11.0°C > 13.0°C: Started promisingly with broken medium-level cloud, but soon became overcast once more. Very light SW wind. Good visibility.
Sunrise: 06:30 BST
* = a photo today.
Priorslee Lake: 05:02 – 06:55 // 08:05 – 09:29
(184th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- The early families of Great Crested Grebes are now ranging widely around the lake and the juvenile tend to be doing their own thing making finding and totalling them a challenge. I suspect that some of the 'spare' adults may have left. All the juveniles are probably still present though I could not definitively locate them all.
- Four Cormorants arrived together. Two soon left, separately. One then arrived / returned.
- I was inside cover when one or more Ravens called and it / they went unseen.
- My latest-ever record of Reed Warbler here.
- Big group of House Martins again. All the birds from the estate gathering before they depart. One of the residents told me it is always the 24th or 25th September when they leave. Near my home in Newport there are recently fledged juveniles calling to be fed so they will need to grow up quickly.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 91 Greylag Geese (all outbound in five groups)
- 14 Canada Geese (11 outbound in two groups; a trio inbound)
- 42 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 22 Racing Pigeons (one group)
- 2 Stock Doves (duo)
- 23 Wood Pigeons
- 6 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook
- Raven heard
- 1 Grey Wagtail
- 1 Pied Wagtail
Hirundines etc. logged:
- c.75 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 8 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (0) Blackcaps
- 1 (0) Reed Warbler
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 13 (8♂) Mallard
- 4 or 5 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 Little Grebes
- 11 + 5 (5 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 6 Moorhens
- 84 Coots
- 18 Black-headed Gulls
- *4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all briefly; one immature
- 1 Kingfisher
Birds on the football and academy playing fields c.06:40:
[Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded]
- 35 Black-headed Gulls on the football field.
- 47 Black-headed Gulls on the academy playing field.
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
Moth:
- *1 Common Roller (Ancylis badiana)
Other things:
- 1 male Chironomus plumosus (plumed midge)
- 1 mosquito-type
- 6 Common Wasps (Paravespula vulgaris)
- *1 unidentified ichneumon
- 1 stretch-spider (Tetragnatha sp.)
- *4 Orb-web spiders, presumed Larinioides sclopetarius
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
Very dull: not even a wasp later and the only things noted were
- Mystacides longicornis caddis flies dancing over the water's edge vegetation
Mammals
- 1 male Chironomus plumosus (plumed midge)
- 1 mosquito-type
- 6 Common Wasps (Paravespula vulgaris)
- *1 unidentified ichneumon
- 1 stretch-spider (Tetragnatha sp.)
- *4 Orb-web spiders, presumed Larinioides sclopetarius
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
Very dull: not even a wasp later and the only things noted were
- Mystacides longicornis caddis flies dancing over the water's edge vegetation
Mammals
- no Pipistrelle-type bats: why?
- 1 Grey Squirrel
- 1 dog Fox heard barking
New flowering plant species recorded:
- 1 Grey Squirrel
- 1 dog Fox heard barking
New flowering plant species recorded:
None
A promising start before the cloud rolled in.
As good as it got.
As my mother would have said "the man in the moon has a tooth-ache".
Not going to get anywhere with identifying this small ichneumon wasp.
Chomp! One of the presumed Larinioides sclopetarius orb-web spiders takes breakfast.
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(168th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Almost all the geese arrived whilst I was unsighted chasing a party of Long-tailed Tits. The totals represent those visible when I regained sight of the water and likely miss some that had disappeared inside the island.
- The single recent juvenile Coot was seen again. Another bird is now resitting.
- A single House Martin from the E of the area. All the c.30 others were high and distant to the S, likely birds from the estate that were seen over the lake later.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 8 Wood Pigeons
Hirundines etc. logged:
- c.30 House Martins, mainly to far S
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 2 (1) Chiffchaffs
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 164 Greylag Geese
- 5 Greylag x Canada Geese
- 128 Canada Geese
- 41 (25♂) Mallard
- 32 (7♂?) Tufted Duck
- *1 Grey Heron: flew off
- 3 Great Crested Grebes again
- 9 Moorhens
- 48 Coots
- 2 Black-headed Gulls
On a single lamp pole:
- 7 Common Wasps (Paravespula vulgaris)
Otherwise
- 2 Grey Squirrels
- 2 Grey Squirrels
The black form of Grey Heron – joke.
One of the Long-tailed Tits from a large and mobile party.
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of note
- 1 Chiffchaff singing near the upper pool.
(Ed Wilson)
- 1 Chiffchaff singing near the upper pool.
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On this day..........