17 Sep 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  05:40 – 09:10
The Flash:  09:15 – 10:05

10.0°C > 12.0°C:  Much cloud at times with some clear intervals especially 09:00 – 10:00. Light / moderate W wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:46 BST

Priorslee Lake:  05:40 – 09:10

(224th visit of the year)

Best today was the first-winter Common Gull seen briefly with the Black-headed Gulls on the ‘football’ field. When the first dogs arrived it left with some of the Black-heads and was not seen again.

Bird notes from today:
- The 06:55 ‘football’ field count gave me 105 Black-headed Gulls, 1 first winter Common Gull, just seven Wood Pigeons, 12 Magpies, one Carrion Crow and 55 Pied Wagtails. 28 Black-headed Gulls on the academy playing field had most likely been flushed off by dogs and were in my earlier count.

- Several of the Moorhens were seen ‘against the light’ and their ages could not be determined – at least 3 adults and 2 juveniles: 5 unassigned.
- Both of the single surviving juveniles from the last two broods of Coots were seen. Both are just about indistinguishable from (sub)adults and will not be identified separately any longer.
- The first group of large gulls passed overhead along with the outbound Rooks. Later birds spiralled down and landed on the lake. Against the light it was impossible to specifically identify them. Many of these birds soon left. Some of them may have stayed around a while and been ‘double-counted’ as specifically identified birds on the lake. I think the vast majority of the ‘lake birds’ were new arrivals.
- No hirundines today. There are still a few House Martins near my Newport address, though most seem to have left in the last few days.
- Some of the Pied Wagtails stayed around longer than usual and 10 were still on the ‘football’ field at 09:00.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- >20 Black-headed Gulls
- 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: two of these first-winter birds
- 17 unidentified large gulls: too dark to ID
- 4 Feral Pigeons
- 3 Stock Doves
- 71 Wood Pigeons
- 29 Jackdaws
- 134 Rooks
- 6 Starlings

Hirundines etc. noted.
None

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 10 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (0) Blackcaps

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 10 (7♂) Mallard
- 4 (2♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Cormorants
- 2 Grey Herons
- 1 + 1 (1 brood) Little Grebe
- 8 adult + 4 immature + 9 juvenile (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 10 Moorhens: at least 2 juveniles
- 98 + 2 (2 broods) Coots
- >110 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Common Gull
- 30 Lesser Black-backed Gulls : 20 of these first-winter birds
- 5 Herring Gulls: all of these first-winter birds yet again
- 51 unidentified large gulls: too dark to ID
- 1 Kingfisher

Nothing at all on the lamp poles pre-dawn.

The following logged later:
Mainly cloudy with cool breeze
- 1 Brown Hawker Dragonfly
- 1 Grey Squirrel

A rather lop-sided moon already, just a few days after full-moon.

Dark clouds overhead made the early spotting difficult. Just a touch of colour in the clear area to the E.

This immature Cormorant finished fishing for its breakfast and was looking for somewhere secure to digest the food. This does not look too secure.

Ooops!

Try again.

Ooops again!

I really don’t think it is going to work.

There are three dependent broods of Great Crested Grebes here. I have shown the latest trio recently. Here are a quartet, the oldest of the broods, with one of the parents. They had strayed along the N side enabling me to get closer ....

.... and putting the other adult in conflict with the NW residents. Here in a ‘threat’ posture.

These two juvenile Great Crested Grebes seem to be doing well despite there being only one parent to look after them. I do not know where the other parent went. Indeed it may have not gone anywhere as there were two broods hatched close together in the NW area and there only ever seemed to be three adults – could one male have had two females? These are particularly noisy individuals and I can hear them already begging for breakfast no matter how early I arrive.

A motley collection of large gulls. Counting from the left #6 is an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. #2 looks a candidate for being an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull with a very dark back, but the bill is all dark so it must be a second (even a third?) winter bird. #4 has some pale at the base of the bill and is therefore also a (very different) second winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. Note the much whiter head on these two birds. Bird #7 is less coarsely marked and slightly paler and is a first winter Herring Gull. The others are first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

Young gulls fighting over weed. The front left-hand bird, that may or may not have the weed – whose head is it? – is a first-winter Herring Gull with paler inner primaries. The bird charging in from the right is a classic first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull with no obvious pale to the inner primaries and dark secondary coverts.

Whoever had the weed before it is the first-winter Herring Gull making off with it leaving two first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gulls behind.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:15 – 10:05

(213th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- The family party of five very similar Greylag x Canada Geese were with the Greylag parent again. None of the other hybrid geese was noted.
- Canada Geese continued to arrive in small groups throughout my visit.
also
- 2 Speckled Wood butterflies (Pararge aegeria)
- 2 Red Admiral butterflies (Vanessa atalanta)
- >10 Common Drone-flies (Eristalis tenax)
- 1 Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- 1 Birch Shieldbug (Elasmostethus interstinctus)
- 1 Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus)
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus harvestmen on a very different lamp pole
- 1 Terrapin sp. (presumed Yellow-bellied Slider)

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 3 Jackdaws
- 2 Meadow Pipits

Hirundines etc. noted.
None

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 2 (1) Chiffchaffs

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans as usual
- >14 Greylag Geese
- 5 Greylag x Canada Geese
- >117 Canada Geese
- 41 (20♂) Mallard only
- 17 (5♂) Tufted Ducks again
- 2 Great Crested Grebes still
- 4 Moorhens
- 18 Coots
- 12 Black-headed Gulls: just one of these a first-winter bird
- 1 Kingfisher

A flight of 11 Canada Geese comes back from the fields.

It all looked so neat as they arrived in formation. Now they are looking for a touch-down point they have to start making contortions to avoid each other and those already on the water.

This seems to be a new insect for me – a Birch Shieldbug (Elasmostethus interstinctus).

The underside of a Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus).

I could not quite make it to get a ‘square-on’ topside view.

(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
2 Ravens
(John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill
2 Wheatear
6 Raven 
(John Isherwood)

2008
Priorslee Lake
1 Snipe
3 Common Sandpipers
149 Greenfinch roost
89 Pied Wagtails 
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
Pintail
(Ed Wilson)