15 Oct 17

Priorslee Lake only

13.5°C > 15.0°C: Low cloud again: some breaks appeared later, not amounting to much. Light / moderate SW wind. Moderate visibility. Less mild.

Sunrise: 07:35 BST

Priorslee Lake: 06:40 – 09:50

(119th visit of the year)

Another rather quiet day

Notes from today:
- the cygnet test-flight was two laps this morning and they proved adept at both left- and right-hand turns
- an extra drake Gadwall (back again?)
- the Water Rail was heard from the S side again so I assume there are two different birds
- there had been very few Wood Pigeons overhead until I was about to leave when 36 birds flew W together. These were not migrants as many pitched in to the trees around the Priorslee estate
- a huge swirling group of Jackdaws contained at least 500 birds. It followed the first group of just 48 birds that came from a very different direction – to the WNW rather than the N. No idea what that was all about
- today’s Chiffchaff was rather more sedentary and vocal than yesterday’s fast-moving bird
- I heard many more Pied Wagtails than I logged flying over: I eventually concluded that they were calling from the ground in the Ricoh area. There has been none on the ‘football field’ for several days
and
- nothing on the lamps
- a hawker-type dragonfly was late in the season: likely a Migrant Hawker
- a Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis) was on the roof of my car when I returned to it
- just 1 Grey Squirrel today
- a cluster of fungus on a dead stump that I think is Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea)

With little flying over and as it is now mid-month I decided to check the plants still in flower. To say that most were past their prime would be an understatement but at least 29 is a really astonishing number for this date, a reflection of there having been no real frost to date. I should issue a caveat that I am new to plant identification and there are many pitfalls and misidentifications possible. If you have any thoughts please pass them back to me
- White Clover (Trifolium repens)
- Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)
- Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus agg.) – flowers as well as fruit
- two species of hawkweed including Hieraceum brittanicum
- Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium)
- Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
- Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)
- Oxford Ragwort (Senecio squalidus)
- Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca)
- Convolvulus sp. probably Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
- Daisy (Bellis perennis)
- Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum)
- Red Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)
- Scentless Mayweed (Tripleurospermum inodorum)
- Meadowsweet / Mead Wort (Filipendula ulmaria)
- Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris)
- Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens)
- Wood Avens (Geum urbanum)
- Dwarf Thistle (Cirsium acaule)
- Perennial Sow-thistle (Sonchus arvensis)
- Red Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum)
- Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense)
- Water Forget-me-not (Myositis palustris)
- Broad-leaved Willow-herb (Epilobium montanum)
- Red Campion (Silene dioica or Melandrium rubrum)
- Hemp-agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum)
- Shaggy Soldier (Galinsoga quadriradiata)
- Black Horehound (Ballota nigra)
- Common Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)
- also around the yacht club dump / bonfire site was the garden escapes
- Montbretia (Crocosmia sp.) – a native of southern Africa
- I did not generally log non-flowering plants but worthy of note
- Sun Spurge (Euphorbia helioscopa)
- the following plants were noted as in fruit
- Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
- Crab Apple (Malus sylvestris)
- Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus agg.) [even a few edible fruits]
- Snowberry (Symphoricarpos sp. probably S. albus)
- Blackthorn [Sloe] (Prunus spinosa)
- Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus)
- dogwood sp. likely Red-osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea)
- Wall Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster horizontalis)
- Spindle-tree (Euonymus europaea)

On with today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over the lake:
- 57 Canada Geese (8 outbound; 49 inbound)
- 2 Common Buzzards again
- 1 Cormorant
- 23 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 64 Wood Pigeons
- >650 Jackdaws
- 2 Ravens
- 7 Starlings (2 groups)
- 3 Skylarks
- 11 Pied Wagtails
- 2 Chaffinches
- 2 Greenfinches
- 4 Goldfinches

Hirundines
None

Warblers seen or heard today
- 1 (0) Chiffchaff again

The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 3 Mute Swans
- 3 (2♂) Gadwall
- 1 (1♂) Eurasian Wigeon (15th day)
- 21 (12♂) Mallard
- 37 (14 ♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Grey Herons
- 5 + 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Water Rail heard yet again
- 5 Moorhens
- 159 Coots (see notes)
- >230 Black-headed Gulls

Not a great shot but here we see that in display BOTH Ravens are upside down (and the Black-headed Gull is the right way up!).

My plant hunt this morning found this. It looked sufficiently different from the fast-fading Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris) that I took its photo to allow ID. It is Oxford Ragwort (Senecio squalidus). This flowers later than Common Ragwort and can be identified by the black tips to flower bracts. Native to Sicily it escaped from the Oxford Botanic Gardens and is now widespread in the UK.

This flowers is completely new to me. It seems to be Shaggy Soldier (Galinsoga quadriradiata).

This was a surprise when it started flowering last week: all the other Broad-leaved Willow-herb (Epilobium montanum) plants are long-finished.

This is Hemp-agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum) – apart from the dead leaf that is. Growing along the bank of the Wesley Brook I was unable to reach in a remove the offending leaf.

There are a number of similar species but this seems to be Scentless Mayweed (Tripleurospermum inodorum) growing at the edge of the ‘football field’.

After much research I now think this is Black Horehound (Ballota nigra). It is growing in an area where I have logged both Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) and Red Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum). I now retire confused!

Not in flower but worth recording on this late date is Sun Spurge (Euphorbia helioscopa).

Not a species I had expected to see this late in the year. On the roof of my car when I returned was this Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis).

These toadstools are, I think, Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea). While recalling yesterday’s Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) toadstools at The Flash these were much greyer in tone – it does not show well here as I had to use flash to get this photo and that has washed the colour out somewhat.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2014
Priorslee lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Nedge Hill 
Location
2 Fieldfare
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
2 Common Gulls
Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
12 Pochard
87 Tufted Ducks
1 Kingfisher
23 Pied Wagtails
32 Robins
12 Blackbirds
8 Song Thrushes
11 Redwings
c.130 Starlings
(Ed Wilson)