14 Dec 25

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

Springtails:
- 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

(Ed Wilson)

-----------------------------------------

The Flash: 09:40 – 11:10

(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.

(Ed Wilson)