25 Oct 17

Priorslee Lake only

10.5°C > 11.5°C: Clear and fine with only a few areas of thin high cloud. light / moderate WSW wind. Very good visibility. Less mild

Sunrise: 07:53 BST

Too busy at the lake to take time out to go elsewhere with very big Wood Pigeon passage, amongst many other things

Priorslee Lake: 07:00 – 10:10

(129th visit of the year)

Notes from today:
- another two adult Mute Swans arrived 07:40. It took the sleeping residents some while to notice! They finally shooed them off at 08:40
- 38 Canada Geese in two groups of 19 stopped off inbound (in addition to the overflights logged)
- 7 Eurasian Wigeon flew W: identified from photos which show at least 3 drakes
- back to three duck Gadwalls today: now 3 pairs and 2 ‘spare’ ducks
- a small party of Golden Plover seen flying N to the far E
- a lone Lesser Black-backed Gull was already on the water at 07:10 when it became light-enough to see: perhaps it roosted?
- very heavy Wood Pigeon passage started before 08:00 and was still on-going, albeit in diminished numbers, at 10:00. Included two groups with at least 1000 birds in each group. Strangely and despite the mild weather this is a week earlier than my largest passage in 2016 of >8000 birds on 2 November. Perhaps because the previous week has been cloudy and migration has been held up? One of the parties contained an all-white bird: I am pretty certain it was a ‘piggy-back’ Feral Pigeon rather than an albino Wood Pigeon
- I managed to walk past the Magpie roost area without them noticing pre-dawn. Numbers in the roost have yet to build to last winter’s level of up to 80 birds. Not easy to count until the leaves come off the trees
- still can find no Rooks on early dispersal ahead of the Jackdaws no matter how early I arrive and how hard I look: my last significant count was on 4 October. Much later a party of 10 flew E – at 90 degrees to their usual dispersal route: with 2 more later still
- 14 Crows were noted in the air at the same time: this is not unprecedented but unusual
- at least 4 Redwings were flushed out of the trees pre-dawn: perhaps roosted, though there were none at their usual winter roost site
- at least 5 Reed Buntings left two roosts around the lake: 2 on the N side; and 3 at the W end
and
- 1 fly sp. on the lamps today: possibly Neuroctena anilis
- 1 Red Admiral on Ivy just as I was leaving

On with today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over the lake:
- 47 Canada Geese (14 (2 groups) outbound; 33 (3 groups) inbound)
- 7 (3♂) Eurasian Wigeon
- 4 (2♂) Mallard
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 2 Common Buzzards
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 32 Golden Plover
- 13 Feral Pigeons (3 groups)
- 2 Stock Doves
- >7400(!!) Wood Pigeons (37 groups)
- >625 Jackdaws
- 12 Rooks
- 4 Skylarks: singles
- 3 Starlings (1 group)
- 7 Pied Wagtails
- 2 Meadow Pipits: singles
- 70 Fieldfare (5 groups)
- 100 Redwings exactly (11 groups)
- 2 Chaffinches
- 4 Goldfinches
- 5 Siskins (2 groups)
- 2 Lesser Redpolls (together)
- >18 unidentified finch sps.

The counts from the lake area
- 4 + 3 Mute Swans
- 38 Canada Geese
- 8 (5♂) Gadwall
- 16 (9♂) Mallard
- 44 (20♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Little Grebe again
- 4 + 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Water Rail heard again
- 6 Moorhens again
- 146 Coots
- >320 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

 Sunrise at the lake from a different perspective as the sunrise moves in to the SE.

 In this slightly different view the two ‘extra’ Mute Swans can be seen.

And a different angle.

I thought they were supposed to be Mute Swans: these look as if they are calling. The ‘extra’ two birds that had been chased all around the lake so perhaps their mouths are open because they are out of breath.

A typical winter scene as a party of geese – Canada Geese here – flies over.

... and much to the annoyance of the Mute Swans decides to put their undercarriage down and land.

A very unhelpful group of seven ducks flying W and passing straight over making identification a challenge. About all we can see here are the pale bellies. In the early morning light it is difficult to judge whether the birds are orange-toned or not.

As they pass over another clue – the pointed tail. It is not long-enough for Pintail. Anyway that species would show a longer and thinner neck and any drakes would be very white under the neck, chest and belly. This leads us to conclude they are Eurasian Wigeon.

Just when I was giving up hope and they were far away the flock banked and gave me a view of their upper wings and we see the diagnostic white patch in the forewing on the drakes to clinch the ID.

Rather closer than my previous attempt this shows the rather loose grouping of migrant parties of Wood Pigeons. The question arises as to where they have come from – they only ever seem to pass between 08:00 and 10:00? And where they are going? Assuming that they fly at 50 miles per hour then I see birds that have started off between 0 and 100 miles away. What about birds further away?

Here we see another feature of many groups: the upper birds are passing over, the lower one coming from more local trees – in this instance Wards Rough on Limekiln Bank – and joining the group.

Struggled to ID this fly on one of the lamps. There are not too many species that have red/orange head and thorax. Seems likely to be Neuroctena anilis – it has no vernacular name. The web suggests it should be rather more orange but that may be an effect of the flash.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2012
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
1 Wigeon
1 Common Gull
(John Isherwood)

The Flash
1 Goosander
7 Pochard
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
12 Golden Plover
1577 Wood Pigeons
28 Sky Larks
12 Fieldfare
8 Redwings
4 Siskins
1 Linnet
2 Redpoll
1 Brambling
(Ed Wilson)