Location
Sunrise: 06:17 BST
14°C > 16°C: Low overcast threatening to break from the E but only did so after I left. Light S wind. Very good visibility
(88th visit of the year)
Notes
- it is a frustrating time of year with the Tufted Ducks: I keep changing my mind about whether most birds are ducks or drakes – so will leave it as a count only until they begin to acquire breeding plumage
- the juvenile Great Crested Grebe was on its own today and only one adult was noted taking little interest in the begging calls
Birds noted flying over
- 1 Wood Pigeon only
- 2 Goldfinches
Hirundines etc. seen here today
- 5 House Martins
Warblers seen / heard around the water: numbers in brackets are singing birds: song very sporadic now
- 2 (0) Chiffchaffs
The counts from the water
- 2 + 1 Mute Swans
- 10 Greylag Geese
- 7 Canada Geese again
- 1 all white feral goose
- 27 (19♂) Mallard
- 23 (?♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Grey Herons again
- 1 + 1 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 + 5 (5 broods) Moorhens
- 16 + 4 (3 broods) Coots
- 18 Black-headed Gull (7 juveniles)
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Priorslee Lake: 07:30 – 09:25
Location(123rd visit of the year)
Generally a very quiet morning. As a hangover from the Bank Holiday weekend there were still campers on the SW grass that certainly affected the gull numbers
Notes from today
- just one of the 4th pair of Great Crested Grebes seen: could the other bird be on a replacement clutch already?
- a / the Willow Tit was in with a big tit party at the W end: first log since 16 July
- confounding the ‘generally quiet’ tag line I noted 25 Robins in song / calling around the area. In contrast to perhaps my lowest-ever total of Blackbirds – just 1
- a single Chaffinch seen diving in to cover: my first log since 15 July of what is always a scarce bird here except when males are singing between March and June
and
- at least 2 species of hoverfly: Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade hoverfly) and Helophilus pendulus (The Footballer)
- more wasps getting in the way of my picking of the ripe blackberries
- I noted fruits of Snowberry (Symphoricarpos sp. probably S. albus) for the first time this season. However looking at the clusters they seem likely to have been around for some days and I failed to notice them
Counts of birds flying over the lake (in addition to those on / around lake)
- 2 Canada Geese (1 group)
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 Feral Pigeons (1 group)
- 33 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook
- 1 Pied Wagtail yet again
- 1 Goldfinch again
Hirundines etc. seen here today
- 4 House Martins
Warblers seen / heard around the water: numbers in brackets are singing birds: song very sporadic now
- 8 (0) Chiffchaffs again
- 5 (0) Blackcaps again
- 1 (0) Reed Warbler
The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 1 Mute Swans
- 18 (?♂) Mallard
- 5 (?♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron
- 7 + 6 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 + 1 Moorhens again
- 54 + 11 juvenile Coots
- 15 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On this day in ...........
2012Priorslee Lake
Black Tern
(Arthur Harper)
2010
Priorslee Lake
Yellow Wagtail
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)