21 Dec 24

The Flash and Priorslee Balancing Lake

9.0°C > 12.0°C: Very dull with light drizzle to start. Cleared from the north-west after 10:15, staying mostly cloudy. Moderate / fresh westerly wind. Very good visibility.

[Sunrise: 08:20 GMT]

* = a species photographed today

Yet another delayed start avoiding the early gloom and drizzle. So it was The Flash first again.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 10:45 – 11:30

(277th visit of the year)

Just from the dam-top.

Bird notes:
- the Canada Goose with the injured leg did not seem to be with the 10 feeding on the grass on the dam-top.
- same number of adult Mute Swans as when I left yesterday but an additional cygnet / first winter bird.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Stock Dove
- 1 Wood Pigeon

Counts from the lake area:
- 10 Canada Goose
- 11 + 3 Mute Swans
- 3 (1♂) Gadwall
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 23 (7♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhens
- 266 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 17 Black-headed Gulls
- 12 Herring Gulls
- 29 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:30 – 10:35

(279th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- many of the birds were moving around and also feeding avidly on the day with the least daylight, all making accurate numbers difficult. There did seem to be significantly fewer Coots from wherever I looked.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 2 Jackdaws

Noted on / around the water:
- 7 Canada Geese
- >24 Greylag Geese: many (more?) inside the island
- 2 mainly white feral geese
- 6 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 35 (22♂) Mallard
- 8 (>5♂) Pochard
- *66 (>43♂) Tufted Duck
- 12 Moorhens
- 68 Coots
- 31 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gulls: one second winter
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted elsewhere:

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- *1 female harvestman Leiobunum blackwalli

Many of the Tufted Ducks are now in breeding plumage and easy to sex – the drake at the back here. The duck, in front, show some remnant white around the base of her bill and that combined with the rather dull-looking eye may indicate she is a first winter bird. Her eye is never so bright as a breeding condition drake.

An adult Herring Gull closes in for a pass to try and persuade the Common Buzzard to move on.

Very dull under tree cover at the moment. My sharpest photo of a Coal Tit as it searches the moss and lichen for goodies.

Also not a brilliant photo from the same area was this Goldcrest. This species is always...

...on the go which does not help.

Unhelpfully near the top of one of the tall street lamp poles in squirrel alley was this female harvestman Leiobunum blackwalli. It is just possible to see the white surround to the eyes that separated this species from L. rotundum though in the females, as here, the shape of the darker area on the abdomen is also diagnostic.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
5 Gadwall
2 Teal
7 Pochard
74 Tufted Ducks
221 Coots
2 Fieldfare
65 Redwings
228 Jackdaws
119 Rooks
13 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
4 Gadwall.
12 Pochard
12 Goosanders
51 Tufted Ducks
145 Coots
c.280 Black-headed Gulls
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
c.265 Jackdaws
5 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

The Flash
12 Goosanders
4 Pochard
38 Tufted Duck
12 Goosanders
7 Coots
42 were Herring Gulls
44 Black-headed Gulls only on the water
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

Trench Lock Pool
32 Mute Swans
42 Tufted Duck
168 Coots counted
1 Great Black-backed Gull.
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Black-necked Grebe
Little Grebe
8 Great Crested Grebes
22 Swans
1 Gadwall
51 Pochard
148 Tufted Ducks
1 Water Rail
1 Snipe
1 Woodcock
274 Coots
8000+ gulls
2 Yellow-legged Gulls
7 Redwings
16 Goldfinches
13 Siskins
3 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson/Martin Adlam/Jim Almond)

2005
Priorslee lake
9 Pochard
16 Tufted Duck
c.2000 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
c.500 Black-headed Gulls
5 Great Black-backed Gulls
11 Herring Gull.
c.200 Coot
1 Water Rail
15 Pied Wagtails
243 Rooks
532 Jackdaw
31 Siskin
2 Redpoll
16 Reed Bunting
(Martin Adlam)