9 Feb 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

4.0°C > 6.0°C: Cloud from overnight rain mostly cleared away. Light mainly NW wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:39 GMT

* = a photo from today.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:35 – 09:35

(34th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The resident pair of Mute Swans was chasing the cygnets. As I was leaving I noted four first-year birds circling high over the area and then seemed to be descending in to the lake, though my view was partially obscured. I think these were mostly likely 'our' birds put to flight.
- An adult Great Black-backed Gull was present more or less throughout. This species is unusual except in very cold or very windy conditions and then usually amongst hundreds of other gulls.
- *Two Collared Doves were seen perched in trees at the West end, with one of these doing a display flight. Almost all my records of this species here are either of birds flying over or birds heard calling from the estate area.
- Now four pairs of Great Crested Grebes. Only three pairs seen displaying.
- Two Mistle Thrushes again flew over the dam in to nearby trees. Later two were together on the south-west grass and these were likely different birds.
- *Plenty of Siskins feeding on Alders

Birds noted flying over here:
- 6 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Herring Gulls
- 16 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 Jackdaws
- 60 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 11 Canada Geese: of these nine arrived with...
- 1 Greylag Goose
- *2 + 4 Mute Swans: but see notes
- 8 (4♂) Gadwall
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 11 (6♂) Tufted Duck
- *6 Moorhens
- 108 Coots
- 8 Great Crested Grebes
- c.130 Black-headed Gulls
- *1 Great Black-backed Gull
- 10 Herring Gulls
- 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on / around the frost-covered street lamp poles pre-dawn
- *1 'plumed midge'
- *1 Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)

Later:

Nothing of note

No colour to the sunrise this morning.

A different view.

The cob Mute Swan chasing one of his cygnets from last year. A Tufted Duck in the foreground is tiny in comparison.

Three of the four immature Mute Swans seen just as I was leaving. I assume they are 'our' birds. I have never seen them fly so high before.

For those of you who think that Moorhens are black...

One of the two Collared Doves in the trees at the West End. Most unusual to see them perched around the lake.

A real brute of a gull quite capable of swallowing a live Puffin whole. It is a Great Black-backed Gull. In all plumages this species has a very white head. Its black back is darker than any Lesser Black-backed Gull. The most obvious feature here is its massive bill.

The light was good and the Siskins were feeding low down in the Alders. Here are a few of the best of a whole series of photos I took. This is a female.

Another female.

A male.

Another male.

And another.

Yet another.

And again.

Seemed males outnumbered females...

 ...but I did find another.

One of the smaller plumed midge species. A male with the plumes.

A rather tubby-looking Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis). I did wonder whether it might be a female full of eggs but the palps look too large for a female.

Plane of the day #1: this is a Diamond Aircraft DA 50 C owned by BBR Roofing Ltd. of Bootle. Diamond Aircraft are an Austrian company based at Weiner Neustadt. Only four of this model are registered in the UK. Apologies for the rather poor quality of the photo of this uncommon aircraft. It was still before sunrise.

Plane of the day #2. Qatar Airlines clearly. This freighter was flying from Chicago to Brussels. I forgot to photograph at the FlightRadar24 data.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:40 – 11:15

(31st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Common Teal not located.
- The Sparrowhawk was chased away by a gang of Black-headed Gulls.
- A group of 64 Jackdaws flew South. A few minutes later five pairs flew North separately. Finally a single flew South. It is a long while since I saw this many Jackdaws here.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 75 Jackdaws

Noted on / around the water
- *38 Canada Geese: of these three arrived
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 2 + 1 Mute Swans
- 35 (21♂) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Peking(?) Duck)
- 1 (1♂) Pochard
- *52 (30♂) Tufted Duck
- *2 (1♂) Goosander
- 23 Moorhens
- 55 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 56 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls: immatures
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: adults
- 2 Grey Herons

On / around the street lamp poles
Nothing noted 

Noted elsewhere:
- *1 Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus)

An arriving Canada Goose takes a dive.

A duck Goosander passes in front of a pair of Tufted Duck, the white-sided drake on the right.

A first year drake Goosander recognisable by the (more or less) lack of white on the chin and throat and the much paler flanks. Also the head is a different shade of red-brown.

Here showing the wing pattern. The white does not yet extend across the width of the wing though the front part is too pale for a duck.

 I'm not sure the Nuthatches will be too pleased if Great Tits take over their traditional nest-site.

t certainly seems to be having a good inspection.

I think they are quite cute. Intelligent too. A Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) searching for food.

And finding some spilt grains.

(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

2012

Priorslee Lake

A juvenile Iceland Gull

2nd winter Iceland Gull

A juvenile Glaucous Gull

1st winter Greater Black-backed Gull

An adult Common Gull

(Ian Grant / Roger Clay / Martin Grant / Jim Almond / Paul King)

Ringed Birds 

Today Roger Clay found 75 ringed birds. Only 12 of these had he seen on previous days before. There were:

- 3 from Iceland

- 3 from Netherlands

- 3 Still to be checked and the remaining ringed birds were all from the UK

(Roger Clay)

2006

Priorslee Lake

9 Great Crested Grebes

2 Gadwall

11 Pochard

40 Tufted Ducks

144 Coots

2 Water Rails

88 Lapwing

c.500 Black-headed Gulls

63 Lesser Black-backed Gull

27 Herring Gulls.

Kestrel

Sparrowhawk

c.45 Fieldfares and Redwing

450 Jackdaws

259 Rooks

250 Starling

19 Robins

16 Blackbirds

10 Song Thrushes

12 Greenfinches

33 Siskin

8 Reed Buntings

(Ed Wilson)