2 Oct 17

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

12.5°C > 13.5°C: Broken cloud cleared for a while, only to return. Fresh W wind, moderated somewhat. Very good visibility

Sunrise: 07:12 BST

The fresh wind seemed to mean many birds ‘kept their heads down’. Rather quiet and nothing to highlight

Priorslee Lake: 06:15 – 09:05 / 09:55 – 10:05

(107th visit of the year)

Notes from today:
- rather fewer of the Mallard flew off this morning: too windy?
- a party of 41 large gulls dropped in for a few minutes at 08:50. They were rather against the light from my position but all seemed to be full adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The over-flying birds were a mix of ages as singles or small groups
- first really big passage of Jackdaws of the winter with two large hard-to-count groups of c.200 and c.175 birds and many smaller groups thereafter. Raises the question of where they all are during the June – September period when both Jackdaws and Rooks are in low numbers – some days completely absent
- no Pied Wagtails on the football field at 09:00; just 3 at 10:00
- a lone Greenfinch fly-over: both Greenfinches and Chaffinches have been really scarce since the end of the breeding season
and
- three moths on the lamps today: 2 Common Marbled Carpets and my first-ever Lunar Underwing
- also a harvestman sp., seemingly Mitopus morio
- the shell of a glass snail sp.
- and a Earwig

On with today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over the lake:
- 27 Canada Geese: 1 group inbound
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 5 Feral Pigeons (1 group)
- 1 Stock Dove
- 33 Wood Pigeons
- c.600 Jackdaws
- 126 Rooks
- 2 Ravens
- 5 Sky Larks
- 9 Starlings
- 7 Pied Wagtails
- 4 Meadow Pipits
- 1 Greenfinch

Hirundines etc. seen today
None

Warblers counts: number in brackets = singing birds
- 5 (1) Chiffchaffs

The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 3 Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall again
- 28 (?♂) >> 13(9♂) Mallard
- 28 (8♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Cormorant again
- 2 Grey Herons
- 6 + 6 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 6 (? juveniles) Moorhens
- 128 Coots
- c.200 Black-headed Gulls
- 41 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Kingfisher

I am used to seeing immature Herring Gulls pecking at the orange and red buoys – this behaviour has been suggested as akin to juveniles tapping the adults’ red bill spot to get fed with regurgitated food. Quite what this first-winter Black-headed Gull is doing tapping a green buoy is less easy to explain. It appears to be intriguing the other first-winter Black-headed Gull. Perhaps just curiosity?

This moth looked rather small and whilst superficially like a Common Marbled Carpet I needed to check. Could not turn it in to anything less common and its apparent small size is likely due to it being a 2nd brood specimen – in many multi-brooded moths the later broods tend to be smaller.

With two small flies getting in on the action here is another and very distinct form of Common Marbled Carpet moth.

This well-marked moth is a Lunar Underwing. As its name implies it has a characteristic mark on the underwing – not much help here! The very similar species Beaded Chestnut is rarely this dark and never has such pronounced wing venation as shown in this example. Despite it being a very common moth it is my first record at the lake.

For a change a different harvestman sp. – this is a male Mitopus morio (there seems to be no vernacular name for this species). Not so ‘round’ as the usual Leiobunum rotundum. Also a common species nationwide but newly identified for my lists.

The camera reveals that it is not an odd-shaped head sticking out of this shell but a small leaf in an unhelpful position.

Here is the shell on my delicate(!) fingers.

And the other side. It is likely the shell of a glass snail of the genus Econulus. Specific identification is only possible from the live snail’s body-colour.

Here is a Common European Earwig (Forficula auricularia). The straight pincers identify this as a female. Earwigs don’t bite and don’t hide in people’s ears and have a fascinating life-cycle (More info Here). [I hope you appreciate my dedication in getting stung by the nettle leaves in order to get this photo].

On the ivy bank near The Flash I noted this bright-eyed insect. It seems it is just the way the light has caught this Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade hoverfly) that has given it such bright red-eyes. This species is the most common and widespread hoverfly in England and can be seen in any month of the year. Looking at the Ivy flowers I think they are not yet open enough to produce a supply of nectar and this is why I have found fewer insects here than I had expected.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:10 – 09:50

(81st visit of the year)

Notes from here
- some of the geese were hauled out inside the island and the exact numbers were impossible to determine. Probably a few more than my counts suggest
- higher proportion of drake Tufted Ducks likely arises as immature birds start to moult and drakes of all ages become easily separable for the first time
and
- a stunning red-eyed Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade hoverfly) in the Ivy near the Priorslee Academy

Bird noted flying over
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc. noted
None

Warblers seen or heard here
None

The counts from the water
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- c.30 Greylag Geese (see notes)
- c.45 Canada Geese (see notes)
- 1 white feral goose
- 29 (18♂) Mallard
- 46 (23♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 9 (? juveniles) Moorhens
- 11 Coots
- 105 Black-headed Gulls

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day..........

2013
Candles Landfill Site
1st winter Caspian Gull
2nd winter Yellow-legged Gull.
(Tom Lowe)

2012
Priorslee Lake
Redwing
Swallow
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
(Mike Cooper)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Swallow
1 Chiffchaff
(Ed Wilson)