6.0°C > 8.0°C: Fog / mist lifting to low overcast after 09:30. Increasing SSE breeze. Very poor / poor visibility.
Sunrise: 07:09 BST
* = a photo from today
Priorslee Lake: 05:45 – 09:00
(210th visit of the year)
Poor visibility hampered all sighting which are best-efforts.
Bird notes:
- The 15 fly-over unidentified large gulls could well have dropped in. I simply could not see even half-way across the water at the time.
Birds noted flying over here:
- c.15 Wood Pigeons
- 15 unidentified large gulls
Everything else lost in the mist.
Hirundines etc. noted:
None
Warblers noted:
- 1 Cetti's Warbler: in song in the north-east area
- 5 Chiffchaffs: no song heard
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall
- 6 (4♂) Mallard
- 7 (2?) Tufted Duck
- 11 Moorhens
- Coots not counted
- no Little Grebes
- *Great Crested Grebes not counted
- *>55 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls
- 34 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
Noted on / around dew-covered street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 midge
- *two species of fly
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type
- *2 probably European Ground Beetles (Nebria brevicollis)
- 1 Leiobunum blackwalli harvestman
- 2 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman
Noted later:
- *Field Mushrooms (Agaricus campestris)
- *different Agaricaceae fungi
- Grey Squirrel
- 1 Cetti's Warbler: in song in the north-east area
- 5 Chiffchaffs: no song heard
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall
- 6 (4♂) Mallard
- 7 (2?) Tufted Duck
- 11 Moorhens
- Coots not counted
- no Little Grebes
- *Great Crested Grebes not counted
- *>55 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls
- 34 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
Noted on / around dew-covered street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 midge
- *two species of fly
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type
- *2 probably European Ground Beetles (Nebria brevicollis)
- 1 Leiobunum blackwalli harvestman
- 2 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman
Noted later:
- *Field Mushrooms (Agaricus campestris)
- *different Agaricaceae fungi
- Grey Squirrel
All a bit misty today. An adult Great Crested Grebe with food for one of its offspring.
And here is the youngster chomping on the hapless and hopefully dead fish.
An adult Black-headed Gull was one of the few birds that came close-enough to photograph.
Did I mention the early dew? I probably could not identify the fly anyway.
Perhaps a better view of the same specimen?
I found a few of these Field Mushrooms (Agaricus campestris) growing in the grass above the dam.
Also in the grass were these fungi. The SEEK app. suggested that they were from the same Agaricaceae family. The app. is not able to go further and neither am I.
The Flash: 09:05 – 10:00
Carrion Crow is not a species that I photograph very often. Like most members of the family they are very aware of their surroundings and tend to be camera-shy as a result. I was using the car as a hide and this bird approached some food that had been left for the ducks and the Moorhens. Carrion Crows are rarely as all-black as they seem at first glance. There are usually a few white or grey feathers.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 09:05 – 10:00
(203rd visit of the year)
Visibility was gradually improving. Eventually it was just about good enough to see most things.
Bird notes:
- I did not find the third adult Mute Swan though an earlier conversation with one of the fishermen suggested it was still present.
- The same fishermen opined that many of the Coots had been forced to leave as there is little weed for them to eat. This probably also explains the lower than usual (for this date) totals of Tufted Duck.
- He also reported that a group of 12 Cormorants had been fishing as a team in the water earlier but that many had left. I only noted two.
Birds noted flying over here:
Visibility was gradually improving. Eventually it was just about good enough to see most things.
Bird notes:
- I did not find the third adult Mute Swan though an earlier conversation with one of the fishermen suggested it was still present.
- The same fishermen opined that many of the Coots had been forced to leave as there is little weed for them to eat. This probably also explains the lower than usual (for this date) totals of Tufted Duck.
- He also reported that a group of 12 Cormorants had been fishing as a team in the water earlier but that many had left. I only noted two.
Birds noted flying over here:
None
Warblers noted:
- 1 Chiffchaff: no song
Noted on / around the water
- 21 Canada Geese
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 38 (23♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 19 (2?♂) Tufted Duck
- 19 Moorhens
- 19 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Black-headed Gulls: two of these first winter birds
- 2 Cormorants: but see notes
- 1 Grey Heron
On / around the street lamp poles or later:
- 1 Chiffchaff: no song
Noted on / around the water
- 21 Canada Geese
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 38 (23♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 19 (2?♂) Tufted Duck
- 19 Moorhens
- 19 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Black-headed Gulls: two of these first winter birds
- 2 Cormorants: but see notes
- 1 Grey Heron
On / around the street lamp poles or later:
Nothing noted
A side view showing the bill with feathering extending along the top of the upper mandible. The bill shape is in stark contrast to that of the similar-sized Rook which has a conical bill with bare skin at the base, allowing it to dig in to grass to find its favourite food – leather jackets, the larvae of crane flies.
(Ed Wilson)
In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:
- 1 Tipula paludosa cranefly
- 3 owl midges Psychodidae sp.
- 17 other midges of various sizes
- 4 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)
(Ed Wilson)
This trio of waders is asleep so are not too easy to identify, especially with nothing to give an idea of size. Standing up to their bellies in the water means it is impossible to judge the length and colour of the legs as these are mostly hidden. They are a trio of Greenshank. a medium-sized wader looking, in winter, rather grey. The top of one leg on the middle bird is just visible and is clearly not red as it would be on either (Common) Redshank or Spotted Redshank.
(Ed Wilson)
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- 1 Tipula paludosa cranefly
- 3 owl midges Psychodidae sp.
- 17 other midges of various sizes
- 4 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)
(Ed Wilson)
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NOTE
Here are few images from the visit I made yesterday to the RSPB Reserve at Burton Mere on the Wirral.
I struggle to separate the three species of hawker dragonflies. The RSPB warden pointed the SEEK app. on his mobile phone at this photo on my camera's screen. The app. pronounced it to be a male Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta). I double-checked against Jim Almond's excellent "Dragonflies and Damselflies of Shropshire" web pages Here.
(Ed Wilson)
