26 Nov 25

The Flash and Priorslee Balancing Lake

0.0°C > 3.0°C: Clear skies until c.10:30 when cloud encroached from the West. Light south-easterly breeze. Mostly very good visibility.

[Sunrise: 07:52 GMT]

I decided on another "Winter schedule" visit to avoid the early chill. A fortuitous choice as the Balancing Lake had been fogged-in early and was only beginning to clear as I was heading to start at The Flash.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 09:25 – 10:30

(288th visit of the year)

Mostly from the dam-top area. I did walk all around without anything interesting entering the log.

Bird notes:
- the model boat club were using the West end of the lake. Some ducks may have departed as a result.
- none of the three Pochard was an adult drake: neither did they seem to be immature drakes. It is most unusual for duck Pochard to outnumber drakes. But then, not quite so unusual, the duck Tufted Duck also outnumbered the drakes.
- a dead Moorhen was seen. Just the head and scattered feathers remained. Exactly what killed it is not clear. The plucked feathers might suggest a Sparrowhawk but I would be surprised that one would have taken anything right alongside the water. I would not have expected a Fox to pluck its prey. No bones were noted.
- I took gull counts as I arrived and again as I was about to depart. It is likely that different birds were involved as there was a steady stream of arrivals and departures. The two totals are presented as <total_1> || <total_2>.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
No specific counts were taken. Approximate numbers...
- >10 Wood Pigeons
- >1 Herring Gull
- c.40 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Jackdaws

Counts from the lake area:
- 7 Canada Geese
- 15 (9♂) Mallard
- 3 (0♂) Pochard
- 30 (10♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens: one dead: see notes
- 55 Coots
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 27 || 34 Black-headed Gulls
- 28 || 32 Herring Gulls
- 108 || 132 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants
- 2 Grey Herons

I checked all the street lamp poles and found nothing.

One of three duck (female) Pochard here. The eye looks white because the protective translucent membrane is covering the pupil allowing some vision against danger. Just about visible of the pale eye ring with a pale line running behind the eye.

Here are the other two. Pale eye-rings and streaks behind the eye more easily seen.

A first-winter Herring Gull departs.

The back gull of these two immature gulls looked different somehow. Smaller and more compact that the first-winter Herring Gull in front of it. I wondered what Obsidentify would make of my photo. "Harbour porpoise". Well I know the photo is not very good! Google Lens said "Iceland Gull". Wrong again as that species at all ages lacks any black feathering and this bird shows unrelieved black on the folded wing-tips. A "different-looking" first-winter Herring Gull is my conclusion.

A typical adult-winter Herring Gull, the pale eye and the head streaking giving it an evil look.

I did a double-take on this adult Herring Gull. There is so little dark on the wing-tips that at first glance it looked like an Iceland Gull which has no black. The camera reveals all. Looking at the right wing it shows that several of the outer primaries are still re-growing. Thus when viewed from above it appears as a thin line of black where these feathers are overlaid on each other.

An adult-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull with several unusual features. There looks to be no contrast between the inner wing and the always black wing-tips. The head is about at densely streaked as any I have seen. And the usual wide white trailing edge to the wing is narrow and uneven. I can't turn it in to anything more exciting.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 10:40 – 12:15

(281st visit of the year)

c.90% ice. Apart from many of the gulls happily standing on the ice most birds were concentrated in a small area between the island and the Wordsworth Way turn.

Bird notes:
- no (Common) Teal seen.
- most of yesterday's Pochard gone. Just a trio of drakes remain.
- a single brownhead Goosander noted.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 6 Canada Geese
- 31 (19♂) Mallard
- no (Common) Teal
- 3 (3♂) Pochard
- 34 (17♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (0♂) Goosander only
- 7 Moorhens
- 45 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 74 Black-headed Gulls
- 12 Herring Gulls: ages not determined
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all (near) adults
- 2 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron

Nothing noted around the area:
I was not surprised to draw a blank. The Ivy bank was in full sun but with a temperature of just 1.0°C nothing was venturing out.

Taken from the pull-in in Derwent Drive The Flash was ice all the way to the island.

Here from one of the footbridges with ice all the way to the top end. The Flash always freezes quickly. Nevertheless I was surprised how extensive the ice was after just one below freezing night. The incoming cloud is lurking to the West and North.

