4 Sep 20

Priorslee Lake The Flash

12.0°C > 15.0°C: Initially clear to E and N. After sunrise medium-high overcast. Calm start with light WSW breeze later. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:26 BST

* = a photo today.

Priorslee Lake: 05:00 – 06:45 // 07:50 – 09:32

(182nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:

- Again two Greylag and ten Canada Geese stopped off whilst inbound.

- Seems I was mistaken on Wednesday: the pair of Great Crested Grebes in the SE are still present with their single juvenile.

- A Peregrine flew high W at 07:50.

- Only four Black-headed Gulls came in early (06:10). I assume most went straight to the football and academy fields. Later a better than recent number of birds on the water and the boating platforms – 104 counted.

- No early passage of Lesser Black-backed Gulls with just five seen, four of which stopped off at the lake briefly. After 09:00 a party of 18 large gulls flew S with six Lesser Black-backed, one apparent Yellow-legged Gull and two Herring Gulls peeling off to come in for a drink and bathe.

Birds noted flying over / near here:

- 10 Canada Geese (two groups outbound)
- 1 Common Buzzard
- *1 Peregrine
- 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Stock Doves
- 31 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Jackdaws
- 2 Pied Wagtails

Hirundines etc. logged:

- 3 Barn Swallows
- c.65 House Martins: presumed same group as seen from The Flash.

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):

- 11 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (0) Blackcap

Counts from the lake area:

- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 2 Greylag Geese: arrived
- 10 Canada Geese: arrived
- 18 (?♂) Mallard: one departed
- 1 Cormorant: arrived
- 2 Grey Herons: arrived and departed separately
- 17+ 7 (5 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Moorhens
- 81 Coots
- 104 Black-headed Gulls
- 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all briefly; at least three immatures; not all ages determined
- 1 presumed Yellow-legged Gull: first-winter
- 2 Herring Gulls: first-winters, briefly
- 1 Kingfisher

Birds on the football and academy playing fields c.06:35:

- 62 Black-headed Gulls on the football field.
- 146 Black-headed Gulls on the academy playing field.
possibly some double-counting here as birds were being flushed off the football field by dog-walkers as I was counting those on the academy playing field.

Also here

- 1 Common Buzzard on the academy playing field.

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

Moth:

- 1 Square-spot Rustic (Xestia xanthographa)

Other things:

- 1 male Chironomus plumosus (plumed midge)
- >6 Common Wasps (Paravespula vulgaris): on 4 different lamp poles today – hitherto they have all been at the same lamp.
- 1 Orb-web spider, presumed Larinioides sclopetarius

Insects / other things etc. noted later:

Overcast again:

- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- Giant Puffballs (Calvatia gigantea) fungus
- another fungus, perhaps a species of Hygrocybe
- 8 Pipistrelle-type bats
- 1 Grey Squirrel

Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:

None

Another good sunrise. Clear skies to N and E but soon clouded from the W.

The two adult Mute Swans and their five cygnets show little interest in the sunrise.

Not spectacularly colourful but enhanced by the cloud patterns.

The long view.

The swans eventually woke up.

A record shot of the Peregrine that flew over very high – this is enlarged from the 60x magnification from the camera! Note the bulky-looking body and broad wings held in typical falcon shape.

It is time to start the annual gull-puzzle. This juvenile / immature gull certainly shows pale inner webs on the inner primaries. The head seems quite pale with a smudge around the eye.

All the wing coverts look very dark which would make it a Lesser Black-backed Gull. However I cannot find any photo of that species with such pale-looking inner primaries and I think it has to be a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull.

Another puzzle. As these first-winter birds arrived and I could see their spread wings it looked like two Lesser Black-backed Gulls and two Herring Gulls. Here I cannot see any meaningful difference between them. None of the folded tertials looks notched-enough to be a Herring Gull. Need a better camera (or eye-sight – or both)

About time for another view of the Orb-web spider that seems to match photos of Larinioides sclopetarius on the web.

I think these are Giant Puffballs (Calvatia gigantea), though they were not especially 'giant'. Someone or something has been having a good chomp.

Not managed to identify these fungus. The red stems suggest that they are one of the Hygrocybe genus of waxcaps, though these do not look waxy. One problem with some fungus is that they can change both shape and colour as they mature and the fruiting bodies we see may be present for only a few days – less for some species. Another problem is that there are over 10000 species in the UK, though very many of those are uncommon.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  06:50 – 07:45

(167th visit of the year)

Best today was the first Meadow Pipit of the Autumn, flying S. An earlier date than usual according to my logs.

Bird notes:

- The geese again arrived at an inconvenient time and I was not able to get an accurate total.

- Certainly five different Greylag x Canada Geese located.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:

- 26 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Jackdaw
- 1 Meadow Pipit

Hirundines etc. logged:

- c.65 House Martins high to the S
Presumed estate birds and the same as seen later over the main lake.

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):

- 4 (0) Chiffchaffs

Counts from the water:

- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- c.200 Greylag Geese: all of these arrived
- 5 Greylag x Canada Geese: all arrived
- c.110 Canada Geese: all but six of these arrived
- 32 (17♂) Mallard
- 24 (3?♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 7 Moorhens
- 57 Coots
- 6 Black-headed Gulls

Nothing found on any of the lamp poles and nothing else of note.

These three Mute Swans seem to have come to a truce for the moment at least.

More aerobatics by arriving Greylag Geese.

It gets crowded at times.

I made an effort to search for and photograph the hybrid Greylag x Canada Geese. Here are the trio that seem to be staying together. I suspect the Greylag on the left is one of their parents. The Canada Goose on the right probably isn't as it was with other Canadas.

This one is distinctly different with a Greylag orange bill with small black tip. It also has a clear white eye-ring.

Is this one the same individual. The tone looks different but that may be a lighting effect.

This one meanwhile has an all-black bill.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

Nothing of note

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day..........
2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's News Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2012
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson/ John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill
2 Hobby's chasing Swallows and martins
1 Common Redstart
2 Meadow Pipits - first autumn birds
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Teal
14 Cormorants
(John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill
Hobby chasing Swallows
1 Wheatear
2 Raven
(John Isherwood)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Little Egret
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
2 Swifts
1 Meadow Pipit - first autumn bird
(Ed Wilson)