12 Mar 25

The Flash and Priorslee Balancing Lake

4.0°C > 6.0°C > 5.0°C: Scattered cloud giving way to more overcast conditions. Keen northerly wind. Very good visibility.

[Sunrise: 06:31 GMT]

* = a species photographed today

It was more the rain, sleet and snow flurries at 05:30 than recovering man-flu that kept me away early today.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 10:40 – 11:30

(59th visit of the year)

Still viewing only from the dam-top area only.

Today the model boat club were using the West end, this probably having little impact on the bird counts apart from the Moorhens which usually congregate on the south-west grass; and Cormorants which are birds often wary of man.

Bird notes:
- another drake Shoveler this time accompanied, loosely, by a drake Gadwall.
- no Tufted Duck.
- now 12 (six pairs) of Great Crested Grebes. I expect some territorial disputes in future.
- many more gulls today (as there were at The Flash). Has the cold blast brought them back inland?

Counts from the lake area:
- 8 Canada Geese
- 3 Mute Swan: plus one dead
- *1 (1♂) Shoveler
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 4 (2♂) Mallard
- no Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 56 Coots
- *12 Great Crested Grebes
- *29 Black-headed Gulls
- *15 Herring Gulls: all immatures
- *7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- no Cormorants

Of note:

Nothing else

A distant drake Shoveler in front of the Mute Swan new arrivals. The duck appears to have hoisted a sail. I have no idea what has caused this effect.

Only the other day I remarked that I hadn't seen Great Crested Grebes catching many fish this year. Well here is one with a Perch Perca fluviatilis – the dark bands on the fish identify it as this species.

The fish has to be manoeuvred to go down head-first to stop its spines ripping the bird's throat to pieces. How it learns I have no idea. Clearly its parent's give it food orientated correctly but when it starts feeding itself...

 Despite not offering the fish to its partner they decide to have a quick display....

...which sets off another more distant pair.

Not all these Black-headed Gulls are crisply in focus I am afraid. There are two adults with full hoods and around them four first year birds with brown in the wings smudgy head markings. The left-most bird is unusual: it shows no brown in the wings suggesting an adult yet has very little dark on its head. A late developer? Second year birds of this species are stated to be indistinguishable from adults.

A first year Herring Gull with the wing and back feather showing pale grey with brown centres.

A different first year Herring Gull in flight shows an ill-defined dark tail band with spotting on the upper tail.

"My buoy". Another first year Herring Gull claims ownership....

...but not for long, being usurped by this one. It seems to me that when a gull is standing on a buoy and another flies in to supplant it the interloper is successful much more often then not.

Five first year Herring Gulls squabbling.

Four here with three first year Lesser Black-backed Gulls keeping their distance.

A first year Lesser Black-backed Gull. All the wing and back feathers are coarsely dark brown, the tail band clearly defined with the upper tail only lightly marked.

In flight adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls show a wide white trailing edge to their wings.

Plane' of the day. It an Agusta A109E Power Elite owned by an Isle of Man company and operated by Castle Air. This latter company is headquartered at Trebrown near Liskeard in Cornwall but operates nationwide, Interestingly the helicopter is inscribed "Agusta Westland" which is not strictly correct as it was built before the companies merged and also "AW109 Power" which is not correct either. Today it flew from Gloucester Airport (Staverton) to a site near Market Drayton and is here on the return trip to the temporary helicopter landing site adjacent to Cheltenham Race Course. It could well have had a jockey on board though it was not using a "Jockey" call-sign.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:20 – 10:30

(56th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I am no closer to solving the Mute Swan puzzle. Of the presumed pair with last year's immatures the cob certainly has no rings. The fifth bird spent a while on the island, perhaps at the chosen nest site of the former resident pair. Because it was sitting down I could not see whether it was ringed.
- a pair of Great Crested Grebes has (re)appeared.
- as during my subsequent visit to the Balancing Lake there were more gulls here today. Possibly more than my counts show as a passing Common Buzzard put them all up and I am not sure it was all the same birds that returned.
- no singing or calling Chiffchaffs – too cold(?), though one was heard at the lake later.
- for the second day the nest-building Long-tailed Tits were not seen.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 2 Grey Herons: together
- *1 Common Buzzard

Noted on / around the water:
- 14 Canada Geese
- 2 Greylag Geese
- *5 Mute Swans
- *27 (21♂) Mallard
- no feral Mallard [’Aylesbury Duck’]
- 14 (10♂) Tufted Duck
- 12 Moorhens
- 31 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Black-headed Gulls
- 11 Herring Gulls: two adults, rest immatures
- *1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult
- 1 Cormorant

Of note:

Nothing else

These four Mute Swans seem to be getting on well together. The two with brown in their wings are last year's cygnets. At least one, and I am inclined to think both, of the others are new.

A pair of Mallard catching the morning sun.

Typical! A noisy adult Herring Gull. I don't really agree that the legs of this species are pink. The feet are. The legs look more grey to my eyes.

A smart-looking first year Herring Gull. Somewhat unusually at this date the bill is still all-black. I would expect to see some pale brown at the base.

I think I am being watched. An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. In full breeding condition it will lose all the black smudging on its bill. The red spot on the bill of many gull species triggers a reflex action in the nestlings to peck at it which in turn triggers the adult to regurgitate food down its off-spring's gullet. With all the discarded rubbish around how long will it be before they catch on to bottle-feeding?

They may be ubiquitous and often a nuisance but Wood Pigeons are rather handsome birds.

This is the over-flying Common Buzzard that put all the gulls to flight. Note the rufous tones to the tail, recalling the closely-related New World species of Red-tailed Hawk. In North America it successfully predates Grey Squirrels. Pity we cannot train our buzzard to do the same thing. The scientific name of Common Buzzard is Buteo buteo; that of the Red-tailed Hawk B. jamaicensis.

Slightly obscured by out-of-focus foreground buds I have included this Song Thrush to show the pale tips to the wing coverts. These will wear away during the hectic multi-brooded breeding season leaving a plain brown back ahead of the post-breeding moult.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013

Priorslee Lake
1 Iceland Gull
3 Common Gulls
2 Yellow-legged Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
2 Gadwall
3 Shoveler
29 Wigeon
1 Cormorant
1 Little Grebe
1 Willow Tit
(J Reeves, John Isherwood)

The Flash
1 Greater Scaup
4 Pochard
(John Isherwood)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Mallard x Pintail
7 Pochard
31 Tufted Duck
1 Chiffchaff singing
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock
Chiffchaff
2 Siskins
1 Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
2 Shoveler
10 Swans
4 Gadwall
4 Pochard
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
Mallard x Pintail
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
3 Cormorant
13 Tufted Duck
1 Ruddy Duck.
5 Stock Dove
10 Pied Wagtail
27 Wren
38 Robin
20 Blackbird
43 Fieldfare
7 Redwing
5 Chiffchaff (3 singing)
42 Magpie
6 Greenfinch
3 Reed Bunting
(Ed Wilson, Martin Grant)

The Flash
8 Great Crested Grebe
2 Pochard
34 Tufted Duck
1 Buzzard
1 Chiffchaff singing
1 Reed Bunting
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Peregrine
2 Little Grebes
6 Great Crested Grebes
2 Cormorants
7 Pochard
46 Tufted Ducks
2 Ruddy Ducks
275 Wood Pigeons
28 Pied Wagtails
20 Wrens
17 Blackbirds
3 Fieldfares
7 Redwings
11 Greenfinches
(Ed Wilson)