14 Feb 25

The Flash and Priorslee Balancing Lake

2.0°C > 4.0°C: Mainly overcast, Brighter than recent days. Fresh south-easterly wind. Very good visibility.

[Sunrise: 07:28 GMT]

"Poor weather" itinerary once more.

* = a species photographed today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 10:45 – 12:05

(38th visit of the year)

Only looking from the dam-top area

Bird notes:
- back to four pairs of Gadwall noted.
- for some reason there were no birds on the south-west grass so the count of Moorhens was lower than usual.
- very few gulls when I arrived. At c.11:15 birds started arriving from the North / north-east, many from a great height. After the initial influx I started to count. I had reached 1100 Lesser Black-backs when another pulse settled in the area I had already counted and I lost the will to live. At least 1250 with very few (c.25) Herring Gulls amongst them. When they first started to arrive I noted at least 50 flying over: I suspect that many of these, if not all, circled back around and arrived. After 11:45 some began to leave.
- for the third day neither Grey Heron nor Great (White) Egret were noted.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Wood Pigeon
- >50 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: see notes
- 5 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 11 Canada Geese
- 2 Mute Swans
- *8 (4♂) Gadwall
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 20 (12♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- *116 Coots
- *3 Great Crested Grebes
- c.125 Black-headed Gulls
- *c.25 Herring Gulls
- *1+ Yellow-legged Gull
- *>1250(!) Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *2 Cormorants: of these one departed
- 1 Kingfisher: heard only

Of note:
Nothing else

Not sure what is going on here: an immature Herring Gull is pursing a drake Gadwall.

This drake Gadwall.

It is unusual for a Tufted Duck to allow such close approach at this site. A Mrs. Tuftie of course.

The pair of Great Crested Grebes were displaying again. Well it is St. Valentine's Day.

He (I assume) collected some weed to bring to his partner but dropped it without doing the dancing display and decided to look for passing aircraft.

A Coot demonstrates its prowess of walking on water.

Told you.

There were many gulls!

What I believe to be a first year Yellow-legged Gull. It is not a Herring Gull as the back is too dark, the upper tail is too plain and there are too few pale inner primaries. It is not a Lesser Black-backed Gull because the tail band is not neat-enough, the secondary coverts are paler than the secondaries on view and the pale on the inner primaries is not confined to the inner webs. Tricky to see without a camera.

Gulls playing with food again. From the dark wing tip on the leading bird I thought it was an immature Lesser Black-backed Gull. The back bird is an immature Herring Gull and I assumed I could show the difference in the strength of the under wing markings. So why are they not very different?

A top view shows that the leading bird is not a Lesser Black-backed Gull but another probable Yellow-legged Gull.

Another illustration of why gulls are a challenge. These are both first year Herring Gulls. The small bird, presumably therefore a female, has a rounded head and dark eye that invites its identification as a first year Common Gull but at this age that species has a much thinner two-tone bill.

 If only immature Herring Gulls all looked like this life would be easy.

Probably best if they did not look like this! Mr. Google's AI tells me that some types of avian influenza can cause feather loss though it is not typical of H5N1 strain. The bird seemed perky-enough.

Probably the same very pale, likely first year, Cormorant leaves.

The other Cormorant present was an adult...

...with some soggy head-plumes.

Plane of the day. Skipping between the clouds is an American-registered Beech C90GTi King Air en route from Denham (north-west of London) to its base at Sleap Airfield. This twin turbo-prop aircraft carries up to six passengers with a range of over 800 miles. The registered owner of this example is a trustee company in Wilmington, Delaware which tells us nothing useful.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:30 – 10:35

(35th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the two drake Shoveler were joined by a pair.
- a larger than usual number of Black-headed Gulls. Sheltering from the brisk, chilly wind?
- a Nuthatch heard calling: my first in the area this year. Bird species #51 for me here this year.
- *three different parties of Long-tailed Tits noted.
- *two Goldcrests seen.
- *a trio of Bullfinches with a male accompanied by two females. How do I join?

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 6 Herring Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 2 Jackdaws

Noted on / around the water:
- 12 Canada Geese
- 4 Mute Swans
- 4 (3♂) Shoveler
- 30 (21♂) Mallard
- 4 (3♂) Pochard
- 45 (28♂) Tufted Duck
- 11 Moorhens
- 31 Coots
- 188 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls: two adults; one second year again
- 1 Cormorant

Of note:
Nothing else

A Long-tailed Tit with a rush of blood to the head.

"Who me?"

A Long-tailed Tit from a different group.

 Another sweetie.

I know it is, sadly, not in focus but I could not resist....

A long sequence of Goldcrest photos – a hyperactive sprite that is difficult to see let alone photograph so I am not likely to get a better set of images any time soon.

Here looking to get a morsel from the underside of a bramble leaf.

And here is the morsel on the tip of its tongue.

Mr. Grumpy. (or Mrs. Grumpy – I can't tell)

Now after more food. Small birds need to spend all the daylight hours feeding.

Note at the rear of the 'gold crest' there are some red feathers showing. When alarmed or excited the crest is raised and shows red inviting confusion with the similar but much common Firecrest. That species has black stripe through the eye and gives the species an instant badger-like appearance.

"Where shall I go now?"

"Over there perhaps"

 "Off we go"

I managed to photo the male Bullfinch today.

Also with a rush of blood to the head. I assume the blood circulation of bids works differently.

And the right way up.

One of two females was either facing the other way...

...or hiding behind branches....

...or too close!

(Ed Wilson)

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2012
Priorslee Lake
1 Iceland Gull
5 Great Black-backed Gull
(John Isherwood)

Priorslee Flash
1 Tundra Bean Goose
5 Goosander
(John Isherwood)

Holmer Lake
3 Goosander
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
4 Gadwall
35 Pochard
80 Tufted Ducks
1 Water Rail
177 Coots
185 Jackdaws
42 Magpies
2 Siskins
39 Linnets
11 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Glaucous Gull
(Observer Unknown)

2008
Priorslee Lake
7 Gadwall
1 Iceland Gull
2 Great Black-backed Gull
(Rich, Vernon, Andy, Ed Wilson and Jason)

2006
Priorslee Lake
10 Great Crested Grebes
6 Cormorants
7 Pochard
39 Tufted Ducks
140 Coots
880 Wood Pigeons
249 Jackdaws
155 Rooks
24 Robins
20 Blackbirds
11 Greenfinches
2 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)