24 Jan 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

4.0°C > 6.0°C:  Low / medium overcast. Light and variable wind. Moderate visibility.

[Sunrise:  08:05 GMT]

* = a photo from today.

Priorslee Balancing Lake:  14:35 – 16:10

(19th visit of the year)

Over 50% ice-covered

Bird notes:
- The cob Mute Swan was still chasing one of the cygnets.
- *A pair of Goosanders flew in: my first actually on the water this year. They left with all the other ducks.

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 3 (1♂) Gadwall
- 7 (6♂) Mallard
- 7 Moorhens
- 118 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Grey Heron

Gulls:
Two values: the number present when I arrived > the number present as I was about to leave. Some other gulls will have come and gone.
- c.250 > c.500 Black-headed Gulls
- 27 > c.50 Herring Gulls
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull
- 122 > 200 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

At dusk I found what appears to be a near-adult Yellow-legged Gull

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 13:40 – 14:25

(16th visit of the year)

c.75% ice.

Bird notes:
- All four Mute Swan cygnets were noted, rather scattered.
- Same number of Tufted Ducks as Sunday but the Pochard have gone.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Sparrowhawks
- 1 Jackdaw

Noted on / around the water
- 14 Canada Geese
- 4 Greylag Geese
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 40 (27♂) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Peking(?) Duck)
- no Pochard
- 124 (71♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 (1♂) Goosander
- 14 Moorhens
- 61 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 54 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 2 Grey Herons

On / around the street lamp poles or elsewhere:
Nothing noted

This appears not to be a duck Goosander as thought but an immature drake. The base of the neck is too white; centre of the flanks are too clean; and there is too much white in the folded wing for a duck.

I was very pleased with the camera's ability to capture this female Sparrowhawk as it dashed across as, to the naked eye, a dark shape shot across. A bit of tinkering on the photo editor revealed a surprising amount of detail. A male would be slimmer with rufous barring.

I was even more surprised when I edited the shot of the other bird that was a few hundred yards behind. It was another female.

Well it was very dark inside the wooded areas so hardly my best of the perky Wren.

(Ed Wilson)


Note:
Ed Wilson's visit to the Wirral 23 Jan 23 can be found Here.

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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
12 Pochard
56 Tufted Duck
1 Velvet Scoter
108 Coots
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
95 Tufted Ducks
4 Goosanders
9 Bullfinches
(Ed Wilson)

2013
Priorslee Lake
31 Wigeon 
8 Gadwall 
26 Pochard 
99 Tufted Ducks 
1 Greater Scaup 
>1200 Black-headed Gulls
>2200 large gulls
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
23 Tufted Duck 
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock Pool
1 Cormorant 
16 Swans 
2 Gadwall 
1 Shoveler 
5 Pochard 
37 Tufted Duck 
1 Goosander 
117 Coots
96 Black-headed Gulls
42 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
38 Herring Gulls
4 Great Black-backed Gulls
(Ed Wilson)

Horsehay Pool
1 Caspian Gull
(Jim Almond)

2010
Priorslee Lake
>300 Jackdaws
36 Swans
4 Gadwall
26 Pochard
64 Tufted Ducks
315 Coots 
>300 Black-headed Gulls
39 Lesser Black-backed
28 Herring Gulls
11 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
1 Iceland Gull
(Jason Buckley)

2008
Priorslee Lake
120 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
16 Herring Gulls
50 Black-headed Gull
1 Great Black-backed Gull
(Martin Adlam)

2006
Priorslee Lake
7 Great Crested Grebes
3 Wigeon
2 Gadwall
14 Pochard
23 Tufted Ducks
151 Coot
370 Jackdaws
118 Rooks
250 Wood Pigeon
15 Robins
14 Blackbirds
47 Siskins
3 Redpolls
4 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)