19 Oct 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  06:25 –09:05
The Flash:  09:10 – 09:50

7.0°C > 8.0°C:  Initially clear to E, cloudy to W with shower arriving. Light WSW. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:42 BST

Priorslee Lake:  06:25 –09:05

(248th visit of the year)

Very quiet overhead. Male and female Blackcaps seen together with the male calling. These were some way from where a female was seen yesterday.

Other bird notes from today:
- In a rare show of tolerance all three Grey Herons were on the SW grass for some 10 minutes.
- With all the Great Crested Grebes now diving for food (even if some of the juveniles are not above begging the adults) then these sub-aqua birds are hard to census. Not too much should be read in to today’s lower number.
- At least 100 Black-headed Gulls were swirling around over the water at 06:55. Whether these had roosted here and been flushed or whether they had arrived but did not want to settle while it was still dark is unclear. Eventually there were c.150, so perhaps they were arriving from high overhead. Later more than 70 arrived in a tight group, low from the W.
- Most of the large gulls passing S did so more or less overhead the lake and many of them diverted in for a while.
- No big groups of Jackdaws: 38 was the largest.
- Just one Song Thrush was motivated to attempt some spluttering song in the rain.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 3 Greylag Geese (pair and single outbound)
- 2 Canada Geese (pair inbound)
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 11 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: ages not determined
- 55 large gulls while still too dark to ID
- 5 Wood Pigeons only
- 152 Jackdaws
- 2 Starlings
- 6 Pied Wagtails at least

Birds logged leaving roosts around the lake:
The heaviest shower coincided with normal roost dispersal time. I was in the SW shelter and should have been able to see any birds that did leave their usual roosts. Reed Bunting(s) were heard calling from their roost ahead of the rain but none was seen.
- 1 Redwing

Warblers noted:
- 2 Blackcaps: male and female

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans as ever
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall again
- 10 (?♂) Mallard – most flew off whilst too dark
- 28 (9?♂) Tufted Ducks
- 3 Cormorants
- 3 Grey Herons again
- 3 Little Grebes
- 15 Great Crested Grebes: ages not determined
- 7 Moorhens
- 125 Coots again
- >220 Black-headed Gulls
- 84 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: ages not determined
- 11 Herring Gulls: no full adults
- 1 Kingfisher again

Pre-dawn sightings on the lamp poles:
- 3 November Moth-types (Epirrita sp.)
- 1 springtail, likely Pogonognathellus longicornis
- 1 frog/plant-hopper
- at least two species of fly
- 4 spiders, all apparently different (unidentified) species

Later sightings:
- 2 probable Trichocera regelationis craneflies
- 1 new cluster of fungus
- 1 Grey Squirrel

The ‘is it a cranefly or not?’ Further research on the web suggests it is likely the cranefly Trichocera regelationis, noted as ‘abundant in winter’. This genus has much longer antennae than the ‘daddy long-legs’ Tipula craneflies.

This is a type of froghopper. Its shape most closely resembles the Common Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius) though it is somewhat late in the year to see adults. The second part of the scientific name refers to the frothy wrapping that these insects produce to protect the young while they suck the sap from the host plants – known as ‘cuckoo spit’ as it appears at the same time of year that cuckoos (used to) arrive in number. [NB: the black spot in front of the head is not part of the insect as you can see ...]

Another view. This species is very variable both in ground colour and in marking.

One of this morning’s batch of spiders. Only when I reviewed the photo did I notice another spider just about visible on the left side of the lamp pole.

This is a very small spider that is very reminiscent of the Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus) in markings. While spiders do grow throughout their life I would not expect one to be this small at this date.

This spider was hard to photograph because of twigs in the foreground distracting the camera’s focus – and you cannot in reality manually focus most bridge cameras. I think it is a Common stretch-spider (Tetragnatha extensa) on the move.

A lot of debris at the top of this lamp pole. What look like spiders are, I am certain, discarded exoskeletons. As spiders grow they split their skin and emerge with new, temporarily soft, skin and leave the old one behind.

The fungus found today. Rather more shine than reality I suspect, both due to the need for ‘flash’ photography and because it was raining.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:10 – 09:50

(235th visit of the year)

Squirrel alley is now more ‘open’ than it was with many of the scrubby bushes having been cut (coppiced?). Whether you think it needed ‘opening’ is a mater of personal taste I guess.

Other notes from here:
- Big increase in number of Tufted Ducks
- Low number of Coots: I suspect I forgot to look!
- Grey Wagtail present.

Other things:
-       nothing on the usual lamp pole
-       in squirrel alley
- 1 Hawthorn Shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 2 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans
- 34 Greylag Geese: three of these arrived
- 69 Canada Geese: 40 of these arrived
- no hybrid / feral geese
- 29 (17♂) Mallard
- 61 (>13♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 Great Crested Grebes again
- 3 Moorhens
- 10 Coots only
- 15 Black-headed Gulls

Overhead was this large gull. Just enough here to identify it as a Herring Gull with extensive pale at the ends of the inner primaries and outer secondaries. Also there are almost no markings on the part of the underwing we can see clearly.

Grab shot of a species I do not see very often at The Flash – a Rook. Note the pale, dagger-like beak, here with mud attached. No doubt it has been digging for its favourite food – cranefly larvae (leatherjackets). Note too the rather long tail, almost wedge-shaped at some angles which is rather different from the rounded end of a Carrion Crow’s tail.

A nice Hawthorn Shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)

(Ed Wilson)

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

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2009
Priorslee Lake
63 Mute Swan
7 Wigeon
14 Pochard
26 Tufted Duck
c.600 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
6 Herring Gull
1 Yellow Legged Gull
27 Redwings
3 Fieldfare
2 Willow Tits
(Mike Cooper / Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
>100 Tufted Duck
2 Water Rail
107 Redwings
176 Fieldfare 
19 Siskins
4 Sky Larks 
3 Meadow Pipits 
2 Redpolls
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
2 Shoveler
37 Redwing
1 Fieldfare
250+ Starlings in the roost
11 Pochard
48 Tufted Duck
202 Coot
5 Moorhen
(Ed Wilson)