Priorslee Lake and The Flash:
9.0°C > 13.0°C: Clouding from the W after a clear night. Excellent sunrise. Light ran n and off after 07:15. Light S breeze after calm start with mist over water. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 05:35 BST
* = a photo today.
Priorslee Lake: 04:14 – 06:30 // 07:25 – 09:16
(155th visit of the year)
Firstly some welcome comments from Tom Lowe on the Greylag Goose photo from yesterday. My first suggestion was the correct one – a family group, the two smaller being juveniles. As he has commented they show neater fringes to the flight-feathers; also smaller and more rounded scapulars than shown by the adults. He also pointed out that bird #3 is the gander – the biggest with the largest bill. Thanks Tom.
Bird notes:
- Low count of, especially, overflying Canada Geese possibly in part because I decided to photograph the excellent sunrise and was therefore not in a good position to see geese. However as it was a clear moonlight night it is likely that some geese spent the night feeding in the fields, as evidenced by the higher returning counts.
- With the rather poor light I counted the Coots at each end separately arriving at what seems an improbably high total by recent standards. Perhaps some moved between the ends?
- Of the 407 Wood Pigeons logged flying over I noted 131, mainly outbound, before 06:30. After 07:45 I totalled 276, mainly inbound. Of these 177 were in a very loose group c.08:10; and another 63 in a similarly loose group c.08:35.
- Only a single singing Song Thrush now, and that very briefly.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 146 Greylag Geese (45 in 11 groups outbound; 101 also in 11 groups inbound)
- 28 Canada Geese (eight in three groups outbound; 20 in four groups inbound)
- 1 Cormorant again
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Common Buzzard again
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 13 Feral Pigeons (group of 10 and trio)
- 407 Wood Pigeons (see notes)
- 1 Jackdaw
- 1 Rook
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 2 Swallows
- c.10 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 12 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 6 (0) Blackcaps
- no Common Whitethroats
- 5 (0) Reed Warblers
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- *20 (?♂) Mallard again
- *1 Cormorant
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Little Grebe
- *12 + 4 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 67 Coots (see notes)
- *>31 Black-headed Gulls: no juveniles
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: both adults, both briefly
- 1 Kingfisher
Gulls on the football or academy playing fields:
None
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
Moths: (another poor night with a bright moon)
- 1 White Plume (Pterophorus pentadactyla): moth species #78 here in 2020
Other things:
- *1 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- 1 orb-web spider
- 4 Dicranopalpus ramosus-type harvestmen
- *1 possible Mitopus morio harvestman
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
Very little in dull conditions with rain.
The full list of things noted:
Butterflies, Moths, Damsel-/Dragon-flies, or Hoverflies:
None seen of the above
Bees / wasps:
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris): still chewing the fence alongside Teece Drive
Mammals
- 7 Pipistrelle-type bats
- 2 'medium-sized' bats
- 4 Grey Squirrels
Otherwise noted:
- Black-horned Gem (Microchrysa polita): a soldier-fly with a green thorax.
Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:
None
Note
A visiting birdwatcher to a house close to the football field ran a moth trap on the 23rd and 25th of July and noted the following moths on both days (unless otherwise noted)
Wainscot Smudge (Yspolopha scabrella) (25/07 only)
Mother of Pearl (Patania ruralis)
Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi)
Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)
Brimstone (Opisthograptis luteolata)
Common Footman (Eilema lurideola)
Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha)
Common Rustic agg. (Mesapamea secalis agg.) - Lesser Rustic and Common Rustic cannot be separated reliably without genitalia examination
Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.) - Marbled Minor, Rufous Minor and Tawny Marbled Minor cannot be separated reliably without genitalia examination
Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba)
Thanks to Simon Emms for these records
The beginnings of the sunrise with the cloud spilling in from the west.
A thin layer of mist over the water as the colour develops.
From a slightly different viewpoint.
One for cloud enthusiasts.
Two Mallard against the fiery reflection of the sunrise.
A wing-moulting Black-headed Gull against the sunrise.
More food for the young. The other adult Great Crested Grebe and their two juveniles stayed mostly well-hidden in the reeds. For a long while this was the only evidence I had of their continued presence. They did emerge later.
Meanwhile this bird patiently sits. I am not at all sure where its partner is. I never see a visitor with food or to take over brooding duty. The Coot nest behind has now been abandoned – too late for more broods.
The omnipresent Cormorant. I was surprised to see this immature (the white on the belly) with such extensive and bright yellow skin at the base of the bill – and what a vicious-looking bill it is.
Mostly dozing Black-headed Gulls show four different stages of head-moult towards winter plumage. (I could not avoid the intrusive Great Willowherb flowers for fear of waking and flushing the gulls).
Not something I have seen too often – a Lesser Black-backed Gull, here an adult, on a street lamp in Castle Farm Way. Usually the preserve of Black-headed Gulls (and Wood Pigeons, Magpies and Carrion Crows).
Someone else who was none too happy with the rain. A Wood Pigeon – need I say that?
Digging deep after that itch is this Dunnock. The plumage may be 'brown' but it is rather subtle. This species leads a very exciting love-life.
I am rather mystified as to why I keep seeing Common Wasps (Vespula vulgaris) resting on lamp-poles both pre- and post-dawn. Some of them, as here, end up caught in webs. Have they no nest to go to?
This is a distinctly different harvestman from the two species-groups I have been seeing recently. Most of the web-sites concentrate on the body and do not show the leg-lengths at all well. When a long way up a lamp-pole a photo is never going to show the body too clearly. On the basis of the relatively long down-curved palps this is likely Mitopus morio.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 06:35 – 07:20 again
(141st visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Some days there are many Moorhens: other days they are hiding. Today they were mainly hiding.
- The recent new juvenile Coots still being brooded.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Rook
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 4 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 5 (0) Chiffchaffs
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 10 Canada Geese
- 25 (?♂) Mallard
- 22 (5?♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes remain
- 2 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 35 adult and juvenile Coots
- 18 Black-headed Gulls: no juveniles
On various lamp poles:
Moths
- 2 Little Greys (Eudonia lacustrata)
and
- 1 Chironomus plumosus (plumed midge)
- 3 Common Wasps (Vespula vulgaris): one caught in a web
- 1 Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- 3 Dicranopalpus ramosus-type (harvestmen) again
- 4 Leiobunum rotundum-type (harvestmen)
Otherwise
- 2 Grey Squirrels again
One of two Little Grey moths (Eudonia lacustrata) sharing the same lamp pole.
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the lake and The Flash:
Of note
- *as usual Moorhens heard at both pools: immature by the upper pool.
- 1 Blackcap calling at the upper pool.
and
- *1 unidentified small spider on a lamp post.
A Song Thrush doing what they like to do best – rooting about amongst leaves in the darkest recesses.
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day..........
2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Report Here
2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2013
Trench Lock Pool
4 Common Terns
(Dave Tromans)
2012
Priorslee Lake
Green Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)
2011
Priorslee Lake
3 Common Terns
(Ed Wilson)
2008
Priorslee Lake
Black-tailed Godwit
Little Grebe
(Ed Wilson)
2008
Priorslee Lake
Black-tailed Godwit
Little Grebe
(Ed Wilson)