11 Oct 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

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.

A trio of adult winter gulls. In the front a Lesser Black-backed Gull, this one with much head-streaking - a variable feature. On the right a similarly streaked adult Herring Gull, noticeably larger. The largest, less-streaked bird at the back is, I think, slightly darker on the back and thus a Yellow-legged Gull.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:45 – 10:41

(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)