One of the three drake Pochard asleep on the patch of open water between the island and Wordsworth Way. Note the fine vermiculations on the flanks of this bird.

Another one pretending to be asleep. Note the red eye. I can find no information on why the eye colour varies between bird species. What may be relevant is that Pochard often dive at night to feed on vegetation and spend the day loafing. Tufted Ducks with yellow or orange eyes dive during daylight.

Two first-winter Herring Gulls probably encountering their first ice and slip-sliding about.

Four immature Herring Gulls looking for food on the ice. The left-most three are all first-winters with dark bills. The right-hand bird with only a small amount of black on the bill and a pale eye is a second-winter bird.

I paused over this gull. Rounded head and dark eye. These are Common Gull features. Not so: the bill is too robust and would be two-tone on a Common Gull. And anyway as a two-year (to maturity) gull a Common Gull would show extensive pale grey on the back and wings. This bird is a first-winter Herring Gull, most likely a female which average smaller than males.

(Ed Wilson)

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2012
Priorslee Lake
22 Tufted Ducks
143 Coots
Nuthatch
34 Redwings
1 Fieldfare
228 Jackdaws
98 Rooks
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
11 Greylag Geese
27 Pochard
70 Tufted Ducks
1 drake Ruddy Duck
70 Coots
>400 Black-headed Gulls
315 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
5 Herring Gulls
221 Wood Pigeons
22 Blackbirds
45 Fieldfares
38 Redwings
264 Jackdaws
71 Rooks
5 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
1 Pochard
40 Tufted Duck
1 Goldeneye
2 Ruddy Duck
C.700 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
16 Herring Gulls
2 Yellow-legged Gull
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
Caspian Gull
Sparrowhawk
c.628 Jackdaws
c.358 Rooks
(Martin Adlam)

25 Nov 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

3.0°C > 5.0°C: Clear skies. Light north-westerly wind. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 07:50 GMT

$ = my first sighting of the species for this year
$$ = my first ever recorded sighting of the species in the area

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:15 – 09:35

(287th visit of the year)

Bird notes
A distant and high party of 22 Golden Plover were seen to the East at 07:25 identified by their distinctive formation pattern and very fast wingbeats. I record this species most years. The numbers involved seems to reduce year-on-year. It is bird species #106 for me here this year.

Other bird notes:
- a male Pheasant calling again in the south-west area.
- large arrival of gulls started by 06:40 with eventually c.700 Lesser Black-backed and c.250 (very noisy) Black-headed Gulls. Not easy to see at this time but there seemed to be no more than 10 Herring Gulls with them.
- after 08:00 there was a mass arrival from the North of 41 Herring and 210 Lesser Black-backed Gulls.
- a low count of Jackdaws and Rooks passing over from their roost(s). With a northerly component in the breeze and clear skies those I noted were flying very high out of both audible and, without using binoculars, visual range.
- at least 20 Siskins in

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 22 $ Golden Plover
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 21 Wood Pigeons
- 51 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 26 Jackdaws
- 25 Rook

Counts from the lake area:
- 9 Canada Geese: arrived as a septet and then a duo
- 10 (7♂) Mallard
- 3 (2♂) Pochard
- 48 (24?♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens
- 47 Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- c.250 Black-headed Gulls
- c.50 Herring Gulls
- c.700 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 1 Grey Heron

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

Moths:
- 7 Winter Moths Operophtera brumata
- 2 Mottled Umbers Erranis defoliaria

Ants:
- 1 Formica sp., possibly Blood-red Ant F. sanguinea

Beetle:
- 1 flea-beetle

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

Later on the Teece Drive fence or elsewhere:

Nothing noted

No cloud so limited interest to the sunrise.

 It was still before sunrise when this distant Great Crested Grebe caught its breakfast.

A Blue Tit looking for insects wherever. Here on an air-vent on the sailing club's shower and toilet block!

Often a shy species this Redwing was not going to show itself!

What a sweetie. A male Pied Wagtail. Note the back is not universally the same shade of black (if that makes sense!). Possibly a first winter bird?

Yes: you!

A female Siskin tucks in to Alder cones for the seeds.

A male Siskin does the same.

