14 Oct 17

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

16.0°C > 18.0°C: Clear to E but Telford's ‘hat’ of low cloud spread over and only broke intermittently. Moderate SW wind. Very good visibility. Still very mild

Sunrise: 07:33 BST

Priorslee Lake: 06:35 – 09:20

(118th visit of the year)

Generally rather quiet in the mild conditions

Notes from today:
- 11 Mallard seen to fly off pre-dawn: it is assumed that all of these returned: numbers on the water later were high again
- the Water Rail was heard calling from its usual place near the Wesley Brook bridge
- a pair of Sparrowhawks together again overhead
- the Coots were all over the water today and not in organised groups: this made an accurate count more difficult and nothing too much should be read in to the slightly lower number logged today
- 7 sightings of Jays this morning: as previously noted likely fewer individuals shuttling acorns to winter storage
- many fewer Jackdaws seen: probably because the first large group was hedge-hopping across the fields to the E and at least partly obscured from my viewpoint by the vegetation alongside Castle Farm Way. That said there was also fewer stragglers
- a Chiffchaff briefly heard calling as it passed quickly through the W end copse
- 8 Siskins flew W in a tight group; later two singles followed
and
- two Garden Spiders (Arameus diadematus) on the lamps
- I flushed perhaps the same specimen of November Moth agg.: it was in the same place
- the very mild weather tempted one larger ‘Noctule-type’ bat to fly. I searched the usual places for Pipistrelle bats as well but found none. The strength, and particularly the direction, of the wind was against them
- at least 4 Grey Squirrels this morning – these aliens were eating the food that our regular winter visitors depend on

On with today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over the lake:
- 51 Canada Geese (23 outbound; 28 inbound)
- 2 Common Buzzards
- 2 Sparrowhawks
- 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 Stock Doves (1 group)
- 53 Wood Pigeons
- c.350 Jackdaws
- 3 Rooks again
- 4 Starlings (1 group)
- 6 Pied Wagtails
- 1 Redwing
- 2 Greenfinches
- 3 Goldfinches
- 10 Siskins

Hirundines
None

Warblers seen or heard today
- 1 (0) Chiffchaff

The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 3 Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall again
- 1 (1♂) Eurasian Wigeon (14th day)
- 21 (12♂) Mallard
- 29 (13♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 6 + 4 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Water Rail heard again
- 6 Moorhens yet again
- 142? Coots (see notes)
- >150 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Kingfisher

A new sign has appeared alongside Castle Farm Way just outside the entrance to the N side path along the lake. Why? What ‘heritage’? Perhaps I should know.

A sliver of clear skies to the E allowed this brief sunrise

A bloody sea of Black-headed Gulls!

And cygnet ‘7IVV’ against the sunrise.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:25 – 10:15

(87th visit of the year)

The flyover Lesser Redpoll was new for me at this site in 2017 and became my 70th species logged here this year

Other notes from here
- a Sparrowhawk here as well at the lake
- another sighting of Kingfisher here
and
- despite the mainly dull and breezy conditions a Red Admiral found on the Ivy
- also here were several Tapered Drone Fly (Eristalis pertinax)
- a large number of Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) toadstools on a decaying tree trunk

Bird noted flying over
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 3 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Jackdaws
- 1 Lesser Redpoll

Warblers noted
None

The counts from the water
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- >46 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Geese
- >50 Canada Geese
- 1 white feral goose
- 33 (21♂) Mallard
- 34 (22♂) Tufted Ducks (same as Mallard!)
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 3 Moorhens
- 11 Coots
- 24 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Kingfisher

These look to me like Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) toadstools. A poisonous fungus that grows in clumps on dead wood. In Latin ‘fascicularis’ means 'in bundles' or 'clustered' (NB: we should always use the term ‘scientific name’ in preference to ‘Latin name’ because many species names are derived from Ancient Greek as well as Latin.

A gathering of fruiting bodies. Likely slightly different ages of the groups gives them slightly different colour.

Another angle.

And a whole lot more.

And even more! By the way the poison won’t kill you: probably.

You can tell there was not much else to photograph this morning!

This hoverfly is a smart orange-toned specimen of the Tapered Drone Fly (Eristalis pertinax). The tone and markings are more reminiscent of the very similar (and equally variable) Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax). the distinguishing feature is that we see here the tarsus (last part of an insect’s leg) is pale.

The pale tarsi are even more evident in the different specimen against the backdrop of the dark green Ivy leaf.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2015
Priorslee lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee lake
Today's Sightings Here

2011
Priorslee Lake
14 Redwing
(Glenn Bishton)

2010
Priorslee Lake
1 Wigeon
2nd winter Common Gull
Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
54 Mute Swans
3 Wigeon
6 Pochard
12 Tufted Ducks 
15+ Lapwings
203 Coots
Meadow Pipit
3 Skylarks
1 Siskin
6 Redwing
Willow Tits
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Cormorant
Water Rail
Lapwings
37 Robins
21 Blackbirds
1 Fieldfare
6 Song Thrushes
48 Redwings
Siskin
300 Starlings
(Ed Wilson)