosty. Almost calm. Moderate visibility with haze.
Sunrise: 07:46 GMT
Priorslee Lake: 06:40 – 09:15
(25th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- The two Canada Geese again arrived from the W and stayed throughout.
- Now two pairs of Gadwall.
- Yesterday’s new trio of Great Crested Grebes gone.
- Fewer Moorhens than usual. With the SW grass well frosted neither this species not Coots feed here and it is a question of finding out where they are hiding.
- Jackdaws numbers even more difficult to estimate than usual as they threaded their way through the circling Black-headed Gulls: indeed one party of c.130 Jackdaws circled with the gulls for a while – looking for a way out?
- Skylark heard in song over fields to the E: my first here this year.
- A lone Long-tailed Tit seen – most unusual to find one apparently on it own.
- Only the male Pied Wagtail was in the E end lay-by. Neither of the pair recently present was noted yesterday.
Bird totals:
Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 1 Cormorant again
- 26 Black-headed Gulls
- 39 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Feral Pigeon again
- 2 Stock Doves
- 18 Wood Pigeons
- c.880 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook
Birds logged leaving roosts around the lake:
- 30 Magpies again
Nothing else
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 2 Canada Geese: arrived again
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall
- 11 (7♂) Mallard
- 5 (2♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Cormorant again
- 2 Grey Herons again
- Little Grebe(s) heard again
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 9 Moorhens
- 52 Coots
Gulls:
Arrival:
- >300 Black-headed Gulls were circling overhead by 06:50. Whether these were birds disturbed from their roost here or whether they had arrived and were reluctant to settle is impossible to say. These were joined by c.50 more from the W and then 8 large gulls. They continues to circle until after 07:30 by which time most had departed. The first Black-headed Gull touched down at 07:38 with no more than 30 seen on the water at any time.
counts
- c.350 Black-headed Gulls
- 8 unidentified large gulls – flew off before ID
Thereafter a few large gulls arrived..
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all adults
- 1 Herring Gull: first year
The lamp poles still devoid of insects:
Additional bird species for my 2020 bird list at this site:
Yesterday I omitted to note that the fly-over Feral Pigeon was new in 2020 for me at this site so the entry should have read:
#62 Feral Pigeon
#63 Fieldfare
Today:
#64 Skylark
The only one of the eleven singing Song Thrushes that deigned to sing in sunlight.
It was a ‘sneak-up’ job on this singing male Reed Bunting.
A white frost this morning. A view along the South side looking West.
Here is a frosted dead head of Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium)
And here some dead willowherb covered in frost.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 09:20 – 10:15
(24th visit of the year)
Bird notes from here:
- Bumper number of Tufted Ducks with, in particular, many more ducks than yesterday.
- A drake Goosander seen flying in – was it alone? I was positioned such that I barely glimpsed this bird as it went behind the island.
- All the large gulls stayed only briefly.
- Stock Dove heard calling from trees behind dental surgery.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 2 Starlings
Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans
- 10 Canada Geese
- 40 (24♂) Mallard
- 6 (6♂) Pochard remain
- 77 (39♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (1♂) Goosander: arrived
- 2 Great Crested Grebes still
- 6 Moorhens
- 13 Coots
- 19 Black-headed Gulls only
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: one adult; one first-winter
- 3 Herring Gulls: all first-winters
- 1 Kingfisher
No other notable sightings
Maximum braking as this duck Mallard looks to pitch on to the water.
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day..........
2019Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2014
Priorslee Lake
1 Velvet Scoter
3 Scaup
9 Pochard
9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
c80 Black-headed Gulls
(Gary Crowder)
Telford Central Railway Station
35 Redwing
(Gary Crowder)
Horsehay Pool
1 Caspian Gull
(Tom Lowe)
2013
Little Wenlock, Candles Landfill Site:
2 Glaucous Gulls
1 Caspian Gull
(Kris Webb)
2012
Priorslee Lake
4 Great Crested Grebes
15 Pochard
54 Tufted Duck
c.1200 Black-headed Gulls
1 Common Gull
c.420 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
c.30 Herring Gulls
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
(Ed Wilson)
Priorslee Flash
10 Pochard
47 Tufted Duck
(Ed Wilson)
Trench Lock
2 Little Grebes
30 Tufted Duck
(Ed Wilson)
2011
Priorslee Lake
3 Pochard
6 Goosanders
4 Pale Brindled Beauty moths
(Ed Wilson)
2007
Priorslee Lake
34 Greylag Geese
9 Pochard
56 Tufted Ducks
1 Water Rail
775 Black-headed Gulls
488 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
3 Herring Gull
1 Great Black-backed Gull
28 Robins
19 Blackbirds
8 Song Thrushes
1 Redwing
1 Willow Tit
41 Magpies
250 Jackdaws
100 Rooks
4 Greenfinches
2 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)
2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
22 Pochard
63 Tufted Ducks
164 Coots
600 Wood Pigeons
c.1300 Black-headed Gulls
84 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
9 Herring Gulls
21 Robins
24 Blackbirds
9 Song Thrushes
3 Willow Tits
11 Greenfinches
15 Siskins
17 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)