As does this one.

Direct comparison: a female Siskin above a male.

An unusually well-marked specimen of a Winter Moth Operophtera brumata.

One of two Mottled Umbers moths Erranis defoliaria on the street lamp poles. This is a very faintly-marked individual with the wavy cross band and the black dot in each wing only revealed by some judicious editing. The editing also revealed an unidentified flea-beetle is keeping it company. Note the very straight edge along the front two-thirds of the moth's wings.

That straight-edge was important to identifying another faintly-marked individual sitting at a very difficult angle.

At the time I thought this would turn out to be a ground beetle when I looked at the photo in detail. Not so. It is a very large ant. Searching around my usual apps and web sites I am sure it is a Formica sp., and just possibly Blood-red Ant F. sanguinea.

The only spider or harvestman on the poles was this Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel pre-dawn:

Flies:
- 1 midge only

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 3 spiders: all Missing Sector Orb-web Spiders Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

About time we had a photo of a Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata (or Silver-sided Sector Spider if you prefer).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:40 – 10:50

(280th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- still very few geese.
- a first-winter Mute Swan cygnet was departing as I arrived.
- no sign of the Little Egret but three Grey Herons.
- a trio of (Common) Teal (two drakes) flew from the top end and was then unusually seen in the open alongside the island.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
None

Noted on / around the water:
- 6 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Geese
- 26 (17♂) Mallard
- 3 (2♂) (Common) Teal
- 8 (6♂) Pochard
- 31 (16♂) Tufted Duck: see notes
- 3 (0♂) Goosander
- 4 Moorhens only
- 59 Coots only
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 55 Black-headed Gulls
- 5 Herring Gulls: all immatures
- 6 Cormorants
- 3 Grey Herons
- no Little Egret

Noted around the area:
A few things on the sunlit bank of Ivy despite the low temperature

Moths:
- 1 Winter Moth Operophtera brumata : same as yesterday

Bees, wasps etc.:
- >3 Common Wasps Vespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- 1 Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
- >2 Tapered Droneflies Eristalis pertinax

Other flies:
- >40 Common Blow Fly Calliphora vicina
- >10 smaller unidentified flies

The first-winter Mute Swan cygnet circling to....

...to leave.

Very high contrast on the trio of (Common) Teal at the edge of the island. Two drakes on the left. A Coot is lurking at the extreme right.

A sextet of Pochard. Two ducks on the left with four drakes. Behind is a duck Tufted Duck.

 Still a few Common Wasps Vespula vulgaris around.

Probably my last Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus of the year.

If the weather forecast is correct (a big if!) and it cloudy for the next few days this may be the last opportunity to see any hoverflies. The Ivy is about finished anyway. Here is one of the Tapered Droneflies Eristalis pertinax I noted.

Perhaps a different specimen.

The same one?

 Again. Note the long tongue. However many there were they were all females.

One of very many Common Blow Flies Calliphora vicina

"Plane" of the day. This is an Airbus Helicopters built Eurocopter EC135 T3H Juno HT.1 from 1 FTS (Flying Training School) at RAF Shawbury. It was on a navex (navigation exercise) and passed over Birmingham Airport before over-flying Leicester Airport to reach Preston before returning to base.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
6 Gadwall
1 Teal
2 Pochard
99 Tufted Duck
225 Coots counted
1 Woodcock
6 Herring Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
Green Woodpecker
231 Fieldfare
66 Redwings
c.375 Jackdaws
2 Redpolls
5 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
31 Greylag Geese
3 Gadwall
8 Pochard
23 Tufted Duck
Goosander
143 Coots
1 Yellow-legged Gull
19 Redwings
2 Fieldfares
259 Jackdaws
(Ed Wilson / Allan Heath)

2005
Priorslee Lake
206 Starlings going to roost
C.500 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
10 Herring Gulls
1 Yellow legged Gull
1 Caspian Gull
c.700 Black-headed Gulls
(Martin Adlam)

24 Nov 25

The Flash and Priorslee Balancing Lake

4.0°C > 5.0°C: Low cloud with spells of drizzle, clearing after c.11:30. Fresh north-westerly breeze. Very good visibility, less so during drizzle.

