19 Jan 23

Priorslee Lake

4.0°C > 1.0°C: A mixture of sunny intervals and passing sleet showers. Moderate WNW wind. Very good visibility.

[Sunrise: 08:11 GMT]

* = a photo from today.

Another day making sure I did not become a slip casualty. I was also driven to leave early by the onset of a heavy sleet shower.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 14:15 – 15:10

(16th visit of the year)

A small amount of ice along the sheltered North shore.

Other bird notes:
- The geese all gone.
- The cob Mute Swan was chasing one of the cygnets, eventually forcing it out of the water and on to the grass.
- Tufted Ducks back again.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 6 Canada Geese

Counts from the lake area:
- no geese
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 5 (2♂) Gadwall again
- 8 (5♂) Mallard
- 4 (4♂) Pochard again
- 62 (>30♂) Tufted Duck
- 9 Moorhens
- 129 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Cormorants again

Gulls Noted
No gull counts as something spooked them while very few were present. No unusual species noted

Not much to show you from a brief visit ahead of sleet showers. This is a very different-looking Great Crested Grebe from the adult I photographed on Monday. This one has no head plumes and a hint of a dark mark on its cheek indicating it is a first year bird.

Two Herring Gulls here. On the left a full adult; on the right a first winter showing extensive pale inner primaries.

A first winter Herring Gull showing the underside. In addition to the extensive pale inner primaries note the barred under-tail and the pale base to the dark bill.

This shows you always have to interpret what you read in field guides. The left-most gull with spread wings is an adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls and clearly shows translucent inner primaries. Field Guides note that this is a feature of a Herring Gull. What is going on here is that the feathers are unusually well-spread exposing the inner webs of the feathers which are then being illuminated by strong cross-lighting.

Another adult Lesser Black-backed Gull showing the same effect.

(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 female Velvet Scoter
3 Scaup - 1st winter male, 2 1st winter females
(David Barnes / Tony Beckett / Ed Wilson)

2013
Priorslee Lake
1 Greater Scaup
1 Goldeneye
5 Great Black-backed Gulls
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Adult Caspian Gull
1 Yellow-legged Gull
(Andy Latham)

2007
Priorslee Lake
8 Cormorants
3 Pochard
31 Tufted Ducks
9 Goosanders
c.50 Golden Plover
>1100 Black-headed Gulls
133 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
10 Herring Gulls
250 Wood Pigeons
21 Robins
17 Blackbirds
8 Fieldfares
4 Redwings
43 Magpies
279 Jackdaws
136 Rooks
5 Greenfinches
2 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1100 Black-headed Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
2 Gadwall
8 Pochard
14 Tufted Duck
198 Coot
376 Jackdaws
265 Rooks
200 Wood Pigeons
28 Robins
21 Blackbirds
22 Siskins
1 Redpoll
3 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)