7 Feb 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

1.0°C > 4.0°C: Just frosted after overnight clearance. Clouded from W. A calm start with a light SW breeze later. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:43 GMT

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 06:30 – 09:20

(34th visit of the year)

Another very quiet morning.

Bird notes:
- A Great Crested Grebe present again. Seemed to be interested in the NW area, usually a nest site.
- A single Black-headed Gull was on a buoy by 07:00. The next Black-headed Gull arrived at 07:25 with at most 16 noted. Many more overhead.
- A lone Lesser Black-backed Gull dropped in at 08:45. Otherwise all the gulls flew over.
- At last some Rooks: just two, both flying the 'wrong way' i.e. not as if on roost dispersal.
- At least 20 Siskins were in trees along the N side. At least 20 were near the Teece Drive gate seemed to be different birds. Vastly outnumbering the no more than half a dozen Goldfinches.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 3 Canada Geese: outbound together
- 1 Stock Dove
- 12 Wood Pigeons only
- 55 Black-headed Gulls
- 17 Herring Gulls
- 143 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 119 Jackdaws
- 2 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Mallard
- 3 (2♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 40 Coots
- *1 Great Crested Grebe
- 16 Black-headed Gulls only
- no Herring Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull only (*plus one dead bird)
- *2 Cormorants: arrived separately again
- 1 Grey Heron

On or around the street lamps.

Nothing seen, but not surprising after a wet and windy start to the night and later clear and frosty.

I was not in the right part of the lake to photograph the sunrise. Later the yellow light of the early sun lit up the reeds and trees on the N side.

Zoomed in here to show the red-stem osiers amongst the reeds.

Only my third sighting of a Great Crested Grebe here this year. This adult, with well-developed head-plumes, was around the traditional nesting area of the NW reeds.

A gruesome sight I noted on the dam. The yellow legs confirm this is a head-less Lesser Black-backed Gull. Whether this was a dead bird that was subsequently attacked or whether it was killed by, say, a Peregrine is hard to say.

Making a bit of a splash is a breeding-plumage Cormorant hauling out on a buoy.

And here it has gained its composure.

Early sun has made this male Siskin look more like a Canary!

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:25 – 10:20

(33rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The apparently lone drake Teal made another appearance.
- The five drake Pochard still here. In this species drakes always seem to outnumber ducks. This winter has seen just one immature that might have been a duck back in October. All the other birds have been drakes, not that there has been that many of them.

Birds noted flying over

None again:

On /around the water:
- 29 Canada Geese: 10 of these flew off
- 1 Greylag Goose
- *3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 33 (19♂) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 1 (1♂) Teal
- 5 (5♂) Pochard again
- 79 (44♂) Tufted Duck
- 15 Moorhens
- 26 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 39 Black-headed Gulls
- 7 Herring Gulls
- no large gulls
- 2 Grey Herons

On /around street lamp poles or elsewhere:

Nothing

What I would think is a rather unusual sight. This is the 2019 Mute Swan, still here, attacking a floating dead Tench.

The swan seems to be having a problem. In a way I am not surprised as swans are vegetation eaters and their bills are not designed to rip fish apart. It soon abandoned what it thought might be a feast.

At first sight a tail-less Long-tailed Tit. The tip of the tail is just visible at the top right as it sticks out behind the branch.

Today's aircraft. This is the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity's Eurocopter EC135 [Eurocopter, now Airbus Helicopters, seem to run out of snazzy names for their helicopters]. It is based at RAF Cosford and covers the whole West Midlands area. It is a frequent sight, often on transit to the PRH or Stoke Hospital.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day can be found via the yearly links in the right-hand column.

Sightings from previous years without links are below

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)