2 Mar 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

4.0°C > 5.0°C: Still mostly cloudy with only a few patches of blue. Light ENE wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:55 GMT

* = a species photographed today.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:45 – 09:30

(51st visit of the year)

As with many large organisations Severn Trent seems to have internal communication problems. Having been assured that the tree thinning work around the site had to be completed by the end of February I encountered contractors preparing to clear more of the understorey and thin some other wooded areas. I spoke with both of my environment contacts in Severn Trent who assured me that a conservation officer was overseeing the work. So that's alright then?

Highlight today (and possibly of the year so far) was a splendid drake Goldeneye. Unusually it was present throughout: typically this species drops in, is spooked, and quickly departs. Bird species #70 for me here this year. My four previous records of this species here were on 15 January 2016; 22 November 2017; 23 March 2018 and 07 November 2019.

Other bird notes:
- The Mute Swan cygnets were all back on the water with the cob resuming his chasing of them.
- A Great Spotted Woodpecker was again heard drumming.
- The Cetti's Warbler is still singing loudly.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Canada Goose: inbound
- 1 Stock Dove
- 17 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *1 Sparrowhawk
- 2 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 10 Canada Geese: of these two pairs and a single arrived separately
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans: all cygnets back
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall
- 8 (6♂) Mallard
- 4 (3♂) Pochard still
- 25 (18♂) Tufted Duck
- *1 (1♂) Goldeneye
- 12 Moorhens
- 66 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- *103 Black-headed Gulls
- *7 Herring Gulls
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: arrived together
- 2 Grey Herons: one very briefly

Noted on / around the frosted street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- *1 male Dotted Border moth (Agriopis marginaria): different lamp pole to yesterday
- *1 midge sp.

Later:

Nothing of note

The first sighting I had of the drake Goldeneye was well before dawn. Before I could see the white spot on the face it was clear that the white flanks were a 'brighter white' than the accompanying drake Tufted Ducks.

Later the light was somewhat better. They certainly have a Goldeneye. The people who named birds presumably got to this species before they named Tufted Duck which also has a golden eye.

What follows is a sequence of the bird wing-flapping. Number one.

Number two.

Number three

Number four and last.

The other side.

The gulls take to flight. They are all Black-headed Gulls apart from the immature Herring Gull bottom right. The cause of their panic was...

...this Sparrowhawk.

I do worry that it is rather barrel-chested and I did wonder whether it might be a Goshawk. Perhaps it has just eaten something. I see Goshawk so rarely and they normally live in dense woodland, so probably not.

Just to prove The Flash does not have all the Long-tailed Tits...

Not all Long-tailed Tits either. Here is a Blue Tit.

This morning's male Dotted Border moth (Agriopis marginaria) with the only midge of the morning alongside.

This mornings aircraft(?). It is an AgustaWestland AW109SP GrandNew registered to a company with a London W1 address. It seems it was flying from a private site near Hungerford to another private site near Nantwich.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:35

(47th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I did not see the Mute Swan cygnet.
- Three Great Crested Grebes today: two with head plumes and one without.
- A Jay seen this morning, calling as it flew between trees at the top end.

Birds noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water
- 42 Canada Geese
- 2 Mute Swans: cygnet not located
- *39 (25♂) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Peking(?) Duck)
- 46 (26♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 (1♂) Goosander
- 15 Moorhens
- 35 Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 72 Black-headed Gulls
- *3 Herring Gulls: a third, a second and a first year
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: second year
- 1 Cormorant

On / around the street lamp poles
Nothing noted

Noted elsewhere:
- 1 Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus)
- *White Dead-Nettle (Lamium album) in flower.

A typical grouping of Mallard with the drakes outnumbering the ducks.

A different view of the patterning of a duck Mallard.

A second-year Herring Gull.

I saw one party of Long-tailed Tits collecting the nesting material today. Here is one.

This one can be seen pulling at the lichen.

And another.

Here also pulling at the lichen.

Preparing to carry it back to its nest site.

What a sweetie.

A Song Thrush on the search for prey.

In the 2021/2022 winter White Dead-Nettle (Lamium album) continues to flower throughout. The cold blast in early December 2022 killed the flowers and this is the first I have seen this year.

(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

The Wrekin

c.35 Crossbills near the summit.

(Frank Hinde)

2012

Priorslee Lake

Grey Wagtail

10 Song Thrushes

c.20 Redwings

2 Siskins

4 Great Crested Grebes

3 Pochard

12 Tufted Duck 

(Ed Wilson)

Priorslee Flash

4 Great Crested Grebes

11 Pochard

69 Tufted Duck 

(Ed Wilson)

2009

Priorslee Lake

9 Great Crested Grebes

12 Tufted Duck

6 Goosander

1 Glaucous Gull

1 Iceland Gull.

17 Fieldfare

4 Redwings

1 Kingfisher

 >350 Jackdaws

(Ed Wilson, Jim Almond)