24 Oct 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  07:30 –09:15
The Flash:  09:20 – 09:40

7.0°C > 8.0°C:  Low cloud and mist. Almost calm. Poor visibility.

Sunrise: 07:51 BST

Another day on public transport making for abbreviated visits. The poor visibility restricted numbers.

Priorslee Lake:  07:30 –09:15

(252nd visit of the year)

Bird notes from today:
-.c.45 Starlings left roosts at the W / NW area at c.07:45. Much to my surprise another c.95 left the same general area at c.08:00 just after I decided that all the Reed Buntings had left and I should move on. Protracted departure of this species is unusual.
- Despite (because of?) the mist >>150 large gulls managed to find the lake for a while. Unlike recent weeks the majority of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls were adults. A few of the first-winter gulls showed slightly paler inner primaries (not as pale as on immature Herring Gull) suggesting possible Yellow-legged Gulls. However none was obviously pale-headed and in the rather poor light they will remain unidentified.
- Not only were there very few Wood Pigeons flying over (I noted two!):, but I noted only two in the trees around the lake. There were 17 together on the ‘football’ field later but even this is a rather low count.
- Five of the Jackdaws were seen flying very low E alongside trees on the N shore. It is possible that they had stopped off around the lake – they sometimes do this when they are disorientated by mist and fog.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
Very little flying over in the very misty conditions
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: adults
- 2 Wood Pigeons only
- 19 Jackdaws
- 6 Pied Wagtails at least

Birds logged leaving roosts around the lake:
- >140 Starlings
- 7 Reed Bunting

Counts from the lake area:
Best-effort in poor visibility: no meaningful counts of Great Crested Grebes and Coots possible
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 5 (3♂) Gadwall
- 4 (3♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Pochard
- 37 (?♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Little Grebe
- [Great Crested Grebes not counted]
- 8 Moorhens
- [Coots not counted]
- >150 Black-headed Gulls
- >150 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: majority adults
- >10 Herring Gulls: two adults noted (see notes)

Later sightings on the lamp poles:
Again plenty of moths sitting the day out after 09:00.
- 9 November Moth-types (Epirrita sp.)
- 1 suspected Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata)
- 1 female Tipula pagana cranefly
- 1 Common stretch-spider (Tetragnatha extensa)
- 1 orb-web spider sp.

No later sightings elsewhere

On the left is a female Tipula pagana cranefly with very reduced wings – females are flightless. The pointed abdomen confirms it as a female – its ovipositor. On the right, despite my attempts to (mis)identify it as a moth caught in a web, it is just an autumn leaf caught in a web.

This remains a bit of a puzzle. These two moths are rather different in size. Are they the same species? The three species in the November Moth-group differ slightly in size: females of each species average smaller than males; and the size of individuals can vary slightly anyway. My attention was drawn to the antennae of the lower moth being held at right angles to the body. The illustrations in my Field Guide show this to be a feature of the slightly smaller Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) and not any of the November moths. However the Norfolk Moths web site has many photos of November Moths with antennae ‘sideways’. It is slightly early in the year for Winter Moths to be flying, though it not impossible for a few to be on the wing. Do the wings on the smaller moth have more rounded tips, as is described for Winter Moth? I am still unsure.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:20 – 09:40

(238th visit of the year)

In the time available to me I managed to view from the W side path only. All the water was visible from here but not birds in the ‘cut-offs’ created by the footbridges or tucked up under the island’s overhanging vegetation.

Notes from here:
- The two Canada Geese flew in. When I walked past at c.07:20 in the dark there were at least 16 present but these had seemingly departed.
- Why so few Tufted Ducks? Should have been able to see most, if not all, that were present. A very low count by recent standards.

Bird noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Jackdaw

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans
- 22 Greylag Geese
- 2 Canada Geese (but see notes)
- 28 (16♂) Mallard
- 11 (?♂) Tufted Duck only
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 3 Moorhens
- 12 Coots
- 22 Black-headed Gulls

Other things:
-       nothing on the usual lamp pole
-       on lamps in squirrel alley
- 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman
-        elsewhere on lamp poles
- 1 November Moth-type (Epirrita sp.)

(Ed Wilson)

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

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2010
Priorslee Lake
733 Wood Pigeons
11 Sky Larks
151 Fieldfare
20 Redwings
2 Brambling
2 Linnets
2 Redpolls
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
5 Wigeon
1 Little Grebe
(John Isherwood)

The Flash
1 Shoveler 
1 Teal (female)
1 Common Gull
(John Isherwood)