Priorslee Lake: 04:20 – 06:05 // 07:00 – 09:10
The Flash: 06:10 – 06:55
7.0°C > 15.0°C: A few thin mostly high clouds. Calm with light SW wind later. Excellent visibility
Sunrise: 05:01 BST
Priorslee Lake: 04:20 – 06:05 // 07:00 – 09:10
(134th visit of the year)
Bird notes from today
- The Great Crested Grebes have lost one of their offspring. Only one of the other pair was seen.
- More juvenile Coots in the open today. One of yesterday’s broods was not seen.
- At 05:40 three Lesser Black-backed Gulls appeared overhead. One was carrying what seemed to be a slice of bread in its bill and this one, and then one of the others, veered toward the lake, the third bird carrying on. The first bird seemed to be ‘playing’ with the bread, dropping it and then diving to catch it again in mid-air. Eventually it fell in the water and both gulls dived down to the water (“I’ve told you before not to play with your food”). At this point two pairs of Tufted Ducks were seen to fly off from the NE area, though I had been in that area minutes beforehand and seen nothing. Not sure the two incidents were necessarily related. The Gulls stayed a few minutes and left.
- Some 10 minutes later another Lesser Black-backed Gull was seen on the ‘football field’ – most unusual (there was yet another briefly on the water much later).
Bird totals:
Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 1 Greylag Goose (inbound)
- 8 Canada Geese (4 outbound; 4 inbound – same?)
- 7 Cormorants
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 3 Stock Doves
- 8 Wood Pigeon
- 29 Jackdaws
- 24 Rooks
Hirundines etc. noted:
- 3 Barn Swallows
- 3 House Martins once more
Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 6 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Willow Warbler
- 20 (18) Blackcaps
- 3 (3) Garden Warblers
- 3 (2) (Common) Whitethroats
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler again
- 9 (9) Reed Warblers
The counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 9 (8♂) + 3 (1 brood) Mallard
- 4 (2♂) Tufted Ducks: departed 05:40
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes again
- 1 Moorhen
- 24 + 21 (5 broods) Coots
Nothing on the lamp poles pre-dawn:
Seen later
- 1 Speckled Wood butterfly
- >5 Azure Damselflies
- >10 Common Blue Damselflies
- >10 Blue-tailed Damselflies
- 1 Large Red Damselflies
- 1 wasp sp.
- 2 bumblebee sps. – seemed to be a Field Cuckoo Bumblebee and an Early Bumblebee
- >20 bumblebees seem to be nesting in one of the Sailing Club containers
- >1 Syrphus hoverfly
- >1 Baccha elongata (no vernacular name) hoverfly
- c.5 possible Cephas sp. of sawfly
- 2 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- >10 Red-and-Black Froghoppers (Cercopis vulnerata)
- many Scorpion Flies (Panorpa communis)
- many Alder Flies (possibly Sialis lutaria)
- >50 of the caddis fly Mystacides longicornis
- first flower of Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor)
- I noted Horsetail (or Mare's tails) (Equisetum arvense) for the first time here this year
and
- 1 Grey Squirrel
It was the best of sunrises this morning with colour changing all the while. Really red at, gulp, 04:45.
And really, really red at 04:50.
Mellowed out but still pretty spectacular at 05:25
With wreathes of mist as well.
How could I resist this endearing trio of Mallard ducklings snuggled up?
The Lesser Black-backed Gull arrives with its slice of bread.
Here it is snatching it in mid-air.
Nothing special: just a Wood Pigeon in super light.
A Speckled Wood butterfly in good light.
A not-very-blue (as yet) male Common Blue Damselfly.
Not entirely sure about this bee sp. May be a Field Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus campestris).
This, on the other hand, has long antenna. Just visible here is the yellow band across the body.
Is it past the watershed? A pair(?) of Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata).
Always some days after its yellow cousin is this Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor), the first of the year.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 06:10 – 06:55
(128th visit of the year)
Notes from here:
- There are more juvenile Coots than I logged. I only noted one from the original brood of three – I am sure the other two were hiding. Then I noted two on a nest at the S end and these were obviously some days old and presumably were still being brooded during previous visits. Lastly a dog-walked reported seeing a group of new juveniles chasing after a parent, though I could not locate these.
- The Garden Warbler was singing intermittently again.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
None
Hirundines etc. noted:
- 6 Swifts again
Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 1 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Willow Warbler
- 3 (3) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
The counts from the water:
- 3 + 5 Mute Swans
- 4 Greylag Geese
- 22 Canada Geese
- 20 (14♂) + 5 (1 brood) Mallard
- 9 (6♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Moorhens
- 31 + >3 (>2 broods) Coots
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the lake and The Flash:
At or around the lower pool (singing birds):
- 1 House Martin overhead
- 2 (1) Chiffchaff
At or around the upper pool (singing birds):
- 1 (1) Goldcrest
(Ed Wilson)
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