30 Aug 17

Priorslee Lake

11.0°C > 11.5°C: Medium overcast with light rain: lower cloud and more persistent rain for a while. Light SW wind. Very good visibility, even in rain.

Sunrise: 06:16 BST

Best today was the Tawny Owl heard calling at 05:30 from the Teece Drive gate area. There remains much confusion about which calls are given by which sex, but is seems the wavering hooting call I heard indicates a male. Whatever it is my first record here since 11 April 2014 and becomes my 98th species recorded at the lake this year

Priorslee Lake: 05:25 – 08:25

(93rd visit of the year)

Other notes from today:
Very quiet again, especially passerines, mainly hiding from the rain (as was I some of the time)
- my earlier arrival failed to find any overhead corvid roost dispersal
- one Reed Warbler seen: what seemed to be a different bird making begging calls suggests a very late brood
and
- three Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella) moths on one lamp
- 7 Harvestman sp. seen, likely all Leiobunum rotundum
- 1 pipistrelle-type bats
- a new species of plant for me here – Gypsywort (Lycopus europaeus)

On with the bird totals

Birds noted flying over the lake:
- 21 Greylag Geese: 21 (5 groups) outbound
- 178 Canada Geese: 143 (20 groups) outbound; 25 (2 groups) inbound
- 95 Black-headed Gulls
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 40 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 4 Pied Wagtails

Hirundine etc. seen or heard today
None

Warblers counts: number in brackets = singing birds
- 10 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (1) Blackcaps
- 2 (?) Reed Warblers (seen notes)

The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 3 Mute Swans
- 16 (?♂) Mallard
- 5 (0♂) Tufted Ducks
- 8 + 8 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes again
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 4 + 3 Moorhens
- 70 Coots
- c.150 Black-headed Gulls
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Kingfisher

I think this is Gypsywort (Lycopus europaeus): a new plant for me. Literature suggests the leaves should be rather more deeply cut, at least at the base the plant – but we cannot see that here.

Water Mint (Mentha aquatica) is now in full flower as shown here.

This appears to be Common (or Perforate) St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) though the number of leaves seems rather excessive for the relatively few flowers. Perhaps because it is growing on the poor soil atop the dam?

The (wet) flowers in close-up.

A mass of harvestmen here – all seem to be Leiobunum rotundum, five together, and with the legs of a sixth at the bottom right. Hope they can get their legs sorted out! Note the fuzzy area at top left: this looks like two feathered seeds trapped in a web which have been there for some weeks so probably nothing to do with the harvestmen. We can also see a very small beetle.

This feather was trapped in a spider-web. I assume a loose moulted feather blown in to the web and that there are not any bird-eating spiders at the lake!

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's News Here

2012
Priorslee Lake
Black Tern
(Arthur Harper)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Yellow Wagtail
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)