21 Sep 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 14.0°C: Yet another start with low cloud, which descended further to make it very misty. Only began to clear after 10:00. Calm start; light and variable breeze later. Good visibility to start, then poor, even very poor until 10:00.

Sunrise: 06:55 BST

* = a photo today.

Priorslee Lake: 05:31 – 09:09

(198th visit of the year)

Bird notes:

- A drake Gadwall heard at the W end pre-dawn. Probably the small duck seen flying off 06:10 when too dark to ID.

- A duck Tufted Duck 'appeared' along the S side after 08:00. Then a drake 'appeared' at the W end c.08:40. Neither seen earlier or later though could have been lost in the mist.

- The visibility was not good but it seemed there were three well-grown but immature Great Crested Grebes in with the rather fewer 'spare' adults. Could perhaps be adults moulting their head plumes?

- The higher Coot total needs to be treated with some caution as with poor visibility I had to do the count 'in bits' and there is the danger of some double-counting.

- 261 Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew SE between 06:31 and 07:00. In the poor visibility as they swirled around it was hard to keep track of them. I would judge at least 175 came in to the lake with the other 80 or so passing over. By 08:00 there were just six Lesser Black-backed Gulls and three immature Herring Gulls, probably left-over. No further arrivals noted.

- The sole singing Chiffchaff gave about three 'chiffs' and then shut up. Very Autumnal feel today.

- 28 Pied Wagtails logged leaving the roost. I changed my vantage point and at least eight of these left to the W, though it is harder to track these as the road noise tends to drown their calls..


Birds noted flying over / near here:

- no geese
- 1 Cormorant again
- c.80 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 17 Wood Pigeons
- 5 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook
- 3 Starlings (one group)
- 28 Pied Wagtails
- 7 Meadow Pipits

Hirundines etc. logged:

None

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):

- 6 (1) Chiffchaffs
- no Blackcaps

Counts from the lake area:

- *2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall: departed (see notes)
- 12 (8♂) Mallard
- *2 (1♂) Tufted Duck (see notes)
- 1 Cormorant: arrived
- 1 Grey Heron: arrived
- *11 + 9 (5+ broods) Great Crested Grebes (see notes)
- 5 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 121 adult and juvenile Coots (see notes)
- >250 Black-headed Gulls
- >175 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (see notes)
- 3 Herring Gulls

Birds on the fields c.07:10:

[Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded]

- 82 Black-headed Gulls on the academy playing fields
- 46 Black-headed Gulls on the football field

On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:

Moths:

None

Other things:

- *3 Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris) again
- 3 Orb-web spiders, presumed Larinioides sclopetarius
- *1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman

Insects / other things etc. noted later: just

- Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus)

Mammals

- 3 Pipistrelle-type bats
- 1 Grey Squirrel

One of the Mute Swan cygnets exercising a wing before the next practice flight. This cygnet, at least, is unringed. One of its siblings preens and another sleeps.

"I'm coming to get you". This drake Tufted Duck looks fierce and as if on the warpath. In fact it was just flying toward me.

Siblings or not? These two juvenile Great Crested Grebes spent some while together though to look at the head-pattern I would judge they are slightly different ages and come from different broods.

Most days pre-dawn the wasps are buzzing around the light fittings and doing battle with the orb-web spiders. This one was apparently asleep. This is a Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris), best identified here by the sizes of the gaps between the three pairs of yellow marks on the thorax being different. Use of the abdomen marks is not always reliable in separating this species from German Wasp (Vespula germanica) and anyway we cannot see the abdomen marks clearly because of the folded wings.

This harvestman is best identified by the basal part of the legs being obviously thicker. Its goes by the name Paroligolophus agrestis.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:12 – 10:28

(182nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:

- Probably more geese inside the island.

- The duck Common Teal first found on Thursday seen again.

- Three single Meadow Pipits over after the cloud cleared.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:

- 1 Grey Wagtail (may have landed locally)
- 3 Meadow Pipits

Hirundines etc. logged:

None

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):

- 1 (1) Chiffchaff

Counts from the water:

- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 44 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose
- *92 Canada Geese
- 1 (0♂) Common Teal
- 39 (22♂) Mallard only
- *63 (>19♂) Tufted Duck
- *1 Grey Heron
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- *10 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 59 adult and juvenile Coots
- 21 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: immature

On various lamp poles:

- 1 Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)
- 2 Dicranopalpus ramosus-type harvestmen

Elsewhere:

Moths

- *>5 Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner (Cameraria ohridella) again

Bees / wasps:

- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) again

Bug:

- *a leafhopper, most likely Ribautiana ulmi

Fungus – as yesterday:

- *Shaggy Inkcap (Coprinus comatus) - aka Lawyer's Wig

Mammal:

- 1 Grey Squirrel

Rather sad but the Canada Goose with the deformed wings seems happy-enough. The Mute Swan has stopped chasing it. Will probably never fly but I am sure it will get its share when people "feed the ducks"

A duck Tufted Duck flaps after preening. At first glance it appears she has an extensive 'tuft'. Not so, a pattern in the water gives that impression. On duck Tufted Duck the tuft is, typically, very short.

Meanwhile this duck Tufted Duck shows how to deal with an itchy nose.

A glum-looking one-legged Grey Heron

It would be a clever trick to spear a passing fish with one leg tucked up.

"I don't think there are any flying fish here".

You would not want to mess with that bill would you.

A juvenile Moorhen dashing along the brickwork at the lake edge in Derwent Drive. Some adult brown-toned body feathers appearing. No red on the bill as yet.

A much better photo of a Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner moth (Cameraria ohridella). The light wind was blowing on the Horse Chestnut leaves and the moths took shelter 'around the corner'. This one ran across and under a leaf but was good enough to sit tight as I folded the leaf back. Apart from it waving its antennae about it is remarkably sharp for such a tiny insect.

This insect may be even smaller than the moth. It is a type of bug known as a leafhopper. It looks to be most likely Ribautiana ulmi though separation of the four UK species in the genus is not too easy. It does not have a vernacular name. Its scientific name is derived from its historically favoured food plant Elm (Ulmus procera) though luckily for it, it feeds on the leaves of other trees as well.

Two days and the Lawyer's Wig has collapsed. Also known as Shaggy Inkcap (Coprinus comatus). A few insects are feasting on the gunge. There are very many fungus gnat species, though these look like flies – I must check next time.

The next fruiting body taking shape.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day

2019

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2017

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2015

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2011

Priorslee Lake

Kingfisher

Common Sandpiper

(Ed Wilson)

2008

Priorslee Lake

Wigeon

Water Rail

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake

Kingfisher

(Ed Wilson)