8 May 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 14.0°C: Broken high cloud to start. Area of medium / low cloud spread over. Flat calm and humid. Good visibility: hazy again.

Sunrise: 05:23 BST

Two unusual sightings for this date
- An Oystercatcher flew W over the lake, typically, calling loudly.
- A drake Shoveler was tucked up against the island at The Flash
Both new species for the year at their respective locations.

Priorslee Lake: early

(75th visit of the year)

As highlighted a new species for my 2020 lake list:
#86 Oystercatcher

Bird notes:
- A pair of Tufted Ducks throughout. A single drake was flying around very low at one stage but I could not be certain it was a different bird.
- Tight party of 13 presumed Racing Pigeons. Would this be classed as an ‘essential activity’?
- The rather unhappy-looking Feral Pigeon was again on the roof of the academy.
- At least four Common Whitethroats displaying around the lake. Another can be heard from across Castle Farm Way. This morning I heard another, briefly, apparently from the small still undeveloped area the old Celestica site.
- Perhaps an eighth Reed Warbler today. Not 100% sure how mobile one of the birds still is.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 6 Canada Geese (pair outbound; two pairs inbound)
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck (see notes)
- 1 Oystercatcher
- 20 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: 19 (near) adults; one first-year.
- 1 Herring Gull: first year
- 13 Feral / Racing Pigeons
- 3 Stock Doves
- 18 Wood Pigeons
- 10 Jackdaws
- 5 Rooks

Birds noted on the academy playing field:
- 1 female Pheasant: hoppitity
the Starlings (22 of them) had once more decamped to the ‘football’ field
I suspect the change of behaviour followed the cutting of the grass on the playing field

Count of hirundines etc logged:
- 2 Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows again
- 1 House Martin yet again

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 14 (13) Chiffchaffs
- 24 (20) Blackcaps
- 3 (1) Garden Warblers
- 6 (6) Common Whitethroats (see notes)
- 7? (7?) Reed Warblers (see notes)

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 11 (9♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron briefly
- 1 Little Grebe seen; another heard
- 3 Great Crested Grebes again
- 3 Moorhens
- 14 Coots only
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: five (near) adults all present individually.

On / around the street lights:
- 2 spiders of two species.

Insects etc noted:
- Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata)
- many small unidentified glass snails

Also noted
- 1 Grey Squirrel

New flower species recorded for the year at this site:
None

The colour had already started to fade as I scampered to the water’s edge for this sunrise shot.

A different perspective.

Later an almost stormy-looking sky.

Certainly will not win prizes. It was still early. A record shot of the Oystercatcher over. A strange date for this species – late March / early April is when this species is most likely to drop in as it looks for nesting sites.

An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull displaying many of its features. Wing-tips darker than the inner wing and mantle; contrasting all-white tail; wide white trailing edge to the secondaries, narrower across the inner primaries; a small white mirror in the outer primary only. The red spot on the lower mandible is just out of sight. We can see that the upper mandible has no black mark.

A Blue Tit thinks it might be an idea to become a Reed Warbler.

A Great Tit almost falls off while also attempting to emulate a Reed Warbler.

I have no idea why Blackcaps are so obvious this year. Perhaps because there are so many of them. When I first started birding I struggled to see these birds, having to content with hearing their song. That said I have only seen one female this year – they have brown caps.

Singing this way and that.

For the first time this year one of the Reed Warblers was visible whilst singing. They are not much to look at – brown on the back, buff underneath – so their attraction for the females is their song from “des. res.” deep in the reeds.

He stayed around a while. This species is much easier to photograph when the young are being fed and later exploring their surroundings.

You would think such a distinctively-marked crane-fly would be easy to identify. You would think .... This female (the pointed abdomen) may be a Tipula scripta. The markings on the wing are a good match. However the photos on the web show a brown body, not grey as here. There are of course “lots to chose from” and no comprehensive guide on-line.

Glass snail #1.

Glass snail #2.

Glass snail #3. Another large group with limited information available. Easier when “somebody is at home” to help start the identification. Some idea of their small size can be gauged from part of my hand as the backdrop.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:

(63rd visit of the year)

As highlighted a new species for my 2020 Flash list:
#65 Shoveler

Other bird notes:
- The cygnets were still being brooded when I left. Seems I was not the only one burning pixels on these yesterday. The Priorslee Facebook site was apparently humming all day.
- Just two of the drake Mallard were ‘roof-sitting’.
- Two Great Crested Grebes seen on the water and possibly alongside different nest sites. One bird seen on a nest later could have been one of these.
- No Song Thrush heard today.
- Garden Warbler singing from its usual location.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 2 Wood Pigeons

Hirundines etc logged:
- 6 Swifts
- 1 House Martin

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 3 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 7 (7) Blackcaps again
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler

Counts from the water:
- 3 + ? (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 14 Canada Geese
- 22 (16♂) + 2 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Shoveler
- 7 (3♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 or 3 Great Crested Grebes (see notes)
- 2 Moorhen
- 15 + >1 (1 brood) Coots

Also noted
- 1 Grey Squirrel
- 3 large Common Carp spawning.

Dreadful record shot of a distant drake Shoveler. A very unusual date to see this species away from breeding areas. There is only a tiny breeding population in our area. The WMBC bird reserve at Belvide got SSSI status because this species breeds there some years.

Here we have 3 large Common Carp spawning in the margins

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhen(s) on the lower pool
- Moorhen(s) heard on the upper pool
- 1(1) Chiffchaff by the lower pool: likely a bird that had flown across Priorslee Avenue for a while.
- 1 (1) Blackcap near the upper pool still

(Ed Wilson)

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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..........
2019
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

 2010
Priorslee Lake
1 Wheatear
1 Common Sandpiper
(John Isherwood)

 Nedge Hill
6 Wheatear
(John Isherwood)

 2008
Priorslee Lake
Spotted Flycatcher
5 Black Terns
(Ed Wilson)

 Nedge Hill
2 Wheatears
3 Ravens
(Ed Wilson)

 2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)