2 Nov 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  05:55 –08:55
The Flash:  09:00 – 09:35

8.0°C:  Initially clear to E with light showery rain. Cleared for a while before heavy rain from c.08:30. Light SE wind. Very good visibility, less so after start of rain.

Sunrise: 07:08 GMT

Priorslee Lake:  05:55 –08:55

(260th visit of the year)

To start: an update on the white-headed first-winter gull that I photographed on 30th October and thought likely a Yellow-legged Gull. This bird has been photographed and discussion on Twitter (I am not a user) among those more knowledgeable about large gulls then me have agreed it to be a first-winter Caspian Gull. This becomes bird species #99 here in 2019.

Very busy overhead until the arrival of the heavy rain. Strangely almost no Wood Pigeons.

Bird notes:
- The Mute Swan cygnets all managed to fly the whole length of the lake. One was clearly less confident than the others, albeit still well-airborne the whole way.
- Not certain whether it was a Merlin I saw. What seemed to be a small falcon approached with birds scattering in all directions ahead of it. It then disappeared behind trees. I had the camera ready for it to emerge: It never did! I won’t be adding it my year-list for here.
- My first Water Rail of the season was heard calling in the usual area.
- Big movement of large gulls, perhaps ahead of the promised gales? Early on all birds were heading S with 109 unidentified birds counted passing to the far E in a large group. Later the gulls were all flying N overhead. In a stream of 179 birds I checked most and all were adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The only Herring Gulls noted were on the water.
- The Jackdaws flew over in a very disjointed way. It took more than 40 minutes of almost continuous passage to amass the 158 in my log with 10 being the largest group.
- A lone Fieldfare emerging from the reeds was the first such example I can recall.
- The large passage of winter thrushes was difficult to census, not just because some of the flocks were both large and ‘loose’, but also because many were mixed parties of Fieldfares and Redwings.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 1 (1♂) Mallard
- 1 Cormorant
- 2 Common Buzzards
- 1 possible Merlin (see notes)
- 315 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 134 unidentified large gulls
- 10 Feral Pigeons (3 groups)
- 29 Wood Pigeons
- 158 Jackdaws
- 3 Skylarks
- 69 Starlings (2 groups)
- c.800 Fieldfares (19 groups)
- c.150 Redwings (15 groups)
- 6 Pied Wagtails
- 2 Meadow Pipits

Birds logged leaving roosts around the lake:
- c.95 Starlings
- 1 Fieldfare
- 8 Redwings
- 10 Reed Buntings

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans again
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall
- 3 (2♂) Mallard again
- 5 (4♂) Pochard
- 45 (?♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Cormorants
- 2 Grey Herons
- 3 Little Grebes
- 9 Great Crested Grebes again
- 1 Water Rail (heard only)
- 5 Moorhens
- 131 Coots
- c.175 Black-headed Gulls
- 59 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 Herring Gulls: one adult bird

Lamp poles pre-dawn revealed:
- 2 November Moth-types (Epirrita sp.)
- 1 Common European Earwig (Forficula auricularia)
- 1 Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus)
- 1 Common Stretch-spider (Tetragnatha extensa)
- 1 spider, perhaps Larinioides cornutus
- 1 other unidentified spiders
- 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman
There was another moth flying around the lamps which was probably another November Moth-type

Later sightings:
- Another location with likely Wood Blewit fungus (Lepista nuda)

Briefly, between the early showery rain and the on-set of the heavier rain, this sunrise appeared.

Luckily not too windy prevent this first-winter Herring Gull doing a balancing act on one of the buoys.

Jays are shy birds and do not often present photo opportunities. Not well-posed and in the rain. A second later it was gone.

A distinctively-marked spider. I think it is one of the orb-weaver spiders, probably Larinioides cornutus (no vernacular name). Do not recall seeing this species before.

This all-dark spider is another I cannot recall – or identify. None of the essentially black spiders identified on the web seem to have banded legs as shown here (post-processing with Photoshop has shown it to be dark brown with a few lighter markings rather than the all-black it appeared to be). The white streaks on the cephalothorax are probably reflections of the camera flash.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:00 – 09:35

(246th visit of the year)

A quick dash around in the rain.

Notes from here:
- The drake Pochard not located again.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 2 Jackdaws

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans
- 2 Canada Geese
- 37 (19♂) Mallard
- 38 (>14♂) Tufted Duck
- 9 (3♂) Goosander
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 Great Crested Grebes only
- 3 Moorhens again
- 11 Coots
- 16 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Kingfisher

Other things:
- on the usual lamp pole
        - 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus harvestman
- nothing seen elsewhere

(Ed Wilson)

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

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2012
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
7 Pochard
Kestrel
Little Grebe
Sparrowhawk
(John Isherwood)

2011
Priorslee Lake
4 Yellow legged Gulls
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
36 Pochard
85 Tufted Ducks
4 Lapwings over 
c.200 Starlings roosted at W end 
53 Wood Pigeons
249 Fieldfare
14 Redwings
7 Siskins
1 Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Little Grebes
17 Pochard
57 Tufted Ducks
1 drake Ruddy Duck
c.170 Golden Plover
1175 Wood Pigeons
1 Kingfisher
16 Pied Wagtails
22 Wrens
10 Dunnocks
27 Robins
22 Blackbirds
298 Fieldfares
8 Song Thrushes
24 Redwings
1 Mistle Thrush
69 Starlings
12 Chaffinches
33 Greenfinches
11 Goldfinches
1 Redpoll
5 Bullfinches
9 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
Adult Arctic Tern
172 Redwing
9 Pochard
47 Tufted Duck
Siskin
Redpolls
7 Reed Buntings
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)