21 Dec 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

7.0°C > 8.0°C: More very low cloud. A short spell of rain c.09:15. Moderate easterly wind. Moderate visibility becoming good.

Sunrise: 08:20 GMT

Despite it being the Winter solstice and the shortest day it will continue to get lighter slightly later in the mornings for the next 10 days or so.

Photos will be added later

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:50 – 09:30

(309th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- six Canada Geese were on the water at first light, soon leaving to the East.
- two Mute Swans flew in from the West at 09:00.
- I only managed to find 26 Coots today. It would not be a complete explanation because Coot numbers at The Flash are also well down but I have been wondering whether when the contractors cut some of the reeds back in October the cut stems have blocked access to the birds' roosting sites inside the reeds and they have gone elsewhere.
- a Sunday lie-in for the gulls. Both Black-headed and Lesser Black-backs arrived simultaneously from different directions at 07:40. There were more Black-heads and fewer Black-backs with most of the latter having a quick wash and moving rapidly on.
- unusually there was a larger (re?) arrival of both species (along with a few Herring Gulls) c.09:00.
- Wood Pigeon is a species that will breed at any time of the year given the chance. Nevertheless three birds "singing" while it was still dark at 06:55 was unusual at this date.
- no Great (White) Egret seen here (or at The Flash later).
- a typical number of Rooks were noted passing on their usual flight-line but very few Jackdaws.
- a Blackbird joined in with the 13 singing Song Thrushes.
- I should not have mentioned a recent scarcity of Siskins yesterday. At least 10 birds were in Alders at the West end this morning.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Greylag Goose: flew East pre-dawn
- 22 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Herring Gulls
- 91 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 47 Jackdaws
- 122 Rooks
- 5 Redwings: two groups

Counts from the lake area:
- 6 Canada Geese: departed together
- 2 Mute Swans: arrived together
- 2 (1♂) Mallard
- 32 (21♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens
- 26 Coots only
- 4 Great Crested Grebes as usual
- c.125 || 193 + 16 on football field Black-headed Gulls
- 7 || 13 Herring Gulls
- 65 || 88 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 2 Grey Herons
- no Great (White) Egret

Noted on the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- 1 male Mottled Umber Erranis defoliaria: third day in the same place

Flies:
- 4 winter craneflies Trichocera sp.
- 1 very small plumed midge

Beetles:
- 1 unidentified small ground beetle

Springtails:
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis

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

Later:
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis on a wall of Telford Sailing Clun HQ.

Looking West from the dam with the light pollution from Telford providing a glow. The Ricoh sig providing the only colour. The lake is devoid of birds at this time: the gulls are yet to arrive and the Coots are still hiding in the reeds.

Well it is near Christmas so we must have a Robin.

A small male plumed midge. This one no more than 5mm long. No idea as to the species,

A springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis. Apparently it is not unusual for these to lose part of, or sometimes all, one antenna.

One of very many (about 350 if Google AI is to believed) species of ground-beetles in the UK. This was smaller than many and about all I can say.

One of two harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis I noted this morning. This, on one of the street lamp poles, shows only an ill-defined pale stripe down the abdomen. I asked Obsidentify what it thought. It said Nursery Web Spider Pisaura mirabilis. I have no idea why it thought that. Even if I had got the species wrong it is most certainly a harvestman and not a spider as it has no cephalothorax (the joined head and thorax that are distinct from the abdomen on spiders).

The other Paroligolophus agrestis, this one on a wall of the Telford Sailing Club HQ. The pale stripe down the abdomen is more obvious on this specimen.