[Sunrise: 07:48 GMT]

Another "Winter schedule" visit starting again at The Flash, this time to ensure safe parcel delivery before I left home.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 09:55 – 11:00

(286th visit of the year)

Mainly viewing from the dam-top area trying to shelter from the keen wind.

Bird notes:
- I managed to confirm the presence of a Great Black-backed Gull.
- unlike previous mid-morning visits there was almost no movement of gulls in or out.

Counts from the lake area:
- 6 (4♂) Mallard
- 2 (2♂) Pochard
- 51 (27♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Moorhens
- 54 Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 12 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Great Black-backed Gull
- 16 Herring Gulls
- 58 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 4 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron

Whether this is the same bird as I puzzled over two days ago or not I am unsure. What I am sure is that the left-hand bird is a Great Black-backed Gull, unusual this early in the Winter. Note in particular the large bill with a very white and unmarked head. There is almost no contrast between the main part of the folded wing and the wing-tips unlike the smaller, more delicate Lesser Black-backed Gull on the right of the photo.

A first-winter Herring Gull. Note the all-dark bill and the dark tail band is not present on each patterned outer tail-feather. On the right wing of this bird the anula feather (at the bend in the leading edge of the wing) is sticking out...

...as it is here on the underside of the same bird. The pattern on each outer tail-feather is even more easily seen here.

A different first-winter showing some pale at the base of the bill.

An adult winter Lesser Black-backed Gull (with extensive head streaking) leads an immature Herring Gull whose age is a puzzle. The bill-pattern suggests a second-winter...

...but the strength of the markings on the under-wing and the upper-wing pattern more closely resemble a first-winter. At that age the bill is usually all dark.

The same adult-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. Another individual with the outer primary feather on each wing tip not yet fully regrown from the annual moult. Although a relatively dark individual there is still a very obvious contrast between the black of the wing-tips and the rest of the wing. The white trailing edge to the wings of this species is noticeably wider than it is on a Herring Gull.

A super long-range shot of gulls on the south-west grass as seen from the dam-top. This is new behaviour this year with birds prefering the two jetties to the grass. Difficult to be certain: I htink eight Herring Gulls and 33 Lesser Black-backs (and four Coots). The difference in tone of the black on the Lesser Black-backs is probably as much to do with their angle with the light as it is to do with sub-species variation. Birds that come here in Winter from Northern Europe are darker than the UK's resident breeding population.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 11:10 – 11:55

(279th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- yesterday's Mute Swans gone again.
- no (Common) Teal seen.
- now four Pochard. Perhaps these were, like many of yesterday's Tufted Duck, refugees from the sailing club's exploits on the Balancing Lake.
- still a few Goosanders hanging on.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
None

Noted on / around the water:
- 5 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Geese
- no Mute Swans
- 28 (19♂) Mallard
- no (Common) Teal
- 4 (3♂) Pochard
- 29 (20♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 (0♂) Goosander
- 10 Moorhens
- 66 Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 23 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls: ages not determined
- 5 Cormorants
- 2 Grey Herons
- 1 Little Egret remains

Noted around the area:
I was surprised to see anything.

Moths:
- 1 Winter Moth Operophtera brumata

Three of the four Pochard present. Two drakes book-end a duck.

An unusually brown-tinged specimen of a Winter Moth Operophtera brumata adding to my species total for the year here which now stands at 78. I wish I knew what that was in the top left of the photo. I did not see it at the time and I would have liked a better photo of it.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
6 Gadwall
2 Teal
3 Pochard
114 Tufted Duck
228 Coots
1 Snipe
Tawny Owl
157 Fieldfare
63 Redwings
208 Jackdaws
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
31 Tufted Ducks
3 Goosander
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
35 Greylag Geese
3 Gadwall
9 Pochard
19 Tufted Ducks
157 Coots
1 Yellow-legged Gull
1 Great Black-backed Gull.
18 Redwings
16 Fieldfares
4 Siskins
3 Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
6 Yellow-legged Gulls
700 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
(John Isherwood / Tom Lowe)

2007
Priorslee Lake
A male Stonechat
1 Gadwall
(John Isherwood)

Priorslee Flash
Great Black-backed Gull
5 Goosander
(John Isherwood)

East of Priorslee
60 Golden Plover
(John Isherwood)