29 Dec 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

5.0°C > 8.0°C: Broken medium-level cloud. No real sunshine. Light and variable, mainly westerly, breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 08:22 GMT still.

* = a species photographed today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:30 – 09:20

(285th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the two first winter Mute Swans seem to have gone.
- I suspect the trio of Gadwall have been present throughout the last few days, obscured by the mist.
- in full song today was a Great Tit.
- I also heard seven Song Thrushes singing. Less expected was the brief song from a Blackbird before 07:15. I am not sure I have ever heard one singing before the turn of the year. My first was on 03 February last winter.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 12 Greylag Geese: outbound in four groups
- 5 Wood Pigeons
- 6 Black-headed Gulls: in with...
- 121 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 50 Jackdaws
- 13 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 4 Canada Geese: arrived together
- 1 Greylag Goose: visited briefly
- 2 Mute Swans
- 3 (1♂) Gadwall
- 10 (8♂) Mallard
- 8 (5♂) Pochard
- 38 (28♂) Tufted Duck
- 11 Moorhens
- 268 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- >100 Black-headed Gulls
- >22 Herring Gulls
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull
- >250 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: arrived together
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Great White Egret: flew in from the East at 07:45
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 male Winter Moth Operophtera brumata

Flies:
- 5 winter craneflies Trichocera sp.

Beetles:
- 1 Orange Ladybird Halyzia sedecimguttata

Telford Sailing Club
Around the outside of the Telford Sailing Club HQ pre-dawn:

Flies:
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.

Barkflies:
- 2 barkflies Valenzuela flavidus

Springtails:
- 7 globular springtails from several different species within the genus Dicyrtomina group.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 spider, species not determined

Noted later on the Teece Drive fence:

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- *1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Noted elsewhere:

Flowers:
*buttercup Ranunculus sp.

A gloomy-looking start well before dawn. At least the fog has gone.

Well, well. Some colour developing. Better leg it to...

...the best vantage point.

The only moth I noted this morning: my 40th Winter Moth Operophtera brumata here of this winter.

On the Teece Drive fence I found this harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis. Identify by its relatively small size, the significantly thicker basal half to the legs and the pale stripe down the abdomen.

Not a flower I expect to see in late December: a species of buttercup Ranunculus sp.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel pre-dawn:

Flies:
*1 Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly, Moth Fly or Owl Fly]
- *41 unidentified gnats/midges of at least four species

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 spider, species not determined

Another Psychodidae species of fly: as previously noted sometimes called drain flies, moth flies or owl flies.

One of no fewer 41 unidentified gnats and midges on just one of the walls of the tunnel. I cannot get any satisfactory identification for this species despite its apparent obvious features.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:25 – 10:25

(287th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- at least 29 Greylag Geese (with four mainly white feral geese) around the island when I arrived. At least 57 seen flying in later. I could not find the Pink-footed Goose among them.
- no Pochard seen again: all gone to the Balancing Lake?
- a Great Crested Grebe was a new arrival.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Jackdaw

Noted on / around the water:
- 9 Canada Geese
- >86 Greylag Geese
- 4 mainly white feral geese
- 4 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 36 (23♂) Mallard
- no Pochard
- 49 (25♂) Tufted Duck
- 10 Moorhens
- 56 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 54 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull: second winter
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult

Elsewhere:
Nothing noted

The four mainly white feral geese among the Greylags. Yes: there are four! There are two together as the left-most, one bending its neck preening. A Black-headed Gull getting in on the action.

This Great Crested Grebe was a new arrival. The complete lack of head plumes suggests a first winter bird though I might have expected the juvenile facial stripes to still be faintly present.

(Ed Wilson)

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2012
Priorslee Lake
Drake Scaup
2 Yellow-legged Gulls
3 Great Black-backed Gulls
(Martin Grant)

2011
Priorslee Lake
4 Yellow legged Gull
22 Great Black-backed Gulls
(John Isherwood)

Priorslee Flash
Tundra Bean Goose
(John Isherwood)

Holmer Lake
9 Goosander
(John Isherwood)

2009
Priorslee Lake
1 Black-necked Grebe
4 Gadwall
2 Water Rail
2 Caspian Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Ring-billed Gull
(John Isherwood/Richard Vernon/Dawn Balmer/Peter Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
1 Cormorant
3 Wigeon
30 Tufted Duck
4 Pochard
180+ Coot
3 Yellow-legged Gulls
4000+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls
65 Herring Gulls
1000+ Black-headed Gulls
(Martin Adlam)

2006
Priorslee lake
1 Little Grebe
3 Pochard
10 Tufted Ducks
1 Lapwing
>550 Black-headed Gulls
>108 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
c.40 Redwings
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee lake
c.3200 Lesser black-backed Gulls
c.1700 Black-headed Gulls
c100 Herring Gulls
8 Great Black-backed Gulls
4 Yellow-legged Gull
(Martin Adlam/Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)