16 Oct 17

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

14.5°C > 16.0°C: Very low cloud to start yet again. Cleared to a rather hazy and angry-looking sun after c.07:30. Brisk SE wind fell away for a while before increasing SW wind ahead of the remnant of hurricane Ophelia. Poor to moderate visibility

Sunrise: 07:36 BST

Priorslee Lake: 06:40 – 09:30

(120th visit of the year)

Most frustrating were the 4 finch-type birds that flew W over the dam at 08:50. In the last few days there has been, in relative terms, and invasion of Hawfinches in our area so I had ‘mugged up’ on their flight calls from the xeno-canto web site. I last saw this species in Japan in February but have only ever seen one in he UK. The overhead calls sounded good but Hawfinch is a large finch – rather thick-set and short-tailed. Try as I might I cannot convince myself Hawfinches was what I saw. What they were though is hard to say

Other notes from today:
- in addition to the geese logged as outbound and inbound 23 Canada Geese dropped in for 30 minutes at 07:00 on their way out; and then 2 Canada Geese dropped in on their way back
- the extra drake Gadwall still here
- 4 Wigeon today with one very smart drake and three ducks: the recent long-staying drake was not located
- no fewer than 26 Mallard flew off, slightly later than usual and with sufficient light to enable me to check that 11 more were still on the water. Later what were likely some of the early departing birds returned
- a pair of Pochard were new in and my first of the winter
- no Grey Herons seen today
- the Water Rail was heard from the S side yet again
- a tight party of 33 Wood Pigeons headed off high S and seemed likely migrants
- the Great Spotted Woodpecker flew N at great height and I doubt was one of the local birds
- no big group of Jackdaws was noted this morning: perhaps unseen in the rather poor visibility?
- three different Chiffchaffs calling today
- a Reed Bunting calling pre-dawn from the S side reeds was my first for several weeks
and
- just an Earwig sp. (likely Forficula auricularia) on the lamps
- now several clusters of probable Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea) on a dead stump
As a comment I have seen very few Crane Flies (Daddy Longlegs) so far this Autumn

One flowering plant I missed from yesterday’s ‘mid-month’ hunt
- Dandelion sp. (probably Taraxacum officinale)

On with today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over the lake:
- 55 Canada Geese (4 outbound; 51 inbound)
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Stock Dove
- 71 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker (see notes)
- 174 Jackdaws only
- 7 Rooks
- 2 Ravens again
- 7 Starlings (1 group)
- 15 Pied Wagtails
- 3 Meadow Pipits
- 17 Redwings (3 groups)
- 3 Greenfinches
- 19 Goldfinches
- 4 Lesser Redpolls

Hirundines
None

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

The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 3 Mute Swans
- 3 (2♂) Gadwall again
- 4 (1♂) Eurasian Wigeon (see notes)
- 37 > 11 (5♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Pochard
- 24 (12♂) Tufted Ducks
- 6 + 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Water Rail heard
- 6 Moorhens
- 151 Coots
- c.220 Black-headed Gulls
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Kingfisher

The rather angry-looking sky after the low cloud had cleared.

And another view later.

Three of the four Wigeon today: the only male, in the middle here, looks much smarter than the bird that has been on the lake for the last two weeks (but was not seen today).

The drake Pochard this morning.

And here is the duck: she can be separated from a first-winter male because a narrow white line extends back behind the eye. Pochard are typically rather shy and difficult to approach, especially when they first arrive.

Another ‘compare and contrast’: a 3rd winter Lesser Black-backed Gull (rather blotchy upper wings with just a hint of black in the tail tip) and a 2nd winter Lesser Black-backed Gull (a black tail tip but an unspotted rump).

And here is a 3rd winter Lesser Black-backed Gull (the hint of black in the tail but not a solid band).

The 2nd winter Lesser Black-backed Gull at rest: some uniform grey feathers on the back tell us the age of a bird in this position and we cannot see the rump and tail pattern.

Rather more light this morning and the Honey Fungus in more natural light.

... and it was also possible to see the stems as well.

This shows the difference between ‘natural’ light and ....

... ‘flash’ light.

Another clump of fungus that I did not notice yesterday.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:30

(88th visit of the year)

A good morning for fly-overs here

Notes from here
- in addition to the fly-over Jackdaws one was, unusually, also seen on the roof of one of the houses
- yet another sighting of Kingfisher here
and
- as an added comment on the Red Admiral flying strongly S across the water I note that I was at Aqualate Mere yesterday, just across the border in Staffordshire, and a steady stream of butterflies was seen heading S. It is now known that while many Red Admirals find warm places to hibernate, many more ‘reverse migrate’ and return S to the Mediterranean basin

Bird noted flying over
- 36 Wood Pigeons
- 6 Jackdaws
- 2 Skylarks
- 2 Redwings
- 3 Chaffinches
- 2 Goldfinches
- 3 Siskins
- 1 Lesser Redpoll

Also noted flying over
- 1 Red Admiral

Warblers noted
None

The counts from the water
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 109 Greylag Geese
- 59 Canada Geese
- 1 white feral goose
- 28 (18♂) Mallard
- 32 (16♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Great Crested Grebes still
- 7 Moorhens
- 8 Coots
- 32 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Kingfisher

We think of Carrion Crows as being black. This is basically true but some birds show some white flecking as we see here. It is usually most noticeable when the bird flies. Several birds around The Flash show flecking similar to this: it does seem to be genetic.
(Ed Wilson)

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

2008
Priorslee Lake
150+ Tufted Duck
5 Pochard
Kingfisher
(Mike Cooper)

2006
Priorslee Lake
10 Cormorants
15 Pochard
87 Tufted Ducks
34 Robins
8 Song Thrushes
9 Redwings
3 Redpolls
(Ed Wilson)