8.0°C > 11.0°C: Another clear start giving way to cloud and some very light rain before clearing again. Light W / NW wind. Good visibility.
Sunrise: 07:29 BST
* = a photo today.
Priorslee Lake: 06:02 – 09:42
(217th visit of the year)
One that got away this morning. At 06:35 a shape flew past me which I suspect might have been a Woodcock heading toward a traditional roost site.
Bird notes:
- Three Little Grebes seen rather distantly. Seemed to be an adult and two full-grown juveniles mostly moulted in to winter plumage.
- I counted just 171 Lesser Black-backed Gulls arriving between 06:51 and 07:10
- After 08:30 22 Lesser Black-backs with, two Herring Gulls and one (near adult?) Yellow-legged Gull arrived.
- Again a few of the early Lesser Black-backed Gulls seemed to fly over
- The passage Skylarks were again flying higher than in some previous year and I struggled to locate them (as I did at The Flash later). Probably more than the calling birds I noted.
- The Cetti's Warbler sang twice pre-dawn, back in the NW corner. Nothing heard later.
- Both male and female Blackcaps along the S side still.
- A Redwing heard pre-dawn: unclear whether it was a fly-over or whether I flushed it from a roost.
- Four Reed Buntings flew out of the W end roost.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 1 Greylag Goose (single inbound)
- 12 Canada Geese (one group outbound)
- 10 Cormorants (single and group of nine)
- ?? Lesser Black-backed Gulls (see notes)
- 14 Wood Pigeons only
- 317 Jackdaws (amazingly just one more than yesterday)
- 34 Rooks only
- >7 Skylarks
- >28 Pied Wagtails
- 1 Meadow Pipit
- 1 Siskin
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 1 (0) Chiffchaff
- 2 (0) Blackcaps (see highlights)
Counts from the lake area:
- 3 + 5 Mute Swans
- 13 (?♂) Mallard: most flew off pre-dawn
- 18 (>2♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Grey Heron
- 3 Little Grebes
- 16 Great Crested Grebes
- 7 Moorhens
- 146 Coots
- >75 Black-headed Gulls
- >190 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (see notes)
- 2 Herring Gulls again but first-winter and adult birds today
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull again
- 1 Kingfisher
Playing fields.
Not visited
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
- 1 Tetragnatha stretch spider sp.
- 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman
Noted later:
- Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
- Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- Fox
The best I could do with an uninspiring sunrise and clouds tumbled in from the West.
A water-skiing adult Mute Swan.
A silhouetted trio of Tufted Duck. They seemed rather jumpy this morning.
(Ed Wilson)
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(202nd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- A few of the Tufted Duck flew in. Probably from the main lake when the sailing boats were launched.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Common Buzzard again
- 3 Jackdaws
- 2 Skylarks at least: see note under Priorslee Lake above
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 29 Canada Geese
- 43 (24♂) Mallard
- 79 (>24♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 brownhead Goosanders: flew off
- 2 Great Crested Grebes only
- 9 Moorhens
- 32 Coots yet again
- 43 Black-headed Gulls
Nothing on any lamp pole:
On / around the Ivy:
- Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
- Comma (Polygonia c-album)
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris): by far the dominant species.
- Plain-faced Dronefly (Eristalis arbustorum)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
Drinking at the Ivy nectar is a splendid Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album)
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day
2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
2011
Priorslee Lake
14 Redwing
(Ed Wilson)
2010
Priorslee Lake
Common Gull, though it could have been Mew/Ring-billed Gull!
Yellow Legged Gull
(Mike Cooper/Ed Wilson)
2007
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Ducks
42 Redwing
(Ed Wilson)
2006
Priorslee Lake
4 Wigeon
1 Shoveler
8 Pochard
64 Tufted Ducks
30 Robins
(Ed Wilson)