Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash
8.0°C > 9.0°C: An early light shower gave way to a bright and mostly cloudy morning after an excellent sunrise. Moderate southerly wind. Very good visibility.Sunrise: 08:15 GMT
Photos will be added later
Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:35 – 09:35
(302nd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- yesterday's Mute Swans had not stayed.
- a drake Goosander was present again.
- I noted 15 Mallard (12 drakes) on the water after they had flown in from the East. Earlier I had counted 23 (17 drakes) on one of the storm pools adjacent to the housing to the East.
- 33 Tufted Duck were noted. However much later at least 44 flew in to The Flash. This normally occurs when the sailing club put their boats in the water. So where were the other 11 hiding?
- a Sunday lie-in for the gulls. The first to appear were c.75 Black-headed Gulls at 07:25. Numbers rapidly increased to over 300, also with c.50 Lesser Black-backed Gulls by 07:32 when all the Lessers departed to the South (they probably returned). It was 07:40 before the Black-heads began to settle on the water and by this time there were c.500.
- a Great (White) Egret was chased off the East by gulls c.07:50. It, or another, was present by 08:45 and after bring chased several times by the Grey Heron left to the West c.09:00. None was at The Flash when I got there. One flew in there from the south c.11:05. So how many birds were involved?
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 14 Wood Pigeons
- 6 Herring Gull
- 69 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Herod
- 136 Jackdaws
- 117 Rooks
- 1 Pied Wagtail
Counts from the lake area:
- no Canada Geese
- no Mute Swans
- 15 (12♂) Mallard
- 33 (24♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (1♂) Goosander
- 4 Moorhens
- 43 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- c.500 Black-headed Gulls
- 15 || 8 Herring Gulls
- >200 || 38 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 4 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 (or 2?) Great (White) Egrets
Noted on the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn:
Moths:
- 2 male Mottled Umber Erranis defoliaria
- 2 male Mottled Umber Erranis defoliaria
Springtails:
- 1 springtail sp., probably Dicyrtomina saundersi
- 1 springtail sp., probably Tomocerus vulgaris
- 1 springtail sp., probably Dicyrtomina saundersi
- 1 springtail sp., probably Tomocerus vulgaris
Flies:
- 2 male Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii
- 2 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.
Earwigs:
- 1 Common European Earwig Forficula dentata
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
- 1 harvestman Opilio canestrinii
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis
A better haul in mild weather despite the light rain at the time
Noted elsewhere:
Moths:
- 1 male Mottled Umber Erranis defoliaria
flushed from underfoot at the East end c.07:15.
Flower:
- Shepherd's-purse Capsella bursa-pastoris
apparently my first record this year here!
Later on the Teece Drive:
Nothing noted
Taken well before dawn while it was raining the dawn did not look promising.
So I was taken by surprise when the sky coloured-up and I was in the wrong place.
A scamper to a better location...
...and up in to the fields to the East for an even better view using the small copse as foreground.
Amazing colour.
The tip of the sun just peeking.
About half-way.
A Grey Heron in pursuit of a Great (White) Egret...
...which flies off protesting.
A male Bullfinch tries to hide while I try and persuade the camera to...
...on the bird and not the twigs.
Eventually. This is a species scarce in the area these days.
A harvestman from the species pair Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus. It seems that in "Winter" it is more likely to be D caudatus. Microscopic examination of features I don't understand would resolve the issue!
It is a while since the contractors cut the grass in the dam-top allowing this Shepherd's-purse Capsella bursa-pastoris to flower. I am sure I must have overlooked it earlier in the year.
(Ed Wilson)
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(296th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- a (the?) drake Shoveler was hiding in plain sight among the Tufted Duck.
- after yesterday's single Pochard (a drake) there were six birds back again / out of hiding.
- as noted for the Balancing Lake at least 44 Tufted Duck (28? drakes) flew in as two tight groups, presumed to have been flushed off the lake.
- probably many more Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls than I have tabulated. Birds were flying over and in and out all the while and difficult to keep track of.
- a Cormorant was seen to catch a sizeable Perch and eventually manage to swallow it.
