14 Sep 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  05:30 – 09:30
The Flash:  09:35 – 10:20

7.0°C > 13.0°C:  Some thin high cloud again, mostly clear: mist over the water early. Light and variable breeze. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:41 BST

It may have said it was 7.0°C on the car thermometer when I arrived. One of the fishermen’s temperature gauge went to 3.0°C in the night and was still only 5.0°C at 08:00.

Priorslee Lake:  05:30 – 09:30

(221st visit of the year)

Definitely a ‘raptor’ day. A Hobby flew fast W to the N at 08:10. It, or another, flew low E at 08:25. A Peregrine flew W at 09:10 perhaps eyeing up the concurrent party of 27 Racing Pigeons. A Sparrowhawk and an apparently non-local Common Buzzard flew over later

Frustrating was what, at other times of the year, I would have happily logged as ‘Whimbrel heard’. But mid-September is an unlikely date for this bird on passage. Nothing seen so ...?

Bird notes from today:
- The 06:45 ‘football’ field count gave me 31 Black-headed Gulls again, 27 Wood Pigeons, 17 Magpies, two Carrion Crows, eight Starlings and 45 Pied Wagtails. Just three Wood Pigeons were on the academy playing field at this time.
- Coot numbers building up. This morning’s juvenile was the lone survivor from the very last hatched brood.
- Some of the large gulls passing pre-sunrise decided to stop off at the lake for a while. The light was still rather poor to be 100% certain but all seemed to be Lesser Black-backed Gulls and most of them first-winter birds. Later more gulls dropped in and this included a trio of first-winter Herring Gulls.
- Three duck Tufted Duck dropped in briefly. Four unsexed birds flew over E at 08:25. The same (?) two ducks as the last few days remained throughout.
- One Tawny Owl was calling alongside Teece Drive at 05:30. Shortly after two were heard calling from the N side wood. Different birds?
- There were likely many more Meadow Pipits overhead as the clear sky precluded finding most of the calling birds. These are often in small groups.
- Yesterday I wondered where all the Greenfinches had gone. Today there was one and with it two Chaffinches. Chaffinches had been absent even longer. (There was also a Greenfinch at The Flash where it has been similarly missing recently)

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- Canada Geese heard only outbound
- 4 (?♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 1 or 2 Hobby
- 1 Peregrine
- 27 Lesser Black-backed Gulls : eight of these first-winter birds
- 2 Herring Gulls: both of these first-winter birds
- 51 unidentified large gulls: too dark to ID
- 1 Stock Dove
- 27 Racing Pigeons
- 67 Wood Pigeons
- 41 Jackdaws
- 94 Rooks
- 7+ Meadow Pipits
- 1 Yellow Wagtail
- 3 Pied Wagtails
- 23 Starlings (3 groups)

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 13 Barn Swallows (3 groups through)
- 1 House Martin

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 12 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (0) Blackcaps

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 12 (7♂) Mallard
- 5 (0♂) Tufted Ducks (see notes)
- 4 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
- Little Grebe(s) heard only
- 8 + 6 + 9 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 4 + 3 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 105 + 1 (1 brood) Coots
- 31 Black-headed Gulls
- 61 Lesser Black-backed Gulls : 45 of these first-winter birds
- 3 Herring Gulls: all of these first-winter birds yet again
- 1 Kingfisher

On the lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 unidentified small black beetle
- 1 Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)
- 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman

The following logged later:
Still chilly even in the sun, so not much seen:
- No butterflies
- Dragonflies etc.
        - 1 Brown Hawker
- Hoverflies
        - several Common Drone-flies (Eristalis tenax)
and
- a few Common Crane-flies (Tipula oleracea)
- several wasp sp.
- 1 White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
- 2 Grey Squirrels

The very early (06:00) start of the sunrise – an exposure of a quarter of second is always going to show some blurring without a tripod. Clearly the Severn Trent ‘welcome’ sign is not a perfect substitute.

By 06:15 maximum colour.

A longer view to show the Autumn mist over the water.

Losing some colour by 06:22.

Still attractive but colour washed out by 06:27.

Two immature Cormorants prepare to get their breakfast from the lake.

These are the two ‘spare’ adult Great Crested Grebes that have been around for many weeks. This morning they decided to start displaying.

In good light the strong underwing pattern is enough to identify this as an immature Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Here is the same bird from above, illustrating the importance of considering the angle of the light. Note how much darker the secondary coverts appear on the right wing compared with those on the left wing. Note too the solid black tail with spotting on the uppertail coverts.

I am not 100% certain that this is a first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull that is approaching the camera. The absence of any pale area around the inner primaries suggests it is, though this feature is always less obvious from underneath. The solid black tail band may be the best clue. It is also landing alongside a Lesser Black-backed Gull. In my experience ‘different’ gulls often tend to keep apart – not always but can provide a pointer to something different.

This is an immature Herring Gull with very pale area around the inner primaries – much more extensive than shown on any Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Another view with different lighting. I had thought this was a first-winter bird: this photo shows some pale on the bill and it is possibly a second-winter bird, though the spotting on the upper-tail coverts suggests otherwise. It also has a rather white-looking head – perhaps just an effect of the bright sunlight? Immature large gulls are a constant puzzle!

A species that is very hard to get a decent photograph of as they usually stand facing away and then fly-off. ‘Just’ a Magpie of course. The good morning light shows a hint of the green or purple (depending upon angle) gloss in the wing.

Another species I do not often get a chance to photograph Jackdaws – they usually pass before it is light-enough and almost always what light there is. The white eyes stand out clearly as does the grey ‘nape’.

I am almost certain this is a Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis). Usually I see this at rest with the two front pairs of legs held together ahead of the body. Here it must be moving after something – or trying to get away from the camera flash! Note the very short third pair of legs.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:35 – 10:20

(211th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- Many geese uncounted inside the island.
- With a better view today I note that the Greylag x Canada Goose is a different bird to that recorded most times last winter and indeed shows some hint of Barnacle Goose genes.
- I assume that many Mallard were also hiding inside the island.
also
Another later visit with more insects around. However the Ivy is not yet in flower so numbers of hoverflies well down on what I would otherwise log.
- 1 Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria)
- 2 Red Admiral butterflies (Vanessa atalanta)
- 1 Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album)
- >3 Common Drone-flies (Eristalis tenax)
- >1 Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- 7 Dicranopalpus ramosus harvestmen on the same lamp pole
- 1 Grey Squirrel

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 2 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Jackdaw
- 1+ Meadow Pipits

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 3 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans as usual
- >18 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada x ? Goose
- >68 Canada Geese
- 17 (9♂) Mallard only
- 30 (7♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 3 Moorhens
- 20 Coots
- 11 Black-headed Gulls: three of these first-winter birds
- 1 Kingfisher

Here is the hybrid goose that has been around for a few days. The plain orange bill is clearly formed by Greylag Goose genes whereas the vestigial white ‘chin-strip’ and dark neck likely come from Canada Goose genes. Barnacle Goose is another possibility for the white around the face as it is for the overall plumage tone. However Barnacle Goose has a relatively very small bill and there is not hint of that. Anyone got a DNA kit handy?

Nothing special: just a nice portrait of a first-winter Black-headed Gull

And a different bird – though you would be hard put to tell them apart. Birds from early broods differ quite markedly from birds raised later in the season throughout the winter. Not with these two though.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
Water Rail
Hobby
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
Snipe
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Sandwich Tern
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Green Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)