21 Oct 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  06:30 –09:35
The Flash:  09:40 – 10:25

7.0°C > 9.0°C:  Broken cloud with scattered light showers. Light / moderate NW wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:45 BST

Priorslee Lake:  06:30 –09:35

(250th visit of the year)

Bird notes from today:
- A trio of (Eurasian) Wigeon with one duck (Common) Teal. These went for a fly-about, returning for a while but had gone by 08:45
- Now two drake Pochard as well as the duck.
- Rather few large gulls today and none of these were early birds. The Black-headed Gulls were also later than usual. That Monday morning feeling?
- Passage of Wood Pigeons started after 09:15 (and continued while I was at The Flash). This seems later than ‘usual’ for migrant groups.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 5 Greylag Geese (2 groups inbound)
- 3 Lapwings
- 14 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: not all aged
- 9 Feral Pigeons
- 59 Wood Pigeons: 31 of these in two migrant groups
- 73 Jackdaws
- 40 Starlings (5 groups)
- 14 Fieldfares (1 group)
- 114 Redwings (8 groups)
- 1 Mistle Thrush
- 17 Pied Wagtails at least
- 1 Meadow Pipit again
- 4 Chaffinches
- 1 Lesser Redpoll

Birds logged leaving roosts around the lake:
Once again Reed Buntings were heard calling from their roost: only one was seen to leave.
- 3 Starlings
- 1 Song Thrush
- 3 Redwings
- 1 Reed Bunting

Warblers noted.
None

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 3 (1♂) (Eurasian) Wigeon
- 5 (3♂) Gadwall
- 1 (0♂) (Common) Teal
- 7 (5♂) Mallard: perhaps others flew off?
- 3 (2♂) Pochard
- 41 (?♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Cormorant again
- 2 Grey Herons
- 1 Little Grebe: other(s) heard
- 12 Great Crested Grebes: again
- 7 Moorhens
- 110 Coots
- >85 Black-headed Gulls
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: three of these first-winter birds
- 3 Herring Gulls: all three of these first-winter birds

Pre-dawn sightings on the lamp poles:
- 2 November Moth-types (Epirrita sp.)
- 1 springtail, probably Pogonognathellus longicornis
- 1 Chironomus plumosus (plumed midge)
- 1 male Tipula pagana cranefly
- 1 cranefly still to be identified
- 3 different unidentified species of fly
- 3 different unidentified species of spider
- 1 Leiobunum blackwalli harvestman
- 2 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman

Later sightings:
- 2 male Tipula pagana craneflies

Well there was not much light but this shows that it does not always matter. This trio of (Eurasian) Wigeon can be identified by the extent of the pale belly and, particularly on the back bird, by the pointed wing and the head / bill shape.

And how to identify them on the water in bad light. The rufous tone of the flanks with some white showing is clue #1 with the blue-grey bill clue #2. The confusion here is the smaller bird in the middle. Note that this bird has a white flash in the side of the tail and this identifies it as a duck (Common) Teal.

This, at least, is a different cranefly with well-marked wings. It seems to be Limonia nubeculosa, a species on the wing as late as November. All Limonia craneflies hold their wings over their backs at rest, unlike the familiar Common Crane-fly (Tipula oleracea) which is abundant in late August and September.

This is a close-up of a male Tipula pagana cranefly. I took a similar shot of one at The Flash on Sunday 20th. This perhaps shows more clearly the strange appendage sticking out of the rear of the thorax and ending in a ball. Still no idea what it is called or what it is for. Note the antennae are not only segmented (as they are on most (all?) flies) but hairy too. And to add confusion, despite being a Tipula cranefly it holds its wings over its back at rest. Look – I didn’t name these things: its not my fault categorisation is not always neat and tidy.

I am getting better at photographing springtails. This is probably Pogonognathellus longicornis. (there are lots to choose from!)

I think this is one of the stretch-spiders Tetragnatha, but does not seem quite right for a Common stretch-spider (T. extensa) which has longer legs.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:40 – 10:25

(237th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- One pair of Mallard was seen mating.
- Several of the Great Crested Grebes are keeping well under the cover of the overhanging vegetation around the island and difficult to find and harder to keep track of.
- One of the groups of Redwings was possibly flushed by the passing Sparrowhawk, though could have been sweeping low over the trees as an avoidance strategy.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Sparrowhawk yet again
- 3 Feral Pigeons
- 49 Wood Pigeons: 48 of these in 3 migrant parties
- 11 Jackdaws
- 1 Skylark
- 73 Redwings (3 groups)

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans
- 35 Greylag Geese
- 30 Canada Geese
- 5 hybrid / feral geese – family group
- 42 (21♂) Mallard
- 53 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens
- 11 Coots only
- 31 Black-headed Gulls

Other things:
-       on the usual lamp pole
- 2 Hawthorn Shieldbugs (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus harvestman
- 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman
-       on lamps in squirrel alley
- 1 November Moth-type (Epirrita sp.)
- 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman
-        elsewhere on lamp poles
- 1 Common European Earwig (Forficula auricularia)
- 1 wasp sp.

A Hawthorn Shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale).

A close-up of a Common European Earwig (Forficula auricularia). This is a female – the male has strongly curved pincers. The female lays eggs in a nest in the ground and defends the nest and the newly-hatched nymphs throughout the winter – unusual behaviour in insects.

Another creature in the wars – a five-legged harvestman. Managed this photo by natural light which shows more clearly the line of pale marks along the ‘spine’ that identifies it as Paroligolophus agrestis. This is the species with the basal part of the legs noticeably thicker than the rest.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2010
Priorslee Lake
Little Grebe
5 Lapwings
1487 Fieldfare logged, mostly flying W. 7 of the flocks estimated at between 110 and 130 birds
25 Redwings
Raven
56 Goldfinch
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
62 Swans
5 Wigeon
14 Pochard
22 Tufted Ducks
231 Coots
Great Black-backed Gull
3 Buzzards
1 Kestrel
27 Redwings
Chiffchaff
c.250 Starlings
8 Siskins
c.15 Goldfinches
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Cormorant
25 Pochard
72 Tufted Ducks
1 Kestrel
1 Kingfisher
20 Robins
17 Blackbirds
15 Song Thrushes
59 Redwing
3 Mistle Thrushes
1 Chiffchaff
1 Blackcap
5 Goldcrests
(Martin Adlam)