12.0°C > 14.0°C: Started with low cloud and very light rain. Cloud gradually lifted with a few breaks, though still mainly cloudy. Moderate / fresh W wind. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 04:59 BST
The wind had not abated as much as forecast.
Priorslee Lake:
(91st visit of the year)
An most unexpected new species for my 2020 lake list:
#88 Barn Owl
Bird of the day and of the year (so far!). My first Barn Owl at the lake for at least 20 years. Another was seen on several mornings along Woodhouse Lane over 10 years ago. Today’s bird was hunting over the SW grass. As soon as it noticed me it made its way to leave towards the M54. Likely a male as it seemed very pale beneath but I have not seen that many Barn Owls of the race that occurs in the UK to be certain. No chance of a photograph on such an overcast early morning
Whether I was hearing things or not about ten minutes later I thought I heard a distant Tawny Owl giving its wavering call. But it was the other side of the M54 and soon drowned by traffic noise.
Other bird notes:
- The Mute Swans seem to have lost one of their cygnets. I noticed them yesterday passing very close to the sluice entrance and while very little water is passing at the moment there is form for cygnets to be swept over the sluice.
- The drake Gadwall was where it mostly is to be found off the SW grass. As usual it was being harassed by the Coots if it got to close. I then noticed it had been joined by a duck. No sign of any juveniles. Later I could not see the duck: the drake was still in the same area.
- The Tufted Duck confused. A pair seemed to be leaving the lake c.04:55 though I did not actually see them lift off the water. A pair then ‘appeared’ in front of me at 05:15 before leaving soon after. A pair was present at 07:10, apparently for a short while. Three pairs? Same birds?
- Exactly how many Swifts there were today is hard to say. A screaming party of eight was over at 05:05 but seemed to pass through. A group of ten was high over with a local Common Buzzard at 05:15. A pair raced through with three Sand Martins and two Barn Swallows at 05:40. After 07:30 there were at least 30 together with at least 40 House Martins and a few Barn Swallows.
- I should not have made the remark, only yesterday, about the House Sparrows having left. I noted a male taking food in to a dense area of scrub along the S side today.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 4 Canada Geese (two pairs outbound)
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: first year
- 1 Stock Dove again
- 1 Wood Pigeon only again
- 55 Jackdaws
- [no Rooks]
Birds noted on the ‘football’ field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded]:
- 3 Starlings
Birds noted on the academy playing field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded here too]:
None
Count of hirundines etc logged:
- >50 Swifts (see notes)
- 3 Sand Martins
- >5 Barn Swallows
- >40 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 10 (8) Chiffchaffs
- 17 (15) Blackcaps
- 3 (3) Garden Warblers
- 1 (1) Lesser Whitethroat
singing briefly and early.
- 6 (3) Common Whitethroats
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
this bird along the N side. None of the previous records this year has been here.
- 7 (6) Reed Warblers
not much song today.
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans: one cygnet missing
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 8 (7♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Duck (see notes)
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens once more
- 19 + 10 (4 broods) Coots
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: two (near) adults, one second year, all briefly, as yesterday
- 1 Herring Gull: second year, also briefly
On / around the street lights:
Nothing
Insects / other things etc noted later:
Damselflies
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
Butterflies / moths
- Common Roller micro moth (Ancylis badiana)
- Silver-ground Carpet moth (Xanthorhoe montanata)
Bees
None
Hoverflies
- Cheilosia albitarsus agg.
- different Cheilosia sp.
Other things
- female (Common) Earwig (Forficula auricularia)
- Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina)
- Common Green Capsid bug (Lygocoris pabulinus)
- The plant bug Miris striatus (sometimes called Fine Streaked Bugkin)
- Red-and-Black Froghoppers (Cercopis vulnerata)
- many Mystacides longicornis caddis flies
- Tipula oleracea craneflies
- Snipe fly Chrysopilus cristatus
- A Muscid fly Phaonia subventa
- Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis). >25 this morning
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): both var. succinea; and var. spectabilis: the former seen mating
- Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis)
- A green weevil sp., perhaps Phyllobius glaucus
- Common Stretch-spider (Tetragnatha extensa)
Additional plant species recorded for the year at this site:
- Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor)
- White Clover (Trifolium repens)
As it flies off note also the faded secondary coverts.
A Song Thrush preparing to go. The pale tips to the wing coverts mean this is a juvenile of the year.
This juvenile Chiffchaff was flitting about calling, apparently able to feed itself. Here and then gone ...
Looking all around.
This is a female – on a male the head is greyer and the iris more contrasting .....
... as here.
Note how the upper mandible is slightly hooked at the very tip.
“Are you looking at me?” In best ‘angry bird’ pose
A male Reed Bunting. A very different bill on this omnivore – not just insects but seeds as well.
Clinging to a thin grass stem was this macro moth Common Roller (Ancylis badiana)
Unusually when it flew it landed on a leaf and allowed very close approach.
Amazing what you find in buttercups – a female (Common) Earwig (Forficula auricularia)
A pair of Tipula oleracea craneflies, the female at the top with the pointed abdomen.
And with these two of the form succinea mating seems we will have plenty of them next year.
Would you believe a Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis)?
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash:
(78th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- The cob Mute Swan is still ignoring his parental duties and spending much time making sure the Canada Geese goslings don’t get anywhere near the water.
- Just a lone Mallard duckling seen.
- Four days since I last saw the Nuthatches at their nest hole. I guess the young have fledged.
- Tree Creepers heard but not seen.
- Pied Wagtail seen on the island.
- Reed Bunting heard in song again. Always briefly and I could not locate the source – whichever way I moved it seemed to sound further away!
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Jackdaw
Hirundines etc logged:
- 12 Swifts again
- 8 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 3 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (4) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Reed Warbler
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 8 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 31 + 3 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 21 (15♂) + 1 (1 brood) Mallard
- 14 (8♂) Tufted Duck again
- 2 Great Crested Grebes still
- 2 Moorhens
- 18 + >8 (>4 broods) Coots
Also noted:
- The caddis fly Mystacides longicornis on a lamp pole.
- 1 Grey Squirrel
The spider that own the web on this lamp post seems unlikely to go hungry.
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the lake and The Flash:
Noteworthy
- Moorhens heard at both pools again
- 5 Starlings ‘escorting’ a passing male Sparrowhawk – as they do.
- A party of Long-tailed Tits including short-tailed recently-fledged juveniles at the upper pool.
- 1 Blackcap singing at the upper pool.
- My first spotty juvenile Robin of the year on the footpath.
- At least two juvenile Goldfinches with the Long-tailed Tits at the upper pool.
Another gloomy light picture – my first spotty juvenile Robin of the year.
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day..........
2019Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
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
2007
Priorslee Lake
Cuckoo
(Ed Wilson)