8 Mar 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

0.0°C > 5.0°C: Clear skies. Brisk E/SE breeze. Good visibility; rather hazy.

Sunrise: 06:42 GMT

* = a photo today

In order to keep warm and on the move I started my normal 'Summer' routine of one lap around the lake; a walk to, around and from The Flash; finishing with another look at the lake. Some numbers will be affected as a result, most likely the number of Black-headed Gulls at the lake.

Priorslee Lake: 05:40 – 06:40 // 07:35 – 09:25

(55th visit of the year)

I gather that insufficient funds were raised to enable a legal challenge to be made over the council's decision to allow the football field to be fenced in for use by the Holy Trinity Academy. This open space will now be lost for use by the locals.

The strength of the wind prevented any ice forming on the lake though all the puddles were frozen.

Bird notes:
- The pen Mute Swan was on the nest most of the time. I could not see whether she was sitting or preparing a soft base for later.
- Four Great Crested Grebes noted. All were moving around the water and none was seen to interact with any of the others.
- Again the only Grey Heron was one flying high W: at 06:15.
- A rather puzzling sight of a Cormorant leaving at 06:10. Had it roosted here? Seemed to be too dark for it to be able to chase fish.
- Scarce recently but two Great Spotted Woodpeckers noted. One calling and seen in flight: the other heard drumming, my first drumming since before the turn of the year.
- The Cetti's Warbler not heard, probably because at its usual vocal time I was elsewhere sheltering from the chill wind.
- Two Chiffchaffs: one singing and one calling only – an early arrival of a female?
- Much less song this chill morning just five Song Thrushes (usually nine or ten) and no Blackbirds singing.
- *Soon after I saw the 23 Redwings fly over there were two on the football field. It may just be that the 23 had originated there. Later there were several near the Teece Drive gate.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 3 Canada Geese: scattered trio outbound
- 3 Greylag Geese: single and pair outbound
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 12 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Herring Gulls
- 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 50 Jackdaws exactly
- 9 Rooks
- 2 Ravens: together
- 23 Redwings: together

Counts from the lake area:
- 4 Canada Geese; pair throughout; another pair arrived and departed
- 2 Mute Swans
- 4 (3♂) Mallard
- 28 (18♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens
- 34 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Black-headed Gulls only
- no large gulls
- 1 Cormorant: departed

Again the only record on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn was:
- *1 Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis): on a different pole today.

Later:

Nothing of note

Sitting atop a tree is a Redwing.

Note the black buds identifying the tree as an Ash. This tree looks healthy enough: no Ash dieback evident.

The Redwing was having some difficulty keeping its balance in the wind.

As we can see.

At the very top of a lamp pole this morning was this Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis). The diagnostic way it holds the two front pairs of legs together and the pale stripe down both the metathorax and abdomen make for an easy identification even at an angle.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:45 – 07:30

(52nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The adult Mute Swans were again trying to persuade the 2021 cygnets to leave. The cygnets were flying strongly making several circuits and achieving a greater height than I have seen previously. They remained within the confines of the water though and splashed back down.
- As I suggested it seemed the pair of Teal were indeed hiding yesterday.
- Not sure about whether all the drake Pochard had in fact departed by yesterday morning. One was very obvious today: it would have been difficult to overlook.
- I could not find any Great Crested Grebes.
- The two immature Herring Gulls seemed to be the same ages as the two I noted yesterday. Not a definitive identification but probably second and third year birds.

Birds noted flying over here:

None

On /around the water:
- 27 Canada Geese
- 3 + *2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 27 (19♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 2 (1♂) Teal
- 1 (1♂) Pochard
- 62 (35♂) Tufted Duck
- 11 Moorhens
- 23 Coots
- no Great Crested Grebe
- 16 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls: immatures
- 1 Cormorant: arrived and departed

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

Nothing

This Mute Swan cygnet from 2021 had been put to flight by the resident cob. Especially from below it is looking white now. The brown bill marks it as a first year bird.

I suspect it did not go as far as its father would have liked. Here it is touching back down.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- A pair of Mallard on the lower pool.
- Two Moorhens on the lower pool (the upper pool is rather overgrown to see what is there).
- Many Siskins in the trees.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel

- *1 strange (dead?) fly sp.
- *2 probable fungus gnat sp.
- *1 unidentified tiny insect

Two insects here. The larger is a I suspect a species of fungus gnat with rather protruding eyes. The only information about fungus gnats I can find on the interweb is how to kill them! I have no idea what the smaller insect is. Enlarging the original photo as much as I could failed to reveal any detail that might provide a clue.

Here is another of the suspected bug-eyed fungus gnats.

Not at all sure about this. Some of the legs are at strange angles and making the wings look as if they have veins. But look closely and the wings look to be attached at different places. Perhaps it is dead and these are just remains.

(Ed Wilson)

NOTE:

There are few photos Ed Wilson took at the Wirral on 4 Mar 22 Here.

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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

2012

Priorslee Lake

1 Iceland Gull

2 Great Black-backed Gulls

(John Isherwood)

Holmer Lake

1 Goosander

(John Isherwood)

2011

Priorslee Lake

13 Pochard

41 Tufted Ducks

1 Oystercatcher

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake

9 Cormorant

15 Tufted Duck

1 Woodcock

311 Wood Pigeon

36 Robin

24 Blackbird

10 Redwing

53 Magpie

5 Reed Bunting

(Ed Wilson)

2006

Priorslee Lake

1 Ruddy Duck

1 Little Grebe

4 Great Crested Grebes

2 Herons

1 Cormorant

6 Pochard

42 Tufted Ducks

2 Ruddy Ducks

103 Coots

1 Water Rail

1 Ring-billed Gull

141 Wood Pigeon

142 Jackdaws

23 Blackbirds

11 Song Thrushes

1 Redwing

14 Greenfinches

6 Reed Buntings.

(Ed Wilson and et al)