5.0°C > 7.0°C: Clear to the East with some early sun. Medium-level cloud spreading from the West. Light / moderate south-easterly wind. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 07:55 GMT
* = a species photographed today
Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:50 – 09:20
(27th visit of the year)
New bird species
A new bird species for the year here (#58) when a Coal Tit was heard singing in the south-east area.
Bird notes:
- eleven Goosanders (six drakes one of which was the presumed late-moulting first-year bird).
- no Great Crested Grebes located today.
- no Cormorants were seen on the water: just one bird flying over.
- large counts of Jackdaws and Rooks, the former almost certainly under recorded. Two large and tight groups of bird were seen passing well to the East, the first of at least 250 birds and another of c.130.
- no Starlings noted flying over today.
- several parties of Siskins were heard flying West over the dam. I could find none in the West end Alder trees later so they (how many?) must have flown on.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Canada Geese: flew East together
- 1 Stock Dove
- 44 Wood Pigeons
- 8 Black-headed Gulls
- 24 Herring Gulls
- 73 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- c.600 Jackdaws
- 247 Rooks
- 2 Redwings
- Siskins: see notes
Counts from the lake area:
- 7 (3♂) Mallard
- 15 (8♂) Tufted Duck
- 11 (6?♂) Goosander
- 6 Moorhens
- 19 Coots
- no Great Crested Grebes
- c.70 Black-headed Gulls
- 24 Herring Gulls
- 51 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Great (White) Egret
Noted on the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn:
Dew-covered and cold
Beetles:
- 1 possible Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala
- 1 possible Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala
Springtails:
- 4 globular springtail Dicyrtomina saundersi- type
- 1 other smaller globular springtail
- 2 other types of springtail
- 4 globular springtail Dicyrtomina saundersi- type
- 1 other smaller globular springtail
- 2 other types of springtail
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
Seen later:
- 1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
Seen later:
Nothing of note
Clear to the East with the cloud spreading from the West – despite the wind coming from the south-east as it seems to have done almost continually this year so far.
A higher number of Herring Gulls were early visitors today. Here are five, all immatures. The bird on the left looks to be a second-winter. The others all first-winter birds.
Not a good photo of one flying away – plenty of branches and trees to confuse the camera's focus mechanism. What is notable here are the warm flanks towards the rear and the pale tips to the outer tail-feathers, this latter feature being hard to see with the naked eye.
Perhaps my best-yet photo of a possible Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala. Not that this is saying very much as these flea-beetles are too small even for the camera's macro capability.
The springtail challenge. I was trying, unsuccessfully, to photograph the Dicyrtomina saundersi-type springtail centre right. When I looked at the photo I could see a much smaller globular springtail just left of centre-top. There are also three small springtails of a different shape bottom-centre, centre-left and top left-of-centre. None of these I noted at the time. So how many others did I fail to see that were not silhouetted against one of the street lamp pole identity stickers?
(Ed Wilson)
The Flash: 09:25 – 10:30
(23rd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- no Mute Swan seen today.
- yesterday eight of the ten Pochard recorded were clearly drakes: today nine of the ten seemed to be clearly drakes. Most odd.
- just the two Great Crested Grebes with obvious head plumes seen?
- again no Grey Heron or Great (White) Egret noted but an immature Cormorant again.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 7 Herring Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
Noted on / around the water:
- 11 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Geese
- no Mute Swan
- 30 (19♂) Mallard
- 10 (9♂) Pochard
- 43 (21♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 (2♂) Goosander
- 11 Moorhens
- 39 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 37 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls: one first- and one second-winter
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult, departed
- 1 Cormorant: immature
- no Grey Heron
- no Great (White) Egret
Around the area:
Three more, all first winter birds.
One of two Mistle Thrushes seen on the south-west grass, presumably one of a pair...
...with this one. I was just too late with the camera to see what seemed to be one bird feeding the other. An hour prior to these photos a possibly different Mistle Thrush flew, calling, out of the south-east area and away across the M54.
A Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 09:25 – 10:30
(23rd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- no Mute Swan seen today.
- yesterday eight of the ten Pochard recorded were clearly drakes: today nine of the ten seemed to be clearly drakes. Most odd.
- just the two Great Crested Grebes with obvious head plumes seen?
- again no Grey Heron or Great (White) Egret noted but an immature Cormorant again.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 7 Herring Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
Noted on / around the water:
- 11 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Geese
- no Mute Swan
- 30 (19♂) Mallard
- 10 (9♂) Pochard
- 43 (21♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 (2♂) Goosander
- 11 Moorhens
- 39 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 37 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls: one first- and one second-winter
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult, departed
- 1 Cormorant: immature
- no Grey Heron
- no Great (White) Egret
Around the area:
Nothing else of note
A collection of diving ducks. I reckon 12 drake and 11 duck Tufted Duck and toward the back five drake and one duck Pochard.
A Coal Tit. Not an easy subject. Fast moving inside the canopy. When they do stay still and sing it usually from a very high perch.
All I can say is that I am glad they invented digital cameras. I would be a poor man from all the wasted shots attempting to photograph flying Long-tailed Tits. This was one for which I did not press "delete".
(Ed Wilson)
2012
Priorslee Lake
6 Great Crested Grebes
22 Greylag Geese
19 Pochard
42 Tufted Duck
c.390 Black-headed Gulls
c.350 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
32 Herring Gulls
1 Common Gull
3 Yellow-legged Gulls
3 Great Black-backed Gulls
69 Redwings
25 Greenfinches
4 Linnets
(Ed Wilson / John Isherwood)
Priorslee Flash
Tundra Bean Goose
8 Greylag Geese
37 Tufted Ducks
c.1000 Black-headed Gulls
246 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
35 Herring Gulls.
(Ed Wilson, John Isherwood)
Trench Pool
8 Pochard
50 Tufted Ducks
79 Coots
(Ed Wilson)
Holmer Lake
50 Goosander
(John Isherwood)
1 Great Black-backed Gull
(Ed Wilson)
Mrs. Goosander looking worried.
Coming in to view and...
...going! Surprisingly large feet and claws!
What a sweetie. A well-framed Blue Tit.
Sometimes you get lucky! More light next time please.
(Ed Wilson)
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2012
Priorslee Lake
6 Great Crested Grebes
22 Greylag Geese
19 Pochard
42 Tufted Duck
c.390 Black-headed Gulls
c.350 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
32 Herring Gulls
1 Common Gull
3 Yellow-legged Gulls
3 Great Black-backed Gulls
69 Redwings
25 Greenfinches
4 Linnets
(Ed Wilson / John Isherwood)
Priorslee Flash
Tundra Bean Goose
8 Greylag Geese
37 Tufted Ducks
c.1000 Black-headed Gulls
246 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
35 Herring Gulls.
(Ed Wilson, John Isherwood)
Trench Pool
8 Pochard
50 Tufted Ducks
79 Coots
(Ed Wilson)
Holmer Lake
50 Goosander
(John Isherwood)
1 Great Black-backed Gull
(Ed Wilson)