17 Jan 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

3.0°C > 2.0°C:  Scattered cloud. Light NW wind. Very good visibility.

[Sunrise:  08:13 GMT]

* = a photo from today.

I avoided the very cold and icy start and visited in the afternoon, with The Flash first.

Priorslee Balancing Lake:  15:25 – 16:20

(14th visit of the year)

No ice noted

New Bird Species

Another addition to my 2023 bird species list from here:

- One adult Great Black-backed Gull was among the gulls in the pre-roost gathering.

This takes my 2023 bird species total for here to 59.

Other bird notes:

- Three pairs of Gadwall today.

- I was mainly concentrating on the gulls and did not count the Coots.

Birds noted flying over here:

- 20 Jackdaws

These are the only birds I noted. As with the early outbound groups this is at a historically low level.

Counts from the lake area:

- 121 Canada Geese

- 4 Greylag Geese

- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swan

- 6 (3♂) Gadwall

- 11 (7♂) Mallard

- 3 (3♂) Pochard

- 37 (24♂) Tufted Duck

- 11 Moorhens

- Coots not counted

- 1 Great Crested Grebes only

- 5 Cormorants

- 1 Grey Heron

Gulls Noted

These are the number of gulls seen in the pre-roost gathering. Some coming and going and a few more arriving.

- >350 Black-headed Gulls

- 1 Great Black-backed Gulls

- 17 Herring Gulls

- 1 Yellow-legged Gull: adult

- 52 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

For a change a sunset over the lake with a Black-headed Gull providing some foreground interest.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  14:10 – 15:15

(14th visit of the year)

Over 70% thin ice here. Ice always forms quickly at this sheltered site.

Bird notes:

- None of the mainly white feral geese were noted with the many Greylag Geese.

Birds noted flying over here:

- 3 Cormorants: looking for some open water?

Noted on / around the water

- 40 Canada Geese

- *47 Greylag Geese: all but one of these departed

- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans

- *47 (31♂) Mallard

- 1 all-white duck (Peking(?) Duck)

- 40 (23♂) Tufted Duck

- 3 (0♂) Goosander again

- 18 Moorhens

- 60 Coots

- 1 Great Crested Grebe again

- 46 Black-headed Gulls

- 1 Herring Gull

- *2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls again

- 1 Grey Heron

On / around the street lamp poles or elsewhere

Nothing noted

One of the many Greylag Geese departs.

The grey on the upper forewing is visible here.

With food on offer the other side of the water this drake Mallard heads off. Note the curly tail feather.

A different drake here showing the light and dark pattern on his spread tail-feathers.

I think this is called 'splash-down'. A duck Mallard arrives.

One of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls standing on the ice. An adult with very little evidence of head-streaking visible from this angle. They are supposed to have yellow legs. Perhaps it is the camera's rendition of the colour but they look more pink than yellow to my eyes.

Aircraft of the day: it is Reims-built Cessna A150 Aerobat, a variant of the basic Cessna 150 with greater structural strength to withstand up to +6g and -3g forces. It is operated by Dukeries Aviation of Church Warsop near Mansfield.

(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

57 Magpies

10 Pochard

64 Tufted Duck

119 Coots counted

>500 Black-headed Gulls

1 Great Black-backed Gull

18 Redwings

>1500 Jackdaws

>325 Rooks

(Ed Wilson)

The Flash

1st-winter female Velvet Scoter

102 Tufted Ducks

(Ed Wilson and Unknown Observer)

2013

Priorslee Lake

2 Wigeon

4 Gadwall 

21 Pochard 

80 Tufted Ducks

1 Greater Scaup

1 Goldeneye

155 Coots

Snipe

Woodcock

Kingfisher

113 Redwing

30 Siskins

(Ed Wilson, Mike Cooper)

The Flash

31 Tufted Duck

50 Goldfinches

1 Redpoll.

(Ed Wilson)

Little Wenlock, Candles Landfill Site

Caspian Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

(Tom Lowe)

2012

Priorslee Lake

2 Shoveler

21 Pochard

95 Tufted Duck

3 Yellow-legged Gulls

15 Great Black-backed Gulls

117 Redwings

12 Greenfinches

(Ed Wilson / John Isherwood)

The Wrekin

6 Marsh Tit

2 Brambling

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake

4 Cormorants

4 Pink-footed Geese

3 Greylag Geese

16 Pochard 

35 Tufted Ducks

1 Goldeneye

>600 Black-headed Gulls

>487 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

94 Herring Gulls

1 Great Black-backed Gull

24 Robins

11 Blackbirds

8 Redwings

1 Willow Tit

39 Magpies

205 Jackdaws

76 Rooks

12 Greenfinches

3 Reed Buntings

(Ed Wilson)

2006

Priorslee Lake

12 Great Crested Grebes

2 Gadwall

11 Pochard 

11 Tufted Duck

213 Coot

1 Water Rail

c.360 Black-headed Gulls

1 Great Black-backed Gull

169 Jackdaws

117 Rooks

220 Wood Pigeons

21 Robins

20 Blackbirds

2 Willow Tits

41 Siskins

4 Reed Buntings

(Ed Wilson)