Priorslee Balancing Lake: 10:45 – 11:27
10.0°C > 11.0°C: Overcast and dull. Light north-westerly wind. Very good visibility.
[Sunrise: 07:04 GMT]
* = a photo to be uploaded later: watch the blog for information,
Another dull day with a late start. Firstly at The Flash first before checking the Balancing Lake from the dam-top area only.
Priorslee Balancing Lake:
(232nd visit of the year)
The model boat club were using the West end of the water. It did not seem to have much impact on numbers.
Bird notes:
- It seems odd that two first-winter Mute Swans should arrive on their own. If they were accompanied then where were their parents? They certainly not protecting their off-spring from being chased by the resident cob.
- All gull numbers an 'instant' count. Small numbers of birds were arriving and departing so there were more individuals than my totals suggest.
Birds of interest noted flying over:
- a loose group of 41 Wood Pigeons flew West
Counts from the lake area:
- 16 Canada Geese: of these 12 arrived together
- *19 + 2 Mute Swans: two first-winter birds new in
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 8 (7♂) Mallard
- no Moorhens
- 208 Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 97 Black-headed Gulls
- 7 Herring Gulls
- 62 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *2 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
The Flash:
(235th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- back to a more 'normal' number of Tufted Duck.
- a lone brownhead Goosander. I recall that four / five winters ago I recorded up to 140 here on one occasion. They must have eaten all the small fish: numbers have decreased each Winter since then.
No bird(s) noted flying over here:
Noted on / around the water:
- 7 Canada Geese
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 6 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *37 (24♂) Mallard
- 122 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (0♂) Goosander
- 16 Moorhens
- 128 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 6 Black-headed Gulls
- *1 Herring Gull
- 1 Cormorant
Noted around The Flash:
Moths:
- 1 Pale Birch Tortrix Acleris logiana.: I defy anyone else to find this. It is so jammed in to a crack in the street lamp pole it is barely visible let alone identifiable.
- 1 Winter Moth Operophtera brumata
No other insects etc. found
(Ed Wilson)
Note:
As you can see, Ed's sightings are still unformatted and without photos. Hopefully it won't be that long before I can get things back to normal. (Martin Adlam)
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Sightings from previous years
2010
Priorslee Lake
10 Swans
c.60 Golden Plover
c.200 Starlings left a roost in the reeds at the W end
763 Wood Pigeons
3 Sky Larks
7 Meadow Pipits
165 Fieldfare
9 Redwings
4 Siskins
3 Linnets
1 Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)
2009
Priorslee Lake
8 Wigeon
20 Pochard
(John Isherwood)
The Flash
1 Goosander
1 Teal
(John Isherwood)
2006
Priorslee Lake
100 Jackdaw
130 Rooks
1 Buzzard
Kestrel
c.60 Golden Plover
(Martin Adlam)
2005
Priorslee Lake
450 to 500 Starlings left the roost
11 Pochard
47 Tufted Duck
Pair of Ruddy Duck
200+ Coot
1 Dunlin
104 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
100 Black-headed Gulls
Kingfisher
A Buzzard was seen feeding on earthworms and possibly beetles
2000+ Wood Pigeon
62 Redwing
54 Fieldfare
3 Song Thrushes
(Martin Adlam)