26 Jan 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

3.0°C > 5.0°C: The overnight white frost covering the pavement was beginning to fade as the low-medium cloud rolled in ahead of the next storm. The light south-easterly wind was freshening all the while. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 08:01 GMT

* = a species photographed today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:30 – 09:20

(22nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- it was most certainly a different Great (White) Egret that flew South at 08:10: I was looking at "ours" at the time.
- all change again with the gulls. After the paucity of Black-headed Gulls yesterday there were at least 350 (with c.50 Lesser Black-backed Gulls) settled on the water at 07:15. The lack of noise suggested that these had probably roosted here. A large group of at least 85 more Lesser Black-backs arrived from the South at 07:35. At least 15 Herring Gulls were with them. Just a scatter of additional birds made it in.
- a decent count of Rooks passing. Once again fewer Jackdaws. In years gone by there were usually at least twice the number of Jackdaws (and more of both species).

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 7 Wood Pigeon
- 1 Collared Dove
- 6 Herring Gulls
- 42 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *1 Great (White) Egret
- 61 Jackdaws
- 197 Rooks
- 2 Mistle Thrushes
- 2 Pied Wagtails
- 1 Greenfinch

Counts from the lake area:
- 46 Canada Geese: of these four arrived as two pairs
- 2 Mute Swans
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall
- 8 (5♂) Mallard
- 5 (2♂) Pochard
- 22 (15♂) Tufted Duck
- *7 Moorhens
- 221 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- >350 Black-headed Gulls
- 12 Herring Gulls
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull
- >150 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *2 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 1 Grey Heron
- *1 Great (White) Egret: arrived
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted on the street lamp poles pre dawn:

Springtails:
- *1 globular springtail Dicyrtomina sp. type

Telford Sailing Club
Nothing noted around Telford Sailing Club HQ pre dawn.

Priorslee Avenue tunnel
Nothing in the Priorslee Avenue tunnel pre dawn.

Noted later:
Nothing

New Bird Species
No additions to the bird species on my site for here in 2025

One of two Cormorants wonders who is sneaking up behind it.

The local Grey Heron flies by.

A Great (White) Egret flies over.

"Ours" looks with disdain. A drake Mallard bottom left.

And repositions.

A Long-tailed Tit

The only insect I saw this morning was this globular springtail Dicyrtomina sp. type.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:25 – 10:30

(20th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a drake Pochard had joined yesterday's duck.
- I have logged the drake Goosander as a fly-over. It is just possible that it was leaving from hiding away at the top and not, as I thought at the time, having a quick look before flying on. My first in Shropshire this year where it has been much scarcer than recently all Winter.
- the Little Grebe moulting in to breeding plumage was swimming toward the island as I arrived. I did not see it again.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- *1 (1♂) Goosander
- 2 Stock Doves
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Jackdaws

Noted on / around the water:
- *11 Canada Geese
- 4 Mute Swans
- *29 (19♂) Mallard
- *2 (1♂) Pochard
- *59 (31♂) Tufted Duck
- 17 Moorhens
- 48 Coots
- 1 Little Grebe
- *93 Black-headed Gulls
- *3 Herring Gulls: one adult: two first winter
- *4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: one adult; two second winter and one first winter
- *2 Cormorants: arrived together

Noted elsewhere:
Nothing

New Bird Species
Another addition to the bird species on my site for here in 2025:
47 Goosander

My what big feet you have. Canada Geese show off their size 12s.

A duck Mallard coming for splash-down. I am not sure I realised the tail feathers would be the first to touch.

A duck Pochard.

A quartet of drake Tufted Ducks with a drake and a duck Pochard. The Tufties have full crests by now.

A bit "noisy" with little light for the camera to play with. A passing drake Tufted Duck.

Perhaps a better shot of a different bird.

The drake Goosander flying around, The pink flush shows it is coming in to breeding condition.

Here showing the upper wing pattern. The duck is mainly brown apart from a pale neck. Her wing has the white wing panel on the rear half of the wing only.

I did a double-take with this first winter Black-headed Gull. The dark along the flanks (actually the lesser coverts of the folded wing) seemed unusually dark suggesting first winter Little Gull. That species has a small all-dark bill as well as being smaller. These feathers on most first winter Black-headed Gulls are now faded and being replaced by pale adult feathers so this is an anomalous bird.

An adult winter Black-headed Gull. Note the alula feather extended at the bend of the wing. This helps the bird in low speed manoeuvrability. Aircraft manufacturers copied this idea as leading-edge slats which are extended for landing and take-off.

Gull identification is often a challenge. These are both first winter Herring Gulls.

This is a first winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. The feather shafts are visible on the gull's right wing.

The same bird from above. Note the dark primaries and secondaries and that the coverts of these feathers are also dark. The inner primaries barely contrast with the other feathers. The tail is solidly dark with the upper tail clean white.

And again. Here the left wing is fully spread and with the inner primaries fully spread it can be seen that the inner webs of these feathers are pale. Not many bird books show this.

This adult Lesser Black-backed Gull is easy to ID. The winter head-streaking is now being lost.

The two Cormorants that dropped in. They then dived and resurfaced by the island.

A Blue Tit of course. The blue is almost glowing here. "They" have discovered that, like many birds, the eyes of Blue Tits are sensitive to light in the ultra-violet part of the spectrum and to them the blue tones do indeed 'glow' [how do "they" know?].

(Ed Wilson)

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2014
Priorslee Lake
Velvet Scoter
2 Scaup
(Martin and Ian Grant)

2013
Priorslee Lake
39 Wigeon
8 Gadwall
24 Pochard
74 Tufted Ducks
1 Greater Scaup
173 Coots
169 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
18 Herring Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Iceland Gull
(Observer Unknown)