12.5°C > 13.5°C: Broken cloud. Moderate / fresh W wind. Very good visibility
Sunrise: 04:45 BST
Priorslee Lake: 04:55 – 06:00 // 06:55 – 08:00
(75th visit of the year)
Notes from today:
- the Mallard ducklings not located
- a pair of Tufted Ducks glimpsed lifting off the water and flying off W; could not have been present for long as I had only just done a complete scan of the water
- a male (on size) Sparrowhawk seen carrying food
- 2 Sky Larks in song over the fields to the E
- for the first day in many months the Mistle Thrush was not heard singing
- the Willow Warbler still singing away: now moving around and no longer only using the same two branches of one same tree
- the Garden Warbler has also forsaken his branch alongside the W end footpath. Perhaps this bird was singing at a new location for 2017 near where the Willow Warbler had been singing. The male of the paired birds in the NW area was singing intermittently
- a party of 4 Common Whitethroats suggested successful breeding: not able to see birds well-enough to age / sex
- a Sedge Warbler sub-singing whilst carrying food indicated breeding here this year – not annual
- a female Reed Bunting seen carrying nesting material
and
- as expected no moths on the new street lamps
- c.20 small moths flushed from the grass early on. The wind tended to carry most of them too far to get any ID: at least one was a Timothy Tortrix
- generally too windy, dull and cool for insects
.... a Spotted Cranefly (Nephrotoma appendiculata) was new
.... several Black Snipe flies (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- the Cow Parsley has just about finished flowering now
On with the bird totals
Birds noted flying over the lake:
- 4 Canada Geese (1 group)
- 9 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook
- 2 Starlings
Hirundine etc. counts:
- c.20 Swifts
- 2 House Martins
Warblers counts: number in brackets = singing birds
- 5 (5) Chiffchaffs still
- 1 (1) Willow Warbler yet again
- 8 (7) Blackcaps
- 2 (2) Garden Warblers once more
- 4 (0) Common Whitethroats
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
- 5 (4) Reed Warblers
The counts from the lake area
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 + 3 Mute Swans- 8 (7♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Moorhens
- 24 Coots
This is a Black Snipe fly (Chrysopilus cristatus).
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 06:10 – 06:50
(56th visit of the year)
Notes from here
- 3 Great Crested Grebes seen: one fishing; one ‘standing guard’; one on a nest – now located
- fewer Coots: probably some birds on nests brooding their young as it was early and breezy
Birds noted flying over
- 1 Jackdaw
Hirundine etc. counts
- 2 Swifts again
- 4 House Martins
Warblers counts: number in brackets = singing birds
- 3 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (4) Blackcaps
The counts from the water
- 2 + 7 Mute Swans
- 82 Canada Geese!
- 1 white feral goose
- 11 (10♂) Mallard again
- 3 (2♂) Tufted Ducks again
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Moorhen
- 14 + 5 (3 broods) Coots
Of interest between the lake and The Flash today
- Moorhens flushed from the grass in to both pools. Too overgrown to see into the pools
- Chiffchaff still singing around the lower pool
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day..........
2015
Priorslee Lake