Note:
19 Nov - 1 Dec
Sightings will be unformatted and without images.
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Saturday 22 November 2025
Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:20 – 09:35
The Flash: 09:40 – 10:50
4.0°C > 6.0°C: Mostly overcast with several spells of rain. Moderate south-easterly breeze, abating somewhat. Very good visibility but moderate in rain.
Sunrise: 07:45 GMT
photos to be added later
$ = my first sighting of the species for this year
$$ = my first ever recorded sighting of the species in the area
It was not the weather to get complete and accurate counts. With that proviso here we go...
Priorslee Balancing Lake:
(284th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- very few geese: a party of six Greylags flew East; and a duo few West much later
- yesterday's Mute Swans had gone.
- no (Common) Teal but a pair of Gadwall noted.
- many of the Mallard seen on the water flew off before it was light-enough to sex them.
- fewer gulls this morning with c.125 Lesser Black-backed Gulls by 06:55 and c.300 by 07:15. By his time there were also c.60 Black-headed Gulls. As yesterday there were mixed in with the larger gulls rather than the separate grouping they often form. A small passage of Lesser Black-backs passing to the East may account for some of the missing birds.
- no Song Thrush was heard singing. That may have been no more than I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- the only notable fly-over was a single Meadow Pipit. A scarce species these last two years.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 8 Greylag Geese: seen notes
- 28 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 74 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 126 Jackdaws
- 128 Rooks
- 7 Redwings: together
- 1 Meadow Pipit
No birds seen leaving roosts around the lake
Counts from the lake area:
- no Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 12 (>5♂) Mallard
- 6 (>2?♂) Pochard
- 51 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 39 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- c.60 Black-headed Gulls
- 16 Herring Gulls
- c.340 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: c.300 early on; c.40 arrived after 08:00
- 5 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 1 Grey Heron
Noted on the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn:
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 $ probable Neriene peltata
- 1 Nursery Web Spider Pisaura mirabilis
- 1 unidentified small spider sp.
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis
Nothing noted later on the Teece Drive fence or elsewhere:
In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel pre-dawn:
Still cold
Flies:
- 3 midges
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 spider only: Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash:
(278th visit of the year)
Ice gone
Bird notes:
- where were all the geese? just five Canadas noted and none heard from inside the island.
- a trio of (Common) Teal found lurking by the island.
- still just four brownhead Goosander. Hard to find today with three of them loafing around the island.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Herring Gulls: together
- 3 Jackdaws: together
Noted on / around the water:
- 5 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Geese
- 24 (17♂) Mallard
- 3 (2♂) (Common) Teal
- 2 (2♂) Pochard still
- 29 (17♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 (0♂) Goosander: again
- 8 Moorhens: again
- 57 Coots only
- 3 Great Crested Grebes only
- 56 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls: immatures
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult, briefly
- 7 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Little Egret
Nothing else noted around the area:
too cold, too dull and too windy
(Ed Wilson)
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2013
Priorslee Lake
8 Wigeon
6 Gadwall
4 Teal
2 Shoveler
2 Pochard
116 Tufted Duck
2 Water Rails
222 Coots
1 Snipe
c.90 Lapwing over
4 Yellow-legged gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
A Ring-billed x Lesser Black-backed Gull hybrid
134 Fieldfare
22 Redwings
171 Jackdaws
3 Ravens
3 Siskins
3 Redpolls
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood/JW Reeves)
Horsehay Pool
Caspian Gull
1 Yellow-legged Gull
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
1 Kingfisher
12 Goosander
Raven
(JW Reeves)
2012
Priorslee Lake
3 Gadwall
8 Pochard
24 Tufted Ducks
152 Coots
8 Redwings
(Ed Wilson)
2008
Priorslee Lake
8 Great Crested Grebes
1 Cormorant
56 Greylag Geese
12 Pochard
187 Tufted Duck
1 Goosander
2 Water Rails
149 Coot
c.800 Black-headed
c.2200 Lesser Black-backed
<20 Herring Gulls
1st winter Common Gull
50 Redwings
8 Fieldfare
1 Treecreeper
c.1000 Starlings left a roost
c.20 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)
2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
23 Greylag Geese
27 Pochard
55 Tufted Ducks
3 Buzzards
>1650 Black-headed Gull
>4022 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
246 Wood Pigeons
1 Kingfisher
26 Robins
27 Blackbirds
4 Fieldfares
34 Redwings
male Blackcap
1 Willow Tit
246 Jackdaws
160 Rooks
8 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)
Priorslee Lake
8 Wigeon
6 Gadwall
4 Teal
2 Shoveler
2 Pochard
116 Tufted Duck
2 Water Rails
222 Coots
1 Snipe
c.90 Lapwing over
4 Yellow-legged gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
A Ring-billed x Lesser Black-backed Gull hybrid
134 Fieldfare
22 Redwings
171 Jackdaws
3 Ravens
3 Siskins
3 Redpolls
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood/JW Reeves)
Horsehay Pool
Caspian Gull
1 Yellow-legged Gull
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
1 Kingfisher
12 Goosander
Raven
(JW Reeves)
2012
Priorslee Lake
3 Gadwall
8 Pochard
24 Tufted Ducks
152 Coots
8 Redwings
(Ed Wilson)
2008
Priorslee Lake
8 Great Crested Grebes
1 Cormorant
56 Greylag Geese
12 Pochard
187 Tufted Duck
1 Goosander
2 Water Rails
149 Coot
c.800 Black-headed
c.2200 Lesser Black-backed
<20 Herring Gulls
1st winter Common Gull
50 Redwings
8 Fieldfare
1 Treecreeper
c.1000 Starlings left a roost
c.20 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)
2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
23 Greylag Geese
27 Pochard
55 Tufted Ducks
3 Buzzards
>1650 Black-headed Gull
>4022 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
246 Wood Pigeons
1 Kingfisher
26 Robins
27 Blackbirds
4 Fieldfares
34 Redwings
male Blackcap
1 Willow Tit
246 Jackdaws
160 Rooks
8 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)