- a Great (White) Egret belatedly arrived from the South: see notes for the Balancing Lake.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 6 Herring Gulls
- 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
see notes.
Noted on / around the water:
- 5 Canada Geese
- 1 (1♂) Shoveler
- 30 (21♂) Mallard
- 6 (3♂) Pochard only
- 33 (16♂) > 77 (44♂) Tufted Duck: see notes
- 3 (1♂) Goosander again
- 11 Moorhens again
- 43 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes again
- 114 Black-headed Gulls
- 7 Herring Gulls at least: all ages
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls at least: two immatures
- 5 Cormorants
- 2 Grey Herons
- 1 Great (White) Egret: arrived
Noted around the area:
Bees, wasps, etc.:
- 1 unidentified small bumblebee Bombus sp. with a white tail
Hoverflies:
- 1 unidentified dronefly Eristalis sp.
Other flies:
- >10 Common Blow Flies Calliphora vicina
- >5 smaller all-dark flies
Neither the bumblebee nor the hoverfly stayed around long-enough for me to get the camera on them.
A duck Pochard demonstrates the "no handkerchief" option of wiping your nose.
I can't get my feet up that high these days.
A trio of first-winter Herring Gulls squabbling with one having dropped whatever they were playing with.
Which one is going to dive down and retrieve it first?
A Cormorant has caught its breakfast – lunch and dinner by the look of it.
"Quart" and "pint-pot" spring to mind! As always more light would have been preferable to freeze the action.
Nearly there.
Still not quite right.
That looks better!
"My: what a large neck you have!" Just the tail to go down the hatch.
In the dark recess of squirrel alley a Goldcrest was flitting about. Trying to photo it was nigh-on impossible. The camera did well to pick it up.
(Ed Wilson)
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2013
Priorslee Lake
>550 Wood Pigeons
41 Magpies
1 Siskin
4 Gadwall
2 Teal
4 Pochard
64 Tufted Ducks
228 Coots
127 Black-headed Gulls
34 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
12 Herring Gulls
12 Great Black-backed Gull
10 Fieldfare
19 Redwings
78 Jackdaws
7 Rooks
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)
The Flash
1st winter female Scaup
167 Tufted Ducks
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)
Horsehay Pool
A leucistic large species gull, probably Lesser Black-backed Gull
4 Yellow-legged Gulls
(Jim Almond)
2012
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
9 Pochard
27 Tufted Ducks
c.155 Coots
265 Black-headed Gulls
244 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
42 Herring Gulls
3 Greater Black-backed Gulls
(Ed Wilson)
2010
Priorslee Lake
Curlew
Mallard x Pintail
>25 Herring Gulls
>500 Wood Pigeons
(Ed Wilson)
2009
Priorslee Lake
Black-necked Grebe
Little Grebe
2 Gadwall
Goosander
c.50 Siskins
1 Redpoll
4 Great Crested Grebes
21 Swans
31 Pochard
92 Tufted Ducks
291 Coots
(Ed Wilson)
2006
Priorslee Lake
22 Pochard
48 Tufted Ducks
3 Buzzards
69 Coots
>1300 Black-headed Gulls
>2600 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
23 Herring Gulls
1 Yellow-legged Gull
5 Great Black-backed Gulls
25 Robins
16 Blackbirds
c.60 Fieldfare
c.162 Redwings
32 Magpies
230 Jackdaws
96 Rooks
22 Starlings
14 Greenfinches
1 Reed Bunting
(Ed Wilson/Kevin Pryce)
2005
Priorslee Lake
3 Ruddy Ducks
Water Rail
1500 Black-headed Gulls
700 Lesser Blacked Gulls
2 Little Grebes
6 Great Crested Grebes
29 Pochard
54 Tufted Duck
234 Coot
Sparrowhawk
176 Jackdaws
179 Rooks
11 Siskins
15 Pied Wagtails
2 Grey Wagtails
3 Redwings
1 Fieldfare seen.
164 Wood Pigeon
5 Reed Buntings
10 Greenfinches
(Ed Wilson)