31 Oct 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C. Scattered cloud after rain. Strong WSW wind. Very good visibility.

[Sunrise: 07:06 GMT]

* = a photo today.

Decided against an early start battling the wind and rain and waited until the clearance to see what had been blown in. Nothing!

Priorslee Lake:  12:17 – 13:02

(236th visit of the year)

Just viewing from the E-end lay-by.

Bird notes:

- Despite / because of the high wind the cygnets were taken for a flying lesson.

- Additional drake Gadwall and drake Pochard, the latter perhaps the bird at The Flash yesterday but not today.

- Higher Great Crested Grebe number likely because they were all out of the reeds for a change. I think three juveniles remain.

- Large Coot count.  Perhaps the later time meant they too were all out on the water. Also the light was better to see in to all the darker corners though their white shields makes them relatively easy to spot on gloomy days.

- Not too many gulls.

Counts from the lake area:

- 2 + 5 Mute Swans

- 8 (5♂) Gadwall

- 7 (5♂) Mallard

- 8 (7♂) Pochard

- 53 (?♂) Tufted Duck: 23 of these flew off W – to The Flash?

- 2 Cormorants

- 1 Grey Heron

- 14 Great Crested Grebes

- 2 Moorhens

- 183 Coots

- 87 Black-headed Gulls

- 35 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

- 1 Herring Gulls: first-winter bird

Nothing else noted:

A first-winter Herring Gull that caught my eye. The secondary coverts looked a bit darker than usual. The contrast and extent of the paler inner primaries rule out any thoughts of a Yellow-legged Gull. This seems an appropriate place to thank Tom Lowe for confirming the unusually-plumaged Lesser Black-backed Gull at The Flash on Thursday was a third-winter bird with some retained second-year plumage. He also provided a link to a web-site full of photos of interesting(?) gulls to keep me amused in any lock-down.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flash:  13:06 – 14:20

(221st visit of the year)

Bird notes:

- The Tufted Duck number is likely to be the most accurate I have counted recently. They were almost all in two large groups; rather few were diving; and none was flying about.

- Conversely many of the Goosanders were continually diving and, as usual, moving a long way underwater making counting difficult. The near-adult drake again and at least one other bird starting to moult in to drake plumage.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:

- 3 Common Buzzards

- 1 Feral Pigeon

- 2 Jackdaws

- 1 Redwing

Counts from the water: best effort in the rain

- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans

- *25 Canada Geese

- 29 (17♂) Mallard

- *139 (?♂) Tufted Duck (see notes)

- *22 (>1♂) Goosanders (see notes)

- 2 Great Crested Grebes

- 10 Moorhens

- 31 Coots

- *62 Black-headed Gulls

- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: second-winter

On the lamp poles

Nothing

Around the Ivy:

- 1 Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

- >30 Common Wasps (Vespula vulgaris)

- usual array of 'flies'

At last – a hoverfly. More remarkably it is the first of this common and abundant species I have recorded here this year.

Nothing of interest elsewhere: the Honey Bees were not tempted to appear

A later visit provided a good light on ducks from Derwent Drive. A duck Mallard.

A typically belligerent-looking drake Tufted Duck. Another bird still with a few grey feathers in the flanks.

A quartet comprising from the top: a drake Tufted Duck; a brownhead Goosander; a moulting drake Goosander; and a duck Tufted Duck.

A smart brownhead Goosander. Most of those I photographed show some white between the bill and the eye, often very faint, suggesting they are immature birds and cannot be sexed yet.

I cannot decide whether this one looks angry or just sad. The head colour of these two is different. I did not notice it at the time and it may just be the angle of the light. It could be dark drake feathers are starting to appear on the closer bird.

The back one here certainly looks angry

Another duo,

The formation swimming team

A problem with the wind.

Always good to get a highlight in the eye.

A closer look at the bird moulting in to drake plumage showing a mixture of brown and dark head feathers and whiter flanks

Can't let the ducks steal all the limelight. An adult winter Black-headed Gull

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On this day

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2018

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2016

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2015

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2014

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2013

Candles Landfill Site

2nd winter Caspian Gull

8 Yellow-legged Gulls

Great Black-backed Gull

c.700 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

(Tom Lowe)

2010

Priorslee Lake

Chiffchaff

Mistle Thrush

29 Fieldfares

32 Redwings

13 Siskins

3 Linnets

(Ed Wilson)

2009

Priorslee Lake

1 Shoveler

5 Wigeon

(John Isherwood)

2005

Trench Pool

2 Goosander

10 Shoveler

(John Isherwood)