1.0°C > 8.0°C: Clear and frosty start with mist low over the water. Puffy clouds developing. Keen N breeze increased fresh at rimes. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 05:18 BST
Priorslee Lake:
(78th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- The drake Gadwall remains, doing very little.
- Just a single drake Mallard and that flew in.
- At least 100 hirundines (plus two Swifts) low over the water. Determining the number of each species not easy. Seemed initially that Sand Martins outnumbered Barn Swallows. Later it seemed there were more House Martins than anything else.
- Later still at least 70 hirundines were over the ‘football’ field area (perhaps the same birds and possibly escaping an unseen predator?). c.15 Barn Swallows were at reasonably low-level with >50 martins very, very high up. They were not calling to aid identification but seemed to be mainly Sand Martins. A few minutes later they had all gone.
- Neither the Blackcaps nor the Garden Warblers seemed too disposed to sing. Perhaps the cold wind? Perhaps too busy nesting?
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 2 Canada Geese (pair outbound)
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: three (near) adults; one first year.
- 2 Stock Doves
- 5 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Jackdaw
- no Rooks again
Birds noted on the academy playing field:
- 1 male Pheasant
- 4 Starlings, but these soon flew and were part of ....
... up to 17 Starlings on the ‘football’ field
Count of hirundines etc logged:
See notes
- 2 Swifts
- >30 Sand Martins
- >25 Barn Swallows
- >30 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 10 (10) Chiffchaffs
- 17 (15) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
- 5 (5) Common Whitethroats again
- 7 (7) Reed Warblers again
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall again
- 1 (1♂) Mallard only
- 1 Grey Heron, very briefly
- 1 Little Grebe heard only
- 4 Great Crested Grebes again
- 3 Moorhens again
- 9 Coots
- 1 Common Sandpiper again
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: both (near) adults, briefly, together.
On / around the street lights:
Nothing
Other insects etc. noted:
- 1 Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata)
- 1 Alder Fly (Sialis lutaria)
Plant species recorded for the year at this site:
- Water Mint (Mentha aquatica)
Without shadows across the breast and neck this would be a classic singing male Chaffinch.
A sunny group of Red Campion flowers (Silene dioica)
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the lake and The Flash:
- 1 adult Moorhen on the lower pool: juveniles heard
- 2 adult Moorhens on the upper pool: juveniles heard here too
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash:
(65th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- It has been reported that the cob Mute Swan has killed all the Canada Goose goslings. None was noted by me.
- No Mallard ducklings located.
- Many of the Tufted Duck seen climbing on and off the island again.
- Two broods of Coots again. A well-grown juvenile alongside Derwent Drive, some distance from any nest. At least two off a nest in one of the cut-offs – nest site well obscured by overhanging trees.
- One (near) adult Lesser Black-backed Gull present throughout. When a second arrived they greeted each-other with the ‘long call’ with head thrown back and bills raised to the sky. They then started to ‘dance’ around for a while before separately bathing.
- One of the Blackcaps had me greatly confused. What seemed to be a Song Thrush started singing before tailing off as a Blackcap song. This was repeated several times before the Blackcap repositioned and I realised it was the almost seamless join of two different birds initially sitting very close together. A different location for the Song Thrush from the bird heard at the start of last week.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
None
Hirundines etc logged:
- 1 Barn Swallow
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 6 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 6 (5) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 9 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 4 Greylag Geese: all arrived
- 10 Canada Geese, only
- 24 (10♂) + 0 (no broods) Mallard
- 11 (6♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 3 Moorhens
- 16 + 3 (2 broods) Coots
- 1 Common Sandpiper again
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull: (near) adults
Nothing else of note
Five of the cygnets ‘break cover’ and decline to be brooded by the pen Mute Swan.
Later on the water. But how many? At least seven? Eight?
(Ed Wilson)
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After yesterday's tranquil time on the Flash, today was a different story.
Sorry about the photo quality but this was all happening on the other side of the lake from me. I think the swan attacked a Canada Goose cygnet.
In the first photo you can see the Swan looking down whilst there appears to be a cygnet on the right under an adult goose wing.
The Swan was looking down in a number of the photos and the Canada Goose has reacted by attacking the Swan in the other photos.
(Neil Cruickshank)
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If you are on your daily exercise and keeping a safe distance from others, we would love to see any photos or sightings you have, from Priorslee Lake and The Flash, by emailing them to us at priorsleelake@hotmail.com
We look forward to hearing from you.😊
(Martin Adlam and Ed Wilson)
Note:
Here are a few Garden Sightings from Ed Wilson Here on our Readers Corner from the past few days
And
A few of Martin Adlam's Sightings from the Isle of Portland Here.
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On this day..........
2019Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2014
Local area
Today's Sightings Here
2012
Priorslee Lake
Common Scoter
(Andy Latham)
2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Ducks
(Ed Wilson)