3 Mar 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

2.0°C > 4.0°C: Very low cloud / mist. A few spots of rain late on. Light SSE wind. Mainly poor visibility.

Sunrise: 06:53 GMT

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 06:00 - 08:40

(22nd visit of the year)

*Despite telling me last year that vegetation not actually growing on the dam face did not need to be cut down and, in particular, the reeds could remain all the vegetation in front of the dam was trimmed away yesterday.

Notes:
- Back to six Great Crested Grebes with just the three displaying pairs noted.
- Visibility too poor to see Jackdaws and Rooks that were not more or less directly over the lake.
- Chiffchaff heard calling c.06:40 again and then in song shortly thereafter. Still near the Wesley Brook. Not heard later.
- A Grey Wagtail without any leg rings in the Wesley Brook again.
- Siskins again in trees at the W end (as well as the lone fly-over at the E end).
- *One Bullfinch heard giving its rarely noted and unobtrusive song.
- Three Reed Buntings seen leaving the W end roost.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 1 Greylag Goose: outbound
- 14 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls again
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 58 Jackdaws
- 6 Rooks again
- 3 Pied Wagtails
- 1 Siskin

Counts from the water: best effort in poor conditions
- 2 Mute Swans
- 8 (6♂) Mallard again
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhens again
- [Coots not counted]
- 1 Little Grebe heard only once more
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 8 Black-headed Gulls only
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: adults, together, briefly
- 1 Grey Heron

My 2021 bird species list for here remains at 65.

Nothing else of note.

All gone: the reeds near the sluice exit alongside the dam.

More gone - reeds and willows at the N end of the dam. I am sure the Coots that had started nest building are none too happy. And the poor Reed Warblers who will arrive at the end of April after a long flight from south of the Sahara are unlikely to be pleased to find their home destroyed.

A male Bullfinch was a welcome splash of colour on a dull morning.

Both sides!

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 08:45 - 10:00

(12th visit of the year)

Highlight today was several small finch groups comprising at least 20 birds, mainly *Siskins, fewer *Lesser Redpolls and one or two Goldfinches. These mainly in the Alders along both E and W sides and also at the S end. All very mobile so it was hard to be sure that these were all separate groups. There could have been many more individuals.

Other notes:
- Tufted Duck numbers bounced back. So where were they all yesterday? Surely not inside the island?

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 3 Feral Pigeons
- 4 Jackdaws

Counts from the water:
- 18 Canada Geese
- 2 Greylag Geese: arrived and departed
- 3 Mute Swans
- 30 (18♂) Mallard
- 75 (43♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens
- 25 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 21 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gull: both immatures
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult, briefly

My 2021 bird species list for here remains at 52.

Nothing else of note recorded

I spent most of my time at The Flash trying for better photos of the Lesser Redpolls. The low light level and these very active birds hiding behind twigs did not make for results as sharp as I would have liked. Only adult males are separable from females. Both sexes have the red 'poll': males show red on the breast that we cannot see clearly here.

Here the same bird with its head up shows the breast is not suffused with red so it is a female. Yesterday I noted the bill of this species was yellow. Here it looks dark because the culmen - the ridge of the upper mandible - is black.

This bird with a brighter crown and a pink-red flush to the breast is obviously a male. If you are checking with your Field Guide you may find this species called Common Redpoll. The DNA-people have been at the redpoll complex and created several new species requiring renaming of the Common Redpoll that I grew up with.

Another view of a male.

And there were Siskins as well. They do like feeding upside down. Their blood flows and digestive system must work differently from mine.

Not quite so upside down here.

Even the right way up at times.

Another male.

A female upside down now.

And one the right way up with a grubby bill.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day
2020
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
1 Caspian Gull
1 Iceland Gull
(Tom Lowe)

Little Wenlock, Candles Landfill Site
1 Iceland Gull
(Tom Lowe)

2010
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
5 Great Crested Grebes
6 Gadwall
33 Pochard
71 Tufted Duck
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
5 Great Crested Grebes
11 Mute Swans
10 Tufted Ducks
1 Iceland
1 Glaucous Gull
(Ed Wilson, Mike Cooper)