12 Jan 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

9.0°C > 10.0°C: Early low cloud and drizzly rain cleared for a while with scattered cloud below high overcast. Low cloud and light drizzle soon returned. Moderate SSW wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 08:17 GMT

* = a photo from today.

Apart from singing Song Thrushes (four each at the lake and The Flash) it was very quiet at both locations.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:45 – 09:15

(9th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Exactly how many Canada Geese were present is hard to say as birds were arriving and departing in dribs and drabs until 18 of the remaining 20 departed together. I am sure at least 25 birds but...
- No Black-headed Gulls were noted until the late time of 07:45 when at least 230 arrived from the West and started circling over the water. More joined in until at least 500 were circling. Unusually almost all of these departed to the South and West without settling. At 08:00 just 10 stragglers had settled on the water. Later as many as 45 were noted, probably some of the earlier birds returning.
- No large gulls were noted early. A single adult Lesser Black-backed Gull dropped in briefly and two single adults were seen in flight later.
- Also seen in flight were two single adult Herring Gulls. Even mid-summer produces more large gulls than this!

Birds noted flying over here:
- 5 Canada Geese: two duos outbound; a single inbound
- 7 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Herring Gulls: adults
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: adults
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 13 Jackdaws
- 3 Rooks

Birds noted leaving roosts around the lake:

None

Counts from the lake area:
- 25? Canada Geese: see notes
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 5 (2♂) Gadwall again
- 6 (4♂) Mallard
- 3 (3♂) Pochard
- 26 (15♂) Tufted Duck
- 12 Moorhens
- 137 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe still
- c.500 Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult briefly

Found on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn.
- *many winter midges
- two species of fly
- *planthopper, possibly Empoasca vitis
- *a plant bug likely from the genus Scolopostethus
- *Pogonognathellus longicornis-type springtail
- *beetle sp.

Noted later:
- Grey Squirrel

After the early drizzle the low cloud cleared for a while enabling me to photograph the waning Wolf Moon through thin cloud.

Later as more cloud spread in from the West the brighter part of the sky was rapidly fading away.

Not very good. A very distant Mistle Thrush singing away. Points to note are the white edging to the flight feathers and the mottling on the cheek.

One of the very many winter gnats that were on the street lamp poles despite the drizzle. There are many similar species.

I am still getting to grips with taking flash macro photos on my new camera so some are not as large or as clear as I would like. This is a planthopper. There are many small green species. This is most likely Empoasca vitis.

Thanks to expert Keith this photo of a plant bug is most likely from the genus Scolopostethus. There are a number of species that are hard to separate even with good photos - and this isn't!

This is a Pogonognathellus longicornis-type springtail.

 I have seen this small beetle with swollen hind femurs previously. I did know what the species was then either.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:20 – 10:00

(9th visit of the year)

New Bird Species
Another addition to my 2023 bird species list from here:
- A Redwing was heard calling and then see to fly out of trees at the North end.

This takes my 2023 bird species total for here to 41.

Other bird notes:
- Significant decrease in number of Tufted Duck.

Birds noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water
- 21 Canada Geese
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 42 (28♂) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Peking(?) Duck)
- 36 (22♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (0♂) Goosander
- 14 Moorhens
- 32 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 13 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Grey Heron

On / around the street lamp poles
Nothing noted

Noted elsewhere:
- *a bracket fungus, perhaps Dryad's Saddle (Polyporus squamosus)

I noted these bracket fungus today.

I was unable to get a view from above but this view shows a black stem. That may suggest it is Polyporus squamosus which is also known as Dryad's Saddle. Only a top view would confirm the identity.

(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

1 drake Scaup

2 female Scaup

(Mike Stokes)