8 Feb 22

Priorslee Lake only

9.0°C > 11.0°C: Scattered cloud with a red sunrise. Moderate W breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:41 GMT

* = a photo today

Other things to do today so I only visited the lake.

Priorslee Lake: 06:30 – 09:30

(36th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- *Now two Great Crested Grebes. They immediately getting on with displaying.
- About 100 Black-headed Gulls arrived at 06:55 and flew up and down for ages. Exactly how many settled is hard to say.
- The Cetti's Warbler sang in the NE area at 07:05. I then saw it in flight before it sang again along the N side.
- At least eight Song Thrushes in song. Perhaps as many as ten but two of them could be have been birds that had moved.
- A Reed Bunting was heard singing: my first song this year from this species.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Stock Dove again
- 12 Wood Pigeons again
- 4 Black-headed Gulls
- 9 Herring Gulls
- 52 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Common Buzzards
- 173 Jackdaws
- 2 Redwings

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese: throughout
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 2 (2♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Moorhen only
- 38 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- c.100 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *1 unidentified large gull
- 1 Cormorant: arrived
- *1 Grey Heron: departed

Seen on or around the street lamps pre-dawn: a rather disappointing list in the mild conditions:
- 2 small flies of different species
- 1 plumed midge
- 1 springtail sp.
- *1 Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)

Noted later
- 1 planthopper sp.
- 1 Grey Squirrel

The early dawn showing a sliver of red.

Coloured up nicely later. Still before the street lights went out.

As was this. Today the red sky presaged wind and not rain.

This is a strange effect. An old vapour trail (contrail) has been mangled by the upper-air winds and is somehow casting shadows.

The second Great Crested Grebe was noted by me for the first time today. Already they are starting their display. Of course they did so right across the other side of the lake. This image is somewhat over-enlarged. The bird with the weed – I assume the male – shows smaller head-plumes and looks to be the bird that is new in since yesterday.

I am not sure about this gull. I'm not even sure of its age: perhaps a bird moving from first-winter to first summer; perhaps a second winter. The quite narrow tail band with a white rump and a white-looking head suggest it may be either a Yellow-legged or Caspian Gull. The wing pattern is a puzzle with the inner primaries showing much more contrast on the right wing than the left. No doubt due to the angle of the light.

A very distinctive Grey Heron with many missing inner primary feathers in one wing.

 For once a Mistle Thrush was sitting with the sun on it. This large thrush has a proportionately small head.

An unusual sighting of a male Bullfinch in water. Looking at what appears to be food in its bill I suspect he had dropped down to drink in order to soften its food. It does not look to have been bathing.

Today's male Siskin photograph.

A classic view of a Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis) sitting with the front pair of legs typically held together. The pale stripe down the cephalothorax (the front half of spiders) shows on most individuals.

(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
Velvet Scoter
(Observer Unknown)

2013
Little Wenlock, Candles Landfill Site
1 Iceland Gull
(Tom Lowe)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Water Rail
c.1100 Black-headed Gulls
131 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
35 Herring Gulls
3 Great Black-backed Gulls
2 Gadwall
14 Pochard
42 Tufted Ducks
162 Coots
1 Water Rail
293 Jackdaw
105 Rook
c.120 Starling
27 Robins
18 Blackbirds
2 Willow Tits
8 Greenfinches
28 Siskins
2 Redpolls
19 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)