6 Nov 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  06:05 –09:25
The Flash:  09:30 – 10:15

4.0°C > 5.0°C:  Medium level overcast apart from clear to very far E at first. Spits c.06:00 and then intermittent rain after 09:45. Calm / very light SE wind. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:15 GMT

Priorslee Lake:  06:05 –09:25

(264th visit of the year)

The football field has now acquired goal posts and the markings have been redone.

Another morning with some early migration which soon faded away.

Bird notes:
- Only four cygnets active and flying today - 7JSI, 7JSL, 7JSN and 7JSP. Another cygnet, presumably 7JSJ, was tucked in to the N side reeds and was not moving around much – perhaps unwell?
- At first all the Lesser Black-backed Gulls were flying in skeins S (though a few dropped in for a while). Later on this species was mainly flying N – the same birds returning? and if so where from?
- What seemed to be the same first-winter Caspian Gull was present yet again and allowed some more photos today.
- There was also what was probably an adult Yellow-legged Gull-type for a while.
- Rather few migrants groups of Wood Pigeons again. I logged 40 more (included in the overall count) headed W, all singles or twos and threes, flying rather higher than usual. This sometimes means they can see distant migrant flocks and are rushing to join in. If that was the case today then the distant flocks were too far for me to see.
- One Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over going E very high – I suppose it could have come from around the Ricoh copse. Another bounded out lower down heading towards the NE trees and yet another was calling at the W end.
- I did not see (or hear) any large parties of Jackdaws.
- A big group of >30 Goldfinches at the W end. At least one Siskin heard with them. The flock was too flighty to check them all out.
- At least three Reed Buntings were calling from the roost area. Once the Starlings left the roost I did not hear them again. Perhaps they flew off while I was distracted with the Starlings.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 147 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 111 Wood Pigeons: of these 62 in three migrant groups
- 1 Collared Dove
- 42 Jackdaws
- 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker (see notes)
- 77 Fieldfares (5 groups)
- 10 Redwings (4 singles / small groups)
- >9 Pied Wagtails again
- 1 Linnet

Birds logged leaving roosts around the lake:
- c.60 Starlings
- 6 Redwings
- ? Reed Buntings (see notes)

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans (see notes)
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall still
- 13 (9♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Pochard
- 26 (15?♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Cormorant
- 2 Grey Herons
- 1 Little Grebe
- 9 Great Crested Grebes
- 8 Moorhens still
- 132 Coots
- c.115 Black-headed Gulls
- 39 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls: all first winter birds
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull: adult
- 1 Caspian Gull: first winter bird

Lamp poles pre-dawn revealed:
- 1 Red-green Carpet moth (Chloroclysta siterata): same place as yesterday
- 5 November Moth-types (Epirrita sp.)
- 3 Mottled Umber moths (Erranis defoliaria) again – two at least different from yesterday
- 1 Hawthorn Shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)
- 1 Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)

No later sightings.

A sliver of sky clear of cloud to the far E allowed a brief flaring of colour ahead of the sun rise.

The adult Mute Swans and their four active cynget – not very active here as they bathe in the early light.

Most of the Pochards have left since yesterday – perhaps they don’t like fireworks? The duck stayed behind. Note the white area on the bill behind the black tip. This confirms it is a duck rather than an immature.

And has a preen. Note how the angle of light affects the look of the pale area around the eye.

I can confidently say the proper collective noun for gulls is a ‘confusion of gulls’. Here is another that I was not 100% sure about. The mantle colour is too dark for Herring Gull and too pale for Lesser Black-backed Gull. This and the very clean and unmarked head point to Yellow-legged Gull. But how about Caspian Gull? The bill tone and very small white tip to the folded wing also favour Yellow-legged Gull. This identification has been confirmed by feedback from other gull-watchers.

