10 Mar 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

9.0°C > 10.0°C: Mainly cloudy once again though clear skies briefly c.06:00 and some clearer spells later. Moderate S wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:37 GMT

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 05:40 – 06:45 // 07:40 – 09:20

(57th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I am not sure whether the pair of Canada Geese were present throughout or whether they arrived while I was at The Flash.
- At 06:35 there were 35 Black-headed Gulls on the football field. Again fewer at the lake.
- Four Great Crested Grebes again. Today they seemed to be behaving as two pairs, one at each end of the water. No display was seen.
- Two sightings of a Sparrowhawk flying over. Perhaps the same local bird. They have bred around the lake in previous years though the area they used is now very close to both the final part of the housing development and the work on the academy extension.
- The Cetti's Warbler's started singing at 06:00.
- Up to seven Chiffchaffs noted. Singing birds were seen in four location with three birds noted calling. As these are probably birds moving through it is not possible to be certain they were all different individuals.
- At least 10 Redwings were in trees alongside Teece Drive at 07:45 but not later.
- A confusing set of Mistle Thrush sightings. A bird was singing and perhaps the same bird was calling alongside Teece Drive at 06:35. By 07:40 one was singing distantly near the Coop store. A few minutes later two non-singing birds were in trees at the Teece Drive gate. Then at 08:35 a pair was in trees next to Castle Farm Interchange with one singing.
- Noticeably fewer Siskins were seen both in flight and in trees around the lake.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 5 Canada Geese: quartet outbound; single inbound
- 2 Stock Dove: singles
- 11 Wood Pigeons
- 9 Black-headed Gull
- 4 Herring Gulls
- 17 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *2? Sparrowhawks: see notes
- 111 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook
- 7 Starlings: single, duo and quartet

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese
- 2 Mute Swans
- 4 (3♂) Mallard
- 26 (16♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens
- 26 Coots only
- *4 Great Crested Grebes: see notes
- 12 Black-headed Gulls: see also notes
- 1 Herring Gull
- no Grey Heron

On / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- *1 White-legged Snake Millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger)
A rather meagre haul for such a mild morning.

Noted later:
- *first flowers of Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara)

Sunrise from the football field. There used to be trees to silhouette against the red skies. Progress?

This is one of the two Great Crested Grebes seen at the W end this morning.

And one of the two at the E end.

I paused over this. At the time I assumed a Sparrowhawk but looking at the photo I was struck by its barrel-chested appearance and the obvious white eye-brow. Could it be a Goshawk? Well: no. The grey barring on the belly indicates it is a female and female Goshawks are almost Buzzard-sized which this was most certainly not. So it is a female Sparrowhawk.

Unlike the rather brown millipede I noted last week this is what I expect a White-legged Snake Millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger) to look like.

These are the first flowers of Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) I have noted this year – nearly two weeks later than last year. This plant is unusual in that the flowers emerge before any leaves. The leaves you see in the photo are of a different plant – these were across the other side of the Wesley Brook and I did not want to get wet by a closer examination!

I did zoom in on the rather untidy flowers.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:50 – 07:35

(54th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The two overflying Canada Geese could have taken off from 'the other end' and circled around, gaining height out of view, before they flew over. Where have all the Canada Geese come from? Surely they cannot all be hoping to breed here.
- The now regular flying about of Mallard with birds disappearing in to and flying out of gardens as well as on and off the roofs.
- The pair of Teal were seen along the E side. They flew away towards the island. I could not relocate them.
- Tufted Duck were scattered about between the hordes of Canada Geese and harder to count accurately.
- No large gulls: indeed few gulls at all
- Three Chiffchaffs noted: two singing and one bird seen neither singing nor calling.
- Male Chaffinches seen in two locations: I have yet to hear song from this species here this year.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Canada Geese
- 1 Jackdaw

On /around the water:
- 85 Canada Geese: six (at least) of these flew off
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 25 (16♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 2 (1♂) Teal
- 72 (45♂) Tufted Duck
- 12 Moorhens
- 24 Coots again
- 1 Great Crested Grebe again
- 3 Black-headed Gulls only

On /around the street lamp poles or elsewhere around here:

Nothing

The non-singing Chiffchaff.

And again. This view caused me to double-check. The strength of the pale eyebrow almost recalls Willow Warbler though it is a few weeks early to expect to see one of these. And are those legs dark? Confirmation that it is a Chiffchaff comes from the longer, thinner bill than typical of Willow Warbler and the more obvious pale 'eyelids' (actually bare skin at the top and bottom of the eye).

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- A drake Mallard flew in to the lower pool.
- No Moorhens seen or heard at either pool.
- *Six Starlings on roofs and in trees.
- A male Bullfinch eating buds

Two photos of Starlings taken against the light which I have tweaked a bit. The sexes can be distinguished by the colour at the base of the bill – blue for a boy and pink for a girl. So this is a male. Many males show less spotting on the breast but it is a variable characteristic.

A different bird on an Ash tree (the black buds identify that).

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel

- *A pair of flies mating
- *A different fly sp.

All legs, wings and shadows it was impossible to make out what this was on the side wall of the tunnel.

An angled shot revealed a pair of flies (midges?) mating. Assuming the male is on top then he is significantly smaller than the female. He does not have plumed antennae and both sexes have spurs on their legs.

This fly lacks spurs on its legs so must be of a different species. Only about 7000 to choose from in the UK.

(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 

3 Great Crested Grebe 

11 Tufted Duck 

3 Cormorant 

7 Great Black-backed Gulls 

465 Lesser Black-backed Gulls 

48 Herring Gulls 

37 Black-headed Gulls 

1 Chiffchaff 

(John Isherwood, Martin Grant) 

2013 

Priorslee Lake 

35 Tufted Duck 

27 Wigeon 

(Tony Beckett) 

The Flash 

36 Tufted Duck 

6 Mute Swan 

9 Pochard 

(Tony Beckett) 

2011 

Priorslee Lake 

7 Pochard 

18 Tufted Ducks 

1 Chiffchaff 

(Ed Wilson) 

2010 

Priorslee Lake 

1 Little Grebe 

1 Water Rail 

(Ed Wilson) 

2007 

Priorslee Lake 

10 Cormorants 

3 Grey Heron 

24 Tufted Duck 

1 Ruddy Duck 

497 Wood Pigeon 

32 Wren 

30 Robin 

21 Blackbird 

7 Redwing 

31 Magpie 

198 Jackdaw 

5 Greenfinch 

5 Reed Bunting 

(Ed Wilson) 

2006 

Priorslee Lake 

1 Little Grebe 

6 Great Crested Grebes 

4 Cormorants 

2 Pochard 

35 Tufted Ducks 

2 Ruddy Ducks 

109 Coots 

1 Water Rail heard 

2 Lapwings 

295 Wood Pigeons 

245 Jackdaws 

12 Greenfinches 

6 Reed Buntings. 

(Ed Wilson)