18 Sep 17

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

9.5°C > 12.0°C: Broken cloud clearing somewhat. Light / moderate NW wind. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:48 BST

Priorslee Lake: 05:45 – 07:15 // 08:05 – 09:30

(95th visit of the year)

A party of 5 drake Eurasian Wigeon flew around for at least 15 minutes at c.06:30 before apparently landing. Later there were 7 birds (the other two were probable ducks). These became my 99th species at the lake this year

Significant arrival of ducks since my last visit at the end of August: a pair of Gadwall; 2 drake Teal and a drake Shoveler were all dabbling ducks. Good number of Tufted Ducks as well

Not to be outdone the raptors were well represented with only my 3rd Kestrel sighting of the year here with a bird hovering to the E. And then a Hobby shot over – my 2nd sighting of the year here

Other notes from today:
- very few geese seen outbound with just 11 seen outbound while still very dark at 06:15
- 8 of the Mallard flew off at 06:10 and apparently did not return
- 11 of the Tufted Duck left just after the Hobby flew through: may have been co-incidence but otherwise they were the only birds that seemed to notice its passage
- 3 Grey Herons often fighting around the lake; another (?) flew over
- 2 Little Grebes noted
- 8 juvenile Great Crested Grebes remain from the two broods, all still being fed by the parents. Another non-breeding pair of adults
- a scatter of Barn Swallow all, rather strangely, flying N / NW: South Africa is the other way guys!
- good number of Chiffchaffs all feeding voraciously with occasional pauses to sing or call
and
- no moths on the lamps
- a bat seen briefly over the dam well pre-dawn remained unidentified
- the following plants were noted still in flower (in no particular order)
- White Clover (Trifolium repens)
- Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)
- Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus agg.)
- Hawkweed (Hieraceum brittanicum)
- Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium)
- Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum)
- Wild Angelica (Angelica sylvestris)
- Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
- Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)
- Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis)
- Water Mint (Mentha aquatica)
- Convolvulus sp. probably Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
- Common (or Perforate) St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum)
- Daisy (Bellis perennis)
- Common (or Black) Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)
- the following plants in fruit
- Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) flower
- Crab Apple (Malus sylvestris)
- Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus agg.) [most rather small and not formed]
- Snowberry (Symphoricarpos sp. probably S. albus)
- Alder Buckthorn (Frangula alnus)
- Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)
- Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus)
also
- a shrub that has puzzled me for ages and still does as it now has some new flowers while recent flowers are already berries. they seems to be Wayfaring-trees (Viburnum lantana) but none of my books suggests that this shrub should be flowering as late as this. It seems likely to be planted around the lake so perhaps is better recorded as Viburnum sp., distinct from the Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus) [aka dogberry; water elder; cramp bark; snowball tree; European cranberry bush]

On with the bird totals

Birds noted flying over the lake:
- 11 (6 groups) Canada Geese outbound
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Stock Dove
- 13 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 11 Jackdaws
- 79 Rooks
- 18 Starlings (3 groups)
- 3 Pied Wagtails

Hirundines etc. seen today
- 7 Barn Swallows

Warblers counts: number in brackets = singing birds
- 12 (3) Chiffchaffs

The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 3 Mute Swans
- 7 (5♂) Eurasian Wigeon
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 2 (2♂) Teal
- 19 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Shoveler
- 34 (>8♂) Tufted Ducks
- 3 Grey Herons
- 2 Little Grebes
- 6 + 8 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 + 3 Moorhens
- 124 Coots
- c.150 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Not an inspiring sunrise for my first day back after two weeks.

One of two Teal present today. This is a drake. They can be hard to tell when in eclipse plumage but there is a hint of the white stripe along the body and the black border to what will be the yellow undertail. The flanks are nowhere nearly so neatly marked as on a duck.

And here are both Teal. It seems that both of these are drakes – a duck would show brown edging to the bill.

Here we see two Wigeon (in the centre); a Coot (at the back); and two probable duck Tufted Ducks (in the foreground). The Wigeon show the distinctive orange tone to the plumage and the very rounded head. The bird on our left shows the yellow crown stripe of a drake. The bird facing us does not: however the white patch on the flank suggests that this too is a drake, not so far advanced in its moult out of eclipse plumage.

Gadwall is one of my favourite duck species and here is a duck. Nothing flashy about either sex, just neat markings.

And here is the drake showing the fine vermiculations along the flanks.

No mistaking the extraordinary bill of a Shoveler. The vertical white stripe behind the bill and the rufous-toned pale-fringed flank feathers confirm a drake in eclipse plumage.

An adult Great Crested Grebe wrestles with quite a large fish (probably a Pike (Esox lucius)) while one of the juveniles is in pursuit for a meal.

A second juvenile arrives hopefully.

One of the juveniles has a go. The adult has probably made sure the fish is dead before handing it over.

The juvenile was not successful and the parent has another go.

The other juvenile seems to know what to do and is making a real attempt to eat it.

A fine adult Lesser Black-backed Gull acquiring the winter spotting on the head. This feature is very variable with some specimens so densely marked that the head is almost black; whilst others show very little marking at all.

The extreme contrast between the head and mantle of this species make it difficult to correctly expose for both. Here I have emphasised the head markings.

Just a single flower of Common (or Black) Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) was noted today.

A distinctly hairy spider! From this angle hard to make a positive ID but probably a Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus).

Autumn is creeping up and some colours from this morning: these are bramble leaves.

While these are from an Acer sp.

As are these ...

... and these.

(Ed Wilson)

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

The Flash: 07:25 – 07:55

(73rd visit of the year)

Notes from here
- just 2 cygnets remain
- only 2 juvenile Great Crested Grebes noted
- numbers of Coot remain very low; no idea why
and
- the following plants were noted still in flower
- Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus agg.)
- Hawkweed (Hieraceum brittanicum)
- Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium)
- Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)
- Convolvulus sp. probably Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
- White Dead-Nettle (Lamium album)
- Honeysuckle (Lonicera sp.) [garden escape?]
- Dog Rose (Rosa canina agg.) [garden escape?]
- the following plants in fruit
- Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) flower
- Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus agg.) [most rather small and not formed]
- Viburnum sp. – see note under the lake above

Birds noted flying over
- 2 Pied Wagtails

Hirundines etc. noted
None

Warblers counts: number in brackets = singing birds
- 4 (2) Chiffchaffs

The counts from the water
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 3 Canada Geese
- 1 white feral goose
- 33 (19♂) Mallard
- 35 (>11♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 5 + 1 Moorhens
- 7 Coots
- 6 Black-headed Gulls

Nothing of note between the lake and The Flash alongside the path apart from a single flower of Greater Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) – just one plant with a single flower!

(Ed Wilson)

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

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

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2007
Priorslee Lake
Common Gull
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)