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)