28 Aug 18

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake: 05:30 – 07:00 // 07:50 – 09:40
The Flash: 07:05 – 07:45

11°C > 15°C: Clear but with increasing high cloud. Calm start with mist over the water: light SW breeze later. Very good visibility

Sunrise: 06:12 BST

Highlight was a Yellow Wagtail that flew S over the lake at 08:00. My first here this year – moving my lake year total to 94 bird species. This species is most often seen or heard on passage in Spring. It breeds in small numbers on farmland locally – depending which crops are grown where

Close behind were the two Ravens tumbling overhead the Flash. My 67th bird species at The Flash this year. A species I have yet to see over the lake this year

Priorslee Lake: 05:30 – 07:00 // 07:50 – 09:40

(106th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the juvenile Great Crested Grebe from the second brood was back in the water and begging
- no obvious reason for lower number of Moorhens logged
- no idea why so few Black-headed Gulls stopped off
- c.30 House Martins seen high over the estate at 07:00 and 07:55. Occasional small groups seen from 06:10 and throughout may have been some of these or may have been other birds moving through

Bird totals

birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 23 Canada Geese [23 (1 group) outbound only]
- 1 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 64 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 4 Stock Doves (singles)
- 91 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 4 Jackdaws again
- 1 Yellow Wagtail
- 1 Pied Wagtail

Hirundines etc. noted
- 1 Barn Swallow
- >30 House Martins

Warblers noted:
- 11 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 7 Blackcaps

The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swans as usual
- 12 (?♂) Mallards
- 4 + 4 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 6 + 5 (? broods) Moorhens
- 92 (near) adult + 8 dependent juvenile Coots again
- 28 (? juveniles) Black-headed Gulls

And other notes
- butterflies
- 4 Speckled Wood
- moths on the lamps
- 4 Agriphila tristella (Common Grass-veneer)
- no moths identified elsewhere: why do I not flush any grass moths?
- damselflies / dragonflies
- 1 hawker sp. dragonfly
- hoverflies
- >4 Melanostoma scalare (Chequered Hoverfly)
- 2 Syrphus ribesii
- flies etc. identified
- a hairy Tachina fera fly
- many wasps again: none on the lamps today so perhaps not spider victims after all
- hatch of Mystacides longicornis (caddis flies) dancing around the water’s-edge
- beetles or bugs noted
- 1 Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina)
- no spiders seen despite walking through many web-strands at first light
- no different plants noted
- mammals seen
- 1 Grey Squirrel

A while since I have been able to photograph the (almost) full moon. Sadly a thin veil of high cloud took the edge off the clarity.

The fine weather produced the first decent sunrise for a while.

Just visible on the left of this view is the small amount of mist over the water ....

 ... Better seen from ‘the other end’.

Not one from the Ricoh copse family: a fly-over Common Buzzard.

And making a lot of fuss about it too.

Two hoverflies for the price of one: on the left Syrphus ribesii; on the right Melanostoma scalare.

This is the fly Tachina fera – a very hairy fly with a broad black band down the otherwise orange body. Despite being a common and widespread species all across Europe, as far as Japan and in to North Africa, it has no vernacular name.

A Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 07:05 – 07:45

(87th visit of the year)

Notes
- just scraped getting geese on the list when 2 Greylags arrived just as I was leaving
- the newest brood of Mallard seems to now comprise just 3 ducklings – or is this yet another late brood? They do seem very small
- just one obvious aggregation of more or less full grown Mallard ducklings (8 individuals). Many (near?) adults seen
- 3 different Coal Tit heard singing – usually 1 or 2 at best
and
- 3 Grey Squirrels

Birds noted flying over or near to The Flash
- 13 Feral Pigeons (4 groups)
- 8 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Jackdaws
- 2 Ravens

Hirundines etc. noted
None

Warblers noted
- 1 Chiffchaffs
- 1 Blackcap: female / juvenile seen

The counts from the water
- 2 + 3 Mute Swans as usual
- 2 Greylag Geese: both arrived
- no Canada Geese again
- 26 (15♂) + 11 (2 broods) Mallard
- 8 Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Moorhens: all adults
- 10 + 2 dependent juvenile Coots
- 37 (3 juveniles) Black-headed Gulls

Nothing of interest between the lake and The Flash

(Ed Wilson)

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

2013
Priorslee Lake
2 Teal
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Turtle Dove
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Pair Ruddy Duck
(Malcolm Thompson)