Compare the mantle tone of the Yellow-legged Gull with a regular Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Less clear in this shot but the Black-headed Gull behind is clearly paler on the mantle than either of the others. A ‘standard’ Herring Gull (there is such a thing?) would be the same tone as the Black-headed Gull.

If you think adult gulls can be a challenge then how about these immatures? The back bird is not too hard to identify as a first-winter Herring Gull. The other? It has more adult plumage on the mantle suggesting this is a second year bird, yet the bill is almost all-black. It also has a very obvious white head.

We will not get a much better look at this bird than here. The brown iris also suggests a second year bird. Again feedback from those other gull-watchers confirms this is indeed a second year bird – and ‘just’ a Herring Gull with a paler than usual head for this age.

Safer ground. Here a first-winter Herring Gull shows it size relative to an adult winter Black-headed Gull.

And here is a different first-winter Herring Gull showing the rather diffuse edge to the tail band and the relative lack of contrast between that band and the upper tail. Another adult winter Black-headed Gull gets in the picture.

“Black cat in coal cellar”. This bird was on the path at the W end while I was checking the lamps at 06:15. Too dark for my eyes but the camera flash provided just enough light for photo editor to reveal the yellow bill of a male Blackbird.

This Mottled Umber moth (Erranis defoliaria) is sitting at a rather unusual angle, exposing one of its underwings.

The Hawthorn Shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  09:30 – 10:15

(250th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- A drake Pochard new in. A refugee from the lake?
- One of the many drake Goosanders flew in

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Black-headed Gull
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans
- 2 Greylag Geese (flew off)
- 2 Canada Geese
- 29 (17♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Pochard
- 27 (7♂) Tufted Duck
- 14 (10♂) Goosander
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Great Crested Grebe again
- 4 Moorhens yet again
- 13 Coots again
- 26 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Kingfisher again

Other things:
- on lamp poles in squirrel alley:
        1 Hawthorn Shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)
        1 spider sp., likely either Zygiella x-notata or Z. atrica
- nothing elsewhere

In squirrel alley this spider was on one of the lamp poles. It seems to be either Zygiella x-notata or Z. atrica – needs experts to examine the genitalia to separate these species.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
4 Wigeon 
4 Gadwall 
1 Teal 
1 Pochard 
64 Tufted Duck 
21 Moorhens 
235 Coots
5 Song Thrush 
19 Fieldfare
18 Redwings 
439 Jackdaws
89 Rooks 
1 Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
c.110 Greylag Geese
2 Gadwall 
7 Pochard 
32 Tufted Ducks 
4 Moorhens 
145 Coots 
1 Great Black-backed Gull
c.1650 Wood Pigeons
51 Redwings
302 Fieldfares 
c.375 Jackdaws
c.100 Rooks
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
5 Pochard
40 Tufted Duck 
18 Stock Doves
3800+ Wood Pigeons
6 Sky Larks
1 Meadow Pipit
238 Fieldfare
19 Redwings
91 Starlings
3 Siskins
11 Linnets
1 Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
2 Yellow Legged Gull
2 Wigeon
(John Isherwood)

The Flash
1 Yellow Legged Gull
2 Goosander
(John Isherwood)

2008
Priorslee Lake
26 Greylag Geese
Gadwall
5 Shoveler
3 Pochard
79 Tufted Duck
1 Lapwing
Snipe
2 Herring Gulls
1 Yellow-legged Gull
16 Redwings
3 Fieldfares
9 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock Pool
4 Cormorants
3 Shoveler
3 Pochard
27 Tufted Duck
149 Coot 
1 Yellow-legged Gull
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
30 Pochard
111 Tufted Ducks
1 drake Ruddy Duck
47 Coots
c.562 Black-headed Gulls
63 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
89 Wood Pigeons
22 Pied Wagtails
20 Wrens
12 Dunnocks
27 Robins
31 Blackbirds
5 Song Thrushes
22 Redwings
16 Magpies
111 Jackdaws
68 Rooks
86 Greenfinches
7 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)