(Ed Wilson)

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Woodhouse area

I made a short visit here, mainly to look at the two storm pools to see whether the Mallard were still hanging out there. Despite both pools having very brown and discoloured water I found:
on the lower pool:
- 25 (17♂) Mallard
- 1 Coot
on the upper pool:
- 2 (1♂) Mallard

The only other birds of interest in the area were:
- a Mistle Thrush was giving its rattling call from a tree near the Priorslee Lake sluice exit (it later flew across Castle Farm Way and started to sing in the south-east area: and was presumably a different bird to one calling alongside Teece Drive much later)
- a Meadow Pipit was heard to flush from the grass. A species that has been scarce this year.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:45

(302nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- no sign of the drake Shoveler.
- a fifth Great Crested Grebe noted

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 3 Herring Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Redwing

Noted on / around the water:
- 7 Canada Geese
- 1 Mute Swan
- 21 (19♂) Mallard
- 10 (6♂) Pochard: again
- 23 (19♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 (1♂) Goosander
- 14 Moorhens
- 46 Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 71 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls: two (near?) adults; one first-winter
- 2 Cormorants
- 2 Grey Herons, the second seen arriving
- no Great (White) Egret

Noted around the area:

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

Beetles:
- 1 pupa of a Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis

Fungus:
- Blushing Bracket Daedaleopsis confragosa
- Velvet Shank Flammulina velutipes

Unsurprisingly there again were no insects on the bank of Ivy.

An odd-looking duck Mallard, slightly more rufous than usual and with the feathering less well-defined. I am amazed at how many slightly unusual Mallard have turned up over the years, often not staying very long. It suggests that there is more of a movement in and out of this apparently sedentary species than might be expected.

This duck Mallard is more or less dead-centre of this feeding frenzy.

Six of the Pochard went for a fly-about. Of the centre four the leader and the one at the top are clearly adult drakes with paler wings.

Two as they fly back the other way. I cannot explain why the tail feathers are being held differently.

I classified this as a (near) adult Herring Gull. There seems to be too much dark on its bill for an adult-winter yet there is no sign of any remnant dark in the tail. Third- or fourth-winter I suggest.

There were four Song Thrushes singing away here. This one decided that tossing leaves around looking for food was a more worthwhile pursuit.

A Christmas Robin here too.

Unexpected at this date is a pupa of a Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis. Whether there is anyone home is impossible to say. It looks "fresh".

I found two species of fungus today - seems a bit late in the year. This is Blushing Bracket Daedaleopsis confragosa.

It is fortunate that the Priorslee Academy is not in session. Poking my camera through the fence might be misconstrued even if I was only photographing the Velvet Shank fungus Flammulina velutipes .

Here showing the underside.

Worth another view from a slightly different angle.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
5 Gadwall
2 Teal
7 Pochard
74 Tufted Ducks
221 Coots
2 Fieldfare
65 Redwings
228 Jackdaws
119 Rooks
13 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
4 Gadwall.
12 Pochard
12 Goosanders
51 Tufted Ducks
145 Coots
c.280 Black-headed Gulls
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
c.265 Jackdaws
5 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

The Flash
12 Goosanders
4 Pochard
38 Tufted Duck
12 Goosanders
7 Coots
42 were Herring Gulls
44 Black-headed Gulls only on the water
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

Trench Lock Pool
32 Mute Swans
42 Tufted Duck
168 Coots counted
1 Great Black-backed Gull.
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Black-necked Grebe
Little Grebe
8 Great Crested Grebes
22 Swans
1 Gadwall
51 Pochard
148 Tufted Ducks
1 Water Rail
1 Snipe
1 Woodcock
274 Coots
8000+ gulls
2 Yellow-legged Gulls
7 Redwings
16 Goldfinches
13 Siskins
3 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson/Martin Adlam/Jim Almond)

2005
Priorslee lake
9 Pochard
16 Tufted Duck
c.2000 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
c.500 Black-headed Gulls
5 Great Black-backed Gulls
11 Herring Gull.
c.200 Coot
1 Water Rail
15 Pied Wagtails
243 Rooks
532 Jackdaw
31 Siskin
2 Redpoll
16 Reed Bunting
(Martin Adlam)