9 Feb 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

4.0°C > 6.0°C: More unremitting low overcast, sufficiently low to give mist and drizzle early. Moderate north-east wind. Poor visibility, moderate later.

Sunrise: 07:38 GMT

The dull weather made this morning more of an exercise challenge than a bird-watch. Numbers are probably more unreliable than usual.

* = a species photographed today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:40 – 09:15

(33rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a drake Pochard new in to join the two ducks.
- I did not see the pair of Great Crested Grebe – just a single bird with well-developed head plumes.
- many fewer large gulls today with the first arriving 07:23. A higher proportion of Herring Gulls, mainly immatures.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 5 Jackdaws

Counts from the lake area:
- 15 Canada Geese
- 2 Mute Swans
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall
- 4 (2♂) Mallard
- 3 (1♂) Pochard
- 13 (9♂) Tufted Duck
- 10 Moorhens
- 111 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- c.80 Black-headed Gulls
- 18 Herring Gulls
- 39 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant: arrived
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Great (White) Egret
- 1 Kingfisher

Street Lamp Poles
Nothing noted on the street lamp poles pre dawn:

Telford Sailing Club
The area around Telford Sailing Club HQ visited later.
2 'black slugs'

Noted later:
Nothing

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

Taken c.09:00 this was as good as it got at the lake.

This is probably not, as suggested by Obsidentify, a "Grey Seal"! Google Lens was slightly more helpful: "Slug". I'll go with that. One of two very different-looking slugs on a wall of the Telford Sailing Club HQ after it was "light".

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:20 – 10:35

(31st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Friday's dead Canada Goose still present.
- some of the Pochard seem to have moved out.
- yesterday there were, as so often, more drake than duck Tufted Duck: today I noted more ducks than drakes. Have they really been moving between waters during this quiet weather?
-* three Shoveler again. I am now convinced they are all drakes: two adults and one immature.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
None

Noted on / around the water:
- 24 Canada Geese: one of these Friday's dead bird, still present
- 4 Mute Swans
- *3 (3♂) Shoveler
- 42 (29♂) Mallard
- *1 (1♂) feral Mallard cross?
- 1 (1♂) Pochard
- 62 (30♂) Tufted Duck
- 18 Moorhens
- 31 Coots
- 57 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls: one adult; two immatures
- 1 Cormorant

Noted elsewhere:

Fungus:
- *Velvet Shank Flammulina velutipes; also known as Velvet Foot and Winter Fungus

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

The three Shoveler are still present. I am now sure the bird on the right is an immature drake.

The puzzling drake hybrid that had been present all winter, now in full plumage – whatever that is. The curled tail feather mean it has Mallard genes as does the pale neck ring. The pale vertical marking at the front of the flanks is reminiscent of a drake Green-winged Teal (the New World equivalent the Old World Common Teal) and the green head marking is also Teal-like though if any Teal genes are present it hasn't affected the size of the bird which is the same as a regular Mallard. The flank markings are a strange mixture of duck-like rounded, dark-edged feathers at the front and drake-like vermiculations toward the rear. The bill markings do not obviously match any species being perhaps closest to a duck Gadwall. Anyone got a DNA kit?

I found this fungus protruding from a tree just inside the Priorslee Academy school grounds. Best to take the photo when the school is not in session. It is a Velvet Shank Flammulina velutipes; also known as Velvet Foot and Winter Fungus.

(Ed Wilson)

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2012
Priorslee Lake
A juvenile Iceland Gull
2nd winter Iceland Gull
A juvenile Glaucous Gull
1st winter Greater Black-backed Gull
An adult Common Gull
(Ian Grant / Roger Clay / Martin Grant / Jim Almond / Paul King)

Ringed Birds
Today Roger Clay found 75 ringed birds. Only 12 of these had he seen on previous days before. There were:
- 3 from Iceland
- 3 from Netherlands
- 3 Still to be checked and the remaining ringed birds were all from the UK
(Roger Clay)

2006
Priorslee Lake
9 Great Crested Grebes
2 Gadwall
11 Pochard
40 Tufted Ducks
144 Coots
2 Water Rails
88 Lapwing
c.500 Black-headed Gulls
63 Lesser Black-backed Gull
27 Herring Gulls.
Kestrel
Sparrowhawk
c.45 Fieldfares and Redwing
450 Jackdaws
259 Rooks
250 Starling
19 Robins
16 Blackbirds
10 Song Thrushes
12 Greenfinches
33 Siskin
8 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)