Priorslee Lake: 05:30 – 09:30
The Flash: 09:35 – 10:20
7.0°C > 13.0°C: Some thin high cloud again, mostly clear: mist over the water early. Light and variable breeze. Good visibility.
Sunrise: 06:41 BST
It may have said it was 7.0°C on the car thermometer when I arrived. One of the fishermen’s temperature gauge went to 3.0°C in the night and was still only 5.0°C at 08:00.
Priorslee Lake: 05:30 – 09:30
(221st visit of the year)
Definitely a ‘raptor’ day. A Hobby flew fast W to the N at 08:10. It, or another, flew low E at 08:25. A Peregrine flew W at 09:10 perhaps eyeing up the concurrent party of 27 Racing Pigeons. A Sparrowhawk and an apparently non-local Common Buzzard flew over later
Frustrating was what, at other times of the year, I would have happily logged as ‘Whimbrel heard’. But mid-September is an unlikely date for this bird on passage. Nothing seen so ...?
Bird notes from today:
- The 06:45 ‘football’ field count gave me 31 Black-headed Gulls again, 27 Wood Pigeons, 17 Magpies, two Carrion Crows, eight Starlings and 45 Pied Wagtails. Just three Wood Pigeons were on the academy playing field at this time.
- Coot numbers building up. This morning’s juvenile was the lone survivor from the very last hatched brood.
- Some of the large gulls passing pre-sunrise decided to stop off at the lake for a while. The light was still rather poor to be 100% certain but all seemed to be Lesser Black-backed Gulls and most of them first-winter birds. Later more gulls dropped in and this included a trio of first-winter Herring Gulls.
- Three duck Tufted Duck dropped in briefly. Four unsexed birds flew over E at 08:25. The same (?) two ducks as the last few days remained throughout.
- One Tawny Owl was calling alongside Teece Drive at 05:30. Shortly after two were heard calling from the N side wood. Different birds?
- There were likely many more Meadow Pipits overhead as the clear sky precluded finding most of the calling birds. These are often in small groups.
- Yesterday I wondered where all the Greenfinches had gone. Today there was one and with it two Chaffinches. Chaffinches had been absent even longer. (There was also a Greenfinch at The Flash where it has been similarly missing recently)
Bird totals:
Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- Canada Geese heard only outbound
- 4 (?♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 1 or 2 Hobby
- 1 Peregrine
- 27 Lesser Black-backed Gulls : eight of these first-winter birds
- 2 Herring Gulls: both of these first-winter birds
- 51 unidentified large gulls: too dark to ID
- 1 Stock Dove
- 27 Racing Pigeons
- 67 Wood Pigeons
- 41 Jackdaws
- 94 Rooks
- 7+ Meadow Pipits
- 1 Yellow Wagtail
- 3 Pied Wagtails
- 23 Starlings (3 groups)
Hirundines etc. noted:
- 13 Barn Swallows (3 groups through)
- 1 House Martin
Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 12 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (0) Blackcaps
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 12 (7♂) Mallard
- 5 (0♂) Tufted Ducks (see notes)
- 4 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
- Little Grebe(s) heard only
- 8 + 6 + 9 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 4 + 3 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 105 + 1 (1 brood) Coots
- 31 Black-headed Gulls
- 61 Lesser Black-backed Gulls : 45 of these first-winter birds
- 3 Herring Gulls: all of these first-winter birds yet again
- 1 Kingfisher
On the lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 unidentified small black beetle
- 1 Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)
- 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman
The following logged later:
Still chilly even in the sun, so not much seen:
- No butterflies
- Dragonflies etc.
- 1 Brown Hawker
- Hoverflies
- several Common Drone-flies (Eristalis tenax)
and
- a few Common Crane-flies (Tipula oleracea)
- several wasp sp.
- 1 White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
- 2 Grey Squirrels
By 06:15 maximum colour.
A longer view to show the Autumn mist over the water.
Losing some colour by 06:22.
Still attractive but colour washed out by 06:27.
Two immature Cormorants prepare to get their breakfast from the lake.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:20
(211th visit of the year)
Notes from here:
- Many geese uncounted inside the island.
- With a better view today I note that the Greylag x Canada Goose is a different bird to that recorded most times last winter and indeed shows some hint of Barnacle Goose genes.
- I assume that many Mallard were also hiding inside the island.
also
Another later visit with more insects around. However the Ivy is not yet in flower so numbers of hoverflies well down on what I would otherwise log.
- 1 Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria)
- 2 Red Admiral butterflies (Vanessa atalanta)
- 1 Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album)
- >3 Common Drone-flies (Eristalis tenax)
- >1 Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- 7 Dicranopalpus ramosus harvestmen on the same lamp pole
- 1 Grey Squirrel
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 2 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Jackdaw
- 1+ Meadow Pipits
Hirundines etc. noted:
- 3 House Martins
Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff
Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans as usual
- >18 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada x ? Goose
- >68 Canada Geese
- 17 (9♂) Mallard only
- 30 (7♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 3 Moorhens
- 20 Coots
- 11 Black-headed Gulls: three of these first-winter birds
- 1 Kingfisher
Nothing special: just a nice portrait of a first-winter Black-headed Gull
(Ed Wilson)
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