15 Nov 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 9.0°C: Overcast with occasional light drizzle, especially early on. Moderate / fresh easterly breeze. Very good visibility but only moderate in drizzle.

Sunrise: 07:33 GMT

* = a species photographed today
$ = my first sighting of the species for this year
$$ = my first ever recorded sighting of the species in the area

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:10 – 09:20

(277th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- no geese seen today.
- also very few Mallard.
- the Tufted Duck were scattered all around the water and very mobile so it was difficult to get an accurate count. Two Pochard, one a drake, were new arrivals among the Tufties.
- at least 200 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were present by 06:50. Could they have roosted? This would be unusual but I did not hear any birds calling as they flew in prior to this time. There were no more arrivals until after 08:00 when only c.35 made it in.
- the first c.50 Black-headed Gulls arrived c.07:00 with at least 450 present by 07:10. Parties of c.50 and c.150 appeared to arrive after that time but could equally as well have been returning birds as numbers of both species dropped rapidly.
- by 07:45 there were just two Black-headed and two Lesser Black-backed Gulls remaining.
- four of the over-flying Cormorants arrived together and circled, had a good look around and then flew on.
- almost all the Jackdaws and Rooks passed over in one swirling stream difficult to both count and ascribe to species.
- four Song Thrushes were heard singing with one waking the residents in Teece Drive: it was in full voice by 06:10.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 (1♂) Mallard
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 24 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Herring Gulls
- 19 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 5 Cormorants: a single and a quartet
- c.275 Jackdaws: see notes
- c.95 Rooks: see notes
- 1 Lesser Redpoll

Birds seen leaving roosts around the lake
None

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 3 (2♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Pochard
- *40 (25♂) Tufted Duck: see notes
- 11 Moorhens
- 39 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- c.450 Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- *5 Herring Gulls
- *c.235 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: see notes
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn:
Very little on the wet poles in drizzle.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Later on the Teece Drive fence or elsewhere:
Nothing noted

One of two "Herring-type" Gulls that I puzzled over at the time and which photos do not satisfactorily resolve. Both seemed very "clean and smart" devoid of head-streaking suggesting possible Yellow-legged Gulls. This one is not, as I thought, an adult. The dark on the primary coverts indicate a third-winter bird. The five outer primaries are all dark and the outermost has a lengthy white "mirror" both pointing to Yellow-legged Gull. Oddly the bill appears all (or mostly) dark and there is some streaking around the eye. The tone of the wings is hard to judge - it varies with the light - but seems too pale for a Yellow-legged Gull. Stays in the log as a Herring Gull.

This is the other one: a full adult-winter following an adult-winter Lesser Black-back. It seems to have only four mainly dark outer primaries though the white "mirror" on the outer primary again appears longer than I would expect on a Herring Gull. Some light head-streaking is just about discernable. Also in the log as a Herring Gull. [a Tufted Duck is wing-flapping at the extreme left]

Just to prove that harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis are capable of losing legs even if this species does so less often that some other species.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel pre-dawn:

Flies:
- 8 midges

Arthropods:
- *2 Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 5 spiders: usual species

It was a small individual but still "just" a Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:25 – 10:25

(271st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a drake Pochard noted: it promptly hid away
- only one Little Grebe again.
- *the Little Egret remains.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
None

Noted on / around the water:
- 38 Canada Geese: more inside the island?
- 1 Greylag Goose: arrived among a small party of Canadas
- 2 Mute Swans
- 30 (20♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Pochard
- 11 (5♂) Tufted Duck
- 35 (6♂) Goosander
- 11 Moorhens
- 82 Coots
- 1 Little Grebe
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 22 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Cormorants
- *1 Grey Heron
- *1 Little Egret

Noted around the area:
Not a lot!

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 1 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

A Grey Heron lurking in the reeds and sedges at the back of one of the cut-offs created by the footbridges.

The Little Egret showing its yellow feet – and long black claws.

About the best I could do editing this very contrasting shot of the flying egret.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
1 Wigeon
5 Gadwall
2 Teal
77 Tufted Duck
230 Coots
c.650 Black-headed Gulls
c.450 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
21 Herring Gulls
36 Fieldfare
2 Redwings
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
3 Wigeon
1 Shoveler
3 Pochard
11 Tufted Ducks
c.35 Redwings
c.175 Jackdaws
36 Rooks
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
4 Yellow-legged Gulls
(John Isherwood)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebes
30 Pochard
75 Tufted Ducks
50 Coots
>550 Black-headed Gulls
1329 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
7 Herring Gulls
1 Yellow-legged Gull
242 Wood Pigeons
36 Robins
22 Blackbirds
72 Fieldfares
22 Redwings
1 Redpoll
3 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)