3 Feb 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

9.0°C: A mixture: initially medium overcast this clearing from the south-west; then mostly clear with some high cloud giving a colourful sunrise; this high cloud increased and lowered making it rather dull again. Fresh WSW wind ameliorated for a while. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 07:50 GMT

* = a photo from today.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:30 – 09:30

(29th visit of the year)

A sign of Spring (?): my first Blackbird song of the year.

Other bird notes:
- A male Pheasant was seen walking along the North side path.
- The Mute Swan cygnets are keeping together and staying well away from the adults.
- After several days of very low numbers of Black-headed Gulls there were many more today. c.35 flew in at 07:20 closely followed by a group of about 100. Otherwise gull numbers were low again.
- One Grey Heron chased another away c.07:15 and then returned. At 08:50 the same thing happened. Were the same two birds involved?
- The / a Cetti's Warbler was heard to sing once in the north-west area.
- Two Mistle Thrushes were seen feeding on the grass behind the dam.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Canada Geese: outbound together again
- 5 Wood Pigeons only
- 4 Herring Gulls
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 13 Jackdaws
- 12 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 21 Canada Geese
- 1 Greylag Goose: briefly
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans: back to normal
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall again
- 10 (6♂) Mallard
- 9 (5♂) Tufted Duck
- *10 Moorhens
- 104 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- *c.135 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Herring Gulls
- 11 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *2 Cormorants: arrived separately
- *2 (or more) Grey Herons: see notes

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- *1 Rusty Oak/Birch Button moth (Acleris ferrugana / notana)
- 1 'winter midge'
- *1 Clubiona sp. spider

Later:
Nothing of note

It was a great sunrise this morning. I am still getting the hang of how my new camera reacts and I have several very lurid photos. This was taken as the colour was fading and seems more representative of how it looked in reality.

A group of eight Black-headed Gulls, all adults showing different stages of moult in to breeding plumage. The advanced bird on the far right has much deeper red legs than the bird in the centre which shows no sign of a dark hood developing as yet.

One of the two Cormorants present. This one an immature with much white on the breast and belly...

 ...the extent of which shows well here. Like many birds they capable of standing on one leg.

I have enlarged the photo to highlight the nasty-looking bill. The eye is not as green as I hoped, likely because it is an immature. Note the extent of the yellow bare skin at the base of the bill and the rather grey feathering around the chin.

The other Cormorant showed the white thigh-patch of a breeding adult. This one has no white head-plumes. Compare the colour of the bare skin with that of the juvenile: a slight orange tone here. Also it shows extensive and clean-looking white on the chin.

Grey Herons were battling over who was going to fish here. This one is being chased off.

And this is the victor returning.

Again.

A mixed trio on top of the dam. From the left a Mistle Thrush, a Carrion Crow and a Moorhen.

I knew I could not get close to the Mistle Thrush so I was forced to take a distant shot in the not very good light. Here it investigates a mole-hill. The spots on the breast of this species are much denser than on the smaller Song Thrush. This latter species would not usually frequent such an open area, preferring to stay under vegetation or somewhere where it can quickly get to safety.

Here is a Song Thrush looking pensive. I have seen the shape of the spots on this species likened to both arrow-heads and hearts. Make up your own mind!

A distinctive-looking micro-moth but sadly the Rusty Oak Button (Acleris ferrugana) and the Rusty Birch Button (A. notana) look identical and require detailed examination of their genitalia to separate. Both species of food-plant are in the area. Moth species #5 for me here this year.

This spider has the typical shape of a Clubiona species but which I could not begin to say.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:30

(27th visit of the year)

New Bird Species
Two more additions to this year's bird log from here:
- *Two Stock Doves were sitting on a roof in Westcott Walk
- *Three Common Teal (a drake and two ducks) were noted tucked up against the East side of the island.
This takes my 2023 bird species total for here to 50.

What I will find tomorrow is anyone's guess. Council contractors were preparing to start work on 'trimming' trees at the top end.

Other bird notes:
- Two Redwings were in trees above the screaming children in the academy's nursery.

Birds noted flying over here:
None

Noted on / around the water
- 34 Canada Geese
- 2 + 1 Mute Swans
- 50 (34♂) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Peking(?) Duck)
- *3 (1♂) Common Teal
- 3 (3♂) Pochard
- 63 (36♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 (0♂) Goosander
- 18 Moorhens
- 59 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe still
- 71 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls: immatures
- *1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult
- 2 Grey Herons

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

Just about as far away as they could be. A trio of Common Teal with a drake on the left. With the pale streak along his flanks he was just about visible in binoculars. I needed the camera and photo-editing to show the two ducks. The duck nearest the drake shows a "white eye": this is in reality its nictating membrane, a translucent third eye-lid, that birds can draw across their eye to protect and moisten it while retain some visibility.

A drake Tufted Duck bullet.

One of the roof-sitting Stock Doves. Unlike the Wood Pigeon this slightly smaller species lacks white in the neck and at the bend in the wing. The neck area glosses green or purple in good light. This species usually shows two dark lines on the folded wing when at rest. Here the feathers are being ruffled by the wind and these markings are obscured.

This Lesser Black-backed Gull was calling almost continually. as here. Unlike many individuals seen here recently it is an adult bird with minimal black on the bill. It will lose the black at the same time as the head-streaking is moulted out.

(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 Yellow-legged Gull
1 Viking, or possibly a dark Iceland
(J Reeves)

Telford Crematorium
1 Caspian Gull
1 Yellow-legged Gull
(Tom Lowe)

2013
Priorslee Lake
12 Wigeon
6 Gadwall
3 Pochard
32 Tufted Duck
2 Reed Bunting
(Tony Beckett)

The Flash
15 Pochard 
53 Tufted Duck
3 Goosander
(Tony Beckett)

Little Wenlock, Candles Landfill Site
1 Glaucous Gull
1 Glaucous x Great Black-backed Gull
1 Yellow-legged Gull
(Tom Lowe / Andy Latham)

2012
Priorslee Lake
26 Pochard
29 Tufted Duck
>5000 gulls
Ring-billed Gull hybrid
2 Yellow-legged Gulls
4 Great Black-backed Gulls
(Roger Clay / Ed Wilson / John Isherwood / Martin Grant)

Trench Pool
Snipe
(Dave Tromans)

2011
Priorslee Lake
8 Pochard
14 Tufted Duck 
77 Herring Gull
5 Pale Brindled Beauty moths
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Merlin
(Observer Unknown)

2009
Priorslee Lake
3 Sky Larks
4 Fieldfare
c.55 Redwings
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
17 Pochard
37 Tufted Ducks
1 Goldeneye
3 Lapwings
30 Robins
14 Blackbirds
1 Fieldfare
11 Song Thrushes
3 Redwing
3 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
2 Wigeon
19 Pochard
77 Tufted Ducks
151 Coots
1 Water Rail
15 Robins
13 Blackbirds
90 Siskin
5 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)
5 Reed Buntings.
(Ed Wilson)