21 Dec 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

5.0°C > 4.0°C > 6.0°C: A very early light shower: then mostly clear with a few small clouds. The ground just frosted in sheltered areas as the sky cleared. Light / moderate SW breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 08:19 GMT again

* = a photo from today.

Priorslee Lake: 06:45 – 09:30

(257th visit of the year)

Still a little ice remaining around the margins. A very quiet morning with the sky often devoid of any birds.

Bird notes:
- The now lone Great Crested Grebe seemed to spend all its time swimming up and down the North side as if looking for a companion.
- Rather different behaviour by the gulls now there is not enough ice for the large gulls to stand on. There were c.600 Black-headed Gulls on the water by 07:00 with at least 150 more arriving soon after. As far as I could tell there were no large gulls at that time with only 15 dropping in soon after.
- No groups of Jackdaws seen. Just a few birds scattered amongst the small groups of Rooks.
- At least 14 Redwings were on the football field c.09:20, moving to the trees alongside Teece Drive.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Greylag Geese: outbound together
- 17 Wood Pigeons
- 53 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 13 Jackdaws
- 56 Rooks
- 1 Linnet

Warblers noted:
- neither sight nor sound of any Cetti's Warbler

Birds noted leaving roosts around the lake:
- 3 Redwings
- [3 Reed Bunting at least calling from their roost area: none was seen to leave]

Counts from the lake area:
- 47 Canada Goose: 9 at least of these departed
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 5 (3♂) Gadwall
- 6 (4♂) Mallard
- 5 (4♂) Pochard
- 37 (15♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Water Rail: heard only
- 9 Moorhens
- 183 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- >750 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 15 large gulls pre-dawn

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata)
- *1 larva / caterpillar sp.
- *1 aphid sp.
- *1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman

Seen later:

Nothing of note

Yet another larva / caterpillar that I found on a street lamp pole pre-dawn. A long way up so apologies for the quality. Again I have no idea as to what it might turn in to.

I am no longer sure what this might be. I thought it was likely one of the globular springtails but none of the photos of these on the internet show any spines at the end of the abdomen. It seems more likely this is an aphid and the best options I can find are: Spindle Aphid (Aphis euonymi) [there are Spindle trees (Euonymus europaeus) nearby]; or Aphis gossypii which is associated with Hypericum [Imperforate St John's-wort (Hypericum maculatum) grows in the area].

A Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman. It seems a very late date to find a harvestman active but perhaps not: the NatureSpot web site gives the occurrence for this species as "late summer in to winter".

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:40

(248th visit of the year)

Still c.25% iced over.

Bird notes:
- With many areas ice free birds are rather more dispersed and harder to find which probably accounts for lower totals of Mallard and Coots.
- Cormorants are back to annoy the fishermen.
- A Great Tit was heard in full song: first of (next) year. [later a Blue Tit was in full song in my garden]

Noted flying over:
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Jackdaw
- 1 Starling

Noted on / around the water
- 5 Canada Geese
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 40 (28♂) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Peking(?) Duck)
- no Pochard
- 14 (8♂) Tufted Duck
- *8 (2♂) Goosanders
- 18 Moorhens
- 34 Coots
- *59 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 2 Grey Herons
- 2 Cormorants

Noted on / around the street lamp poles:
- 1 Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata)

Noted elsewhere
- *White Dead-nettle (Lamium album) still in flower
- 2 Brown Rats (Rattus norvegicus)

A drake Goosander with an adult winter Black-headed Gull. The gull has pearly-grey wings but we are used to thinking that the head and body are white. Not compared with a drake Goosander they are not!

Here he is on his own. I am not sure I realised that the very tip of the bill is black.

A brownhead Goosander looking along the edge of the ice for food.

A long way away on the island was this second winter Herring Gull. A typical amount of brown in the folded wing and a typical bill pattern with extensive pale base, a dark area and then a pale tip. There is a rare visitor to the UK called Ringed-bill Gull with a very similarly marked bill though as the name suggests the black is a parallel-side band: not always easy to tell (though there are size and other structural differences). The white shield of a Coot gatecrashes the photo.

An adult winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. Note that the black of the mantle (back) is not so intense as the black on the folded wing tips. Only adult Great Black-backed Gulls have the mantle jet black, the same tone as the wing tips.

With a twinkle in its eye is a Goldfinch. It does not seem to have red on the face...

...though perhaps it is an effect from the angle of the light as the red shows better here with the head slightly turned.

Still just about hanging on are these flowers of White Dead-nettle (Lamium album). Last winter a few plants flowered throughout.

A distant 'plane of the day'. It is a Cirrus SR20 on a day trip from Liverpool's John Lennon International Airport to Gloucestershire Airport and back. Cirrus Design build these high-specification four seat aircraft at Duluth in Minnesota beside Lake Superior [-22°C at the moment]. The aircraft come with a parachute to deploy in dire emergencies! The aircraft is owned by a trust company registered in Wilmington in the tax-advantageous state of Delaware probably on behalf of a UK resident.

(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

2013

Priorslee Lake

5 Gadwall 

2 Teal 

7 Pochard 

74 Tufted Ducks

221 Coots

2 Fieldfare

65 Redwings

228 Jackdaws

119 Rooks

13 Siskins

(Ed Wilson)

2012

Priorslee Lake

4 Gadwall.

12 Pochard

12 Goosanders

51 Tufted Ducks

145 Coots

c.280 Black-headed Gulls

2 Great Black-backed Gulls

c.265 Jackdaws

5 Reed Buntings

(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

The Flash

12 Goosanders

4 Pochard

38 Tufted Duck

12 Goosanders

7 Coots

42 were Herring Gulls

44 Black-headed Gulls only on the water

(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

Trench Lock Pool

32 Mute Swans

42 Tufted Duck

168 Coots counted

1 Great Black-backed Gull.

(Ed Wilson)

2009

Priorslee Lake

Black-necked Grebe

Little Grebe

8 Great Crested Grebes

22 Swans

1 Gadwall

51 Pochard

148 Tufted Ducks

1 Water Rail

1 Snipe

1 Woodcock

274 Coots

8000+ gulls

2 Yellow-legged Gulls

7 Redwings

16 Goldfinches

13 Siskins

3 Reed Buntings

(Ed Wilson/Martin Adlam/Jim Almond)

2005

Priorslee lake

9 Pochard

16 Tufted Duck

c.2000 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

c.500 Black-headed Gulls

5 Great Black-backed Gulls

11 Herring Gull.

c.200 Coot 

1 Water Rail

15 Pied Wagtails

243 Rooks

532 Jackdaw

31 Siskin

2 Redpoll

16 Reed Bunting

(Martin Adlam)