12.0°C > 17.0°C: Clear start. Fogged in until c.08:00. Light variable / no wind. Very poor visibility for a while; then good.
Sunrise: 06:43 BST
* = a photo today.
Last night the Met Office forecast was for early morning fog. The BBC forecast was for clear skies. It was clear when I set off. The first wisps of mist were rolling off the football field as I arrived. Within 15 minutes there was a blanket of fog everywhere apart from under the trees. Thinned somewhat after 07:00 with the sun breaking through at 08:00.
Priorslee Lake: 05:17 – 09:29
(192nd visit of the year)
Some numbers affected by the fog.
Seems I omitted to note that the Lesser Redpoll I recorded flying over on 26th August was, unexpectedly, new for the year here and therefore bird species #99. That makes the Spotted Flycatcher seen on Saturday #100.
Bird notes:
- Eight Tufted Ducks early when too misty to reliably sex / age. Three seen flying off W but only four (two drakes) noted later.
- No early flight of Lesser Black-backed Gulls going SE. Lost in the fog if they did.
- Blackcaps seem to staying around in some number later than usual.
- I logged my first Greenfinches since 23rd August. They seemed to disappear after breeding.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 13 Canada Geese (single group outbound)
- 11 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Stock Doves (singles)
- 28 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Jackdaws: other(s) heard
- 10 Starlings (two groups)
- 3 Pied Wagtails
- 3 Meadow Pipits
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 9 Barn Swallows: two family parties S
- 6 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 10 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 5 (0) Blackcaps
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 3 Canada Geese: not sure when they arrived; departed separately.
- 18 (12♂) Mallard
- 8 (4?♂) Tufted Duck; four departed
- 4 Cormorants: arrived
- 2 Grey Herons
- 15 + 7 (5 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 8 adult and juvenile Moorhens again
- 76 adult and juvenile Coots
- 66 Black-headed Gulls
- 40 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Kingfisher
Birds on the football and academy playing fields c.06:50:
[Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded]
** what fields? lost in fog
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
Moths:
- 2 unidentified in flight only
Other things:
- 5 Common Wasps (Vespula vulgaris)
- 1 Orb-web spider, presumed Larinioides sclopetarius
- 1 other unidentified spider sp,
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
Butterflies / moths:
- 5 Common Wasps (Vespula vulgaris)
- 1 Orb-web spider, presumed Larinioides sclopetarius
- 1 other unidentified spider sp,
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
Butterflies / moths:
None
Bees / wasps:
- bumble bees in flight only
- Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)
Bees / wasps:
- bumble bees in flight only
- Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)
Hoverflies:
- Common Drone-fly (Eristalis tenax)
- Common Drone-fly (Eristalis tenax)
Dragonflies:
- Hawker sp. (not Brown Hawker) again
Others:
- Common European Earwig (Forficula auricularia)
- Hawker sp. (not Brown Hawker) again
Others:
- Common European Earwig (Forficula auricularia)
Mammals
- 5 Pipistrelle-type bats
Two drake Tufted Ducks now well in to adult plumage. Just a few greyer feathers remain in the flank of the closer bird
Still much juvenile down on this youngest juvenile Great Crested Grebe. Looks rather soggy so it seems it has begun diving.
A surprisingly difficult species to photograph. This was the last in a line of five Magpies and enabled me to get my act together before it was in to the middle distance.
Rather against the light making the detail hard to discern. A Wren is attacking whatever is in the dead head of Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium). Probably spiders as many of the heads were wrapped in small webs. I doubt the Wren is after seeds.
Now it has a go from the top.
Its Autumn. Not entirely sure what drug the spider involved had been taking,
(Ed Wilson)
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(176th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- I hope the Mute Swan cygnets were hiding deep inside the island....
- Higher proportion of drake Tufted Ducks likely due both to better light to view them and their gradual acquisition of breeding plumage
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 7 Feral Pigeons (one group)
- 2 Wood Pigeons
- 6 Meadow Pipits
- 1 Siskin
- 1 Lesser Redpoll
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 3 Barn Swallows
- 2 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 5 (2) Chiffchaffs
Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans: cygnets not located
- 6 Greylag Geese
- 28 Canada Geese
- 27 (15♂) Mallard
- 42 (14?♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 11 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 64 adult and juvenile Coots only
- 9 Black-headed Gulls
On various lamp poles:
- 1 Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus-type harvestman
Elsewhere:
Butterflies:
- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
Bees / wasps:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day..........