24 Dec 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

4.0°C > 3.0°C: Barely broken medium-level cloud gradually melted away with good sunny spells. A chilly, fresh easterly breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 08:21 GMT again

Season's Greeting to you all. Thanks for reading.

* = a species photographed today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:40 – 09:30

(312th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- an adult Mute Swan landed in front of me at 08:02 and was joined by another at 08:07. Whether they had arrived together and one stayed "at the other end" for a while is unclear. Neither of them had rings so neither was the pen that was a resident here this Summer.
- yesterday's drake Shoveler apparently gone.
- even fewer Coots today: only 17 and in good lighting. There were none on the south-west grass – neither were there any Moorhens there (usually about six). The grass is in very poor condition so perhaps food-related?
- both Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls started to arrive 07:35.
- four Cormorants arrived together. Eventually there were seven fishing together by which time one had already departed.
- only three Song Thrushes braved the early cold to sing. Later two were singing from different sides of one tree!

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Greylag Geese: outbound together
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 17 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 41 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 82 Jackdaws
- 46 Rooks
- 1 Pied Wagtail

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans: arrived
- 4 (3♂) Mallard
- 40 (28♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 17 Coots only
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- c.125 Black-headed Gulls
- 9 Herring Gulls
- c.200 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 8 Cormorants: see notes
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn:
Too cold for us all!

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

Beetles:
- *1 possible Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- *1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Seen later:

Nothing

A much better-looking start to the day.

Some good breaks in the cloud quickly developed.

 Even some colour.

What might, or might not, be a Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala.

Very little on the street lamp poles on a chilly morning. A harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis with anti-freeze in its blood – perhaps.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:35

(305th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the two Mute Swans stayed apart. No aggression noted.
- a drake Gadwall was a new arrival
- all ten Pochard located today
- two brownhead Goosanders noted.
- Coot numbers are lower than typical for this date but at the moment are holding steady.
- another Raven overhead.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls together
- *1 Raven

Noted on / around the water:
- 7 Canada Geese
- 2 Mute Swans
- *1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 34 (23♂) Mallard
- 10 (6♂) Pochard
- 34 (18♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 (0♂) Goosander
- 11 Moorhens
- 46 Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 72 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull: third-winter
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: (near) adult, briefly
- no Cormorants
- 2 Grey Herons

Around the area:

Nothing noted

While I was parking my car this drake Gadwall was paddling past very close. Once I had got and was more (dis)organised it was, naturally, a long way away and stayed that way.

Did someone mention food? The Black-headed Gulls thought so. The lowest bird and the slightly right of centre top are first-winter birds (dark tail band), the other seven are all adult-winter birds.

Hot on the heels of my first sighting of Raven here this year there was another today. Note the diamond-shaped tail and the well-separated outer primaries ("fingers"). It is the low sun causing the under-wing to gloss.

This species' large bill is (slightly) more evident here.

"Robin: wipe that dirt off your bill"

"Wanna make sumfink of it sonny-boy?"

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
5 Gadwall
7 Pochard
34 Tufted Ducks
204 Coots counted
123 Black-headed Gulls
16 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
22 Herring Gulls
3 Great Black-backed Gulls
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
2 Grey Herons
126 Canada Geese
110 Tufted Ducks
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock Pool
3 Great Crested Grebes
2 Shoveler
71 Tufted Duck
1 Goosander
125 Coots
>40 Redwings
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Middle Pool
1 Tufted Duck
19 Goosander
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
13 Pochard
35 Tufted Ducks
178 Coots
Peregrine
14 Redwings
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
1 Pochard
38 Tufted Duck
5 Goosanders
(Ed Wilson)

Little Wenlock, Candles Landfill Site
4 Yellow-legged Gulls
(Dawn Balmer & Pete Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Black-necked Grebe
4 Great Crested Grebes
10 Swans
28 Pochard
77 Tufted Ducks
3 Yellow-legged Gulls
1000 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
60 Herring Gulls
1 Water Rail heard
299 Coots counted
4 Redwings
2 Willow Tits again
c.5 Goldfinches
c.10 Siskins
(Ed Wilson/Dawn Balmer/ Peter Wilson)

2006
Priorslee lake
2 Great Crested Grebe
1 Little Grebe
41 Pochard
38 Tufted Ducks
8 Redwing
2 Fieldfare
1 Redpoll
4 Reed Buntings
(Martin Adlam)