24 Oct 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 10.0°C: The morning started with broken cloud below a medium/high overcast. Increasing and lowering cloud with light rain on and off after 07:50. Moderate SSE breeze increased fresh. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:53 BST

* = a photo today.

Priorslee Lake: 06:19 – 09:34

(229th visit of the year)

A belated highlight today thanks to Tom Lowe and the wonders of technology. After this original post appeared on Twitter a gull I identified as a second-winter Herring Gull has been re-identified as a second-winter Caspian Gull. It become species #108 for me here this year. This is a repost updated to reflect the change.

Bird notes:
- A group of four ducks came in high from the S and circled around. Two flew on W while the other two stopped off briefly. The drake was a most odd-looking feral Mallard. The duck seemed be a regular Mallard.
- I counted 130 Coots in the NW area at c.07:30. Normally they leave their roost in the reeds gradually and are well-scattered. Other Coots roost at the E end: I counted 24 in that area later, though there could well have been some double-counting.
- My total of Lesser Black-backed Gulls arriving from the N / NW between 07:15 and 07:33 was 453 with another 12 flying over.
- After 08:50 just 58 Lesser Black-backed Gulls arrived from the E: there were seven Herring Gulls and an adult Yellow-legged Gull with them. I saw only one fly over without stopping.
- With a fresh breeze from the S the Jackdaws were flying very low and some were probably hidden behind the trees along Castle Farm Way. In general those I saw were in small groups and were still passing an hour after the first.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 2 (1♂) Mallard
- 1 Common Buzzard again
- >13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (see notes)
- 6 Feral Pigeons (one group)
- 33 Wood Pigeons
- c.260 Jackdaws
- 5 Rooks
- 22 Fieldfares (two groups)
- 60 Redwings (seven groups)
- >6 Pied Wagtails

Birds seen leaving roosts around the lake:
- >150 Starlings
- 18 Redwings
- 5 Reed Buntings

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 2 Canada Geese: briefly
- 7 (4♂) Gadwall
- 11 (?♂) Mallard
- *2 (1♂) feral Mallard (see notes)
- 5 (4♂) Pochard
- 36 (>19♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Cormorants: arrived separately, departed together
- 2 Grey Herons
- [no Little Grebes]
- 12 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Moorhens
- >130 Coots (see notes)
- c.200 Black-headed Gulls again
- >475 Lesser Black-backed Gulls again (see notes)

- 6 Herring Gulls: one adult; one second winters; four first-winters

- 1 Yellow-legged Gull: adult

- 1 Caspian Gull: second winter

Playing fields
Not visited

On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
- 5? November Moth-types (Epirrita sp.): one of these on a lamp pole, but flew off. Four others flying around presumed this species.
- 1 Larinioides sclopetarius orb-web spider
- 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman

Noted later:

Nothing

Just a hint of a sunrise which soon disappeared. Coots on the right; the Mute Swans headed this way in the middle; and a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls remaining in the background.

Before they all get blown away by the forecast gales some Autumn leaves. The trees and bushes alongside Castle Farm Way always look good for a few days.

It is always a challenge to avoid all the street lamps.

These colourful trees are around the sailing club HQ.

Lots of Autumn leaves blowing on to Teece Drive with evidence of a vehicle having blown many of them from the left-hand side of the road. Not guilty.

The drake on the left has Mallard genes giving it the curled tail-feathers. I have seen many feral Mallard over the years but I cannot recall having seen this individual before. The duck with him looks about as regular a duck Mallard as many: perhaps there is too much white in the tail? These stayed only a few minutes and were at The Flash when I got there later.

Oops. And oops for two reasons. One: the gull finds landing on a buoy can be a challenge. Two: it is not, as I originally thought, a second winter Herring Gull but a second-winter Caspian Gull. The bird is a second-winter because of the pale bill-base and the extent of grey on the mantle.

"Me? Never entered my head to land on the buoy". Having had my identification corrected (thanks again Tom) I re-examined the photo in conjunction with my weighty tome on Gull identification. I do not find this species easy. The salient point is the pale, unstreaked and rather small, rounded head with a dark-looking eye.

Centre-top is an adult Yellow-legged Gull. The mantle is noticeable darker than a Herring Gull which would much the same tone as the Black-headed in the foreground. The bird behind this is a second-winter Herring Gull. The others are all Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

Always difficult to compare tones from different photos but this 'real' adult Herring Gull looks obviously paler. It also shows faint dark head streaking. An adult Yellow-legged Gull always looks conspicuously clean white-headed.

A male Pied Wagtail was stationary long-enough to provide a portrait shot even in the dull conditions.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:38 – 10:32

(214th visit of the year)

Other bird notes:
- The same two feral-type Mallard that had visited the lake were here when I arrived. They would have provided a better photo opportunity except that by the time I got out of the car they had flown off!
- After I had counted the Tufted Ducks another group of c.16 seemed to be arriving, though some had been flying around earlier.
- The Redwing group was well-past when I saw it and my count is 'best effort'.
- Groups of Goldfinches seen flying in to and out of the trees on the island. The largest group was c.50 birds. Whether smaller groups seen were part of this larger number is difficult to say

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 20 Feral Pigeons (two groups)
- 4 Jackdaws
- 1 Skylark
- c.30 Redwings (one group)

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 33 Canada Geese
- 41 (26♂) Mallard
- 2 feral-type Mallard, briefly
- 79 (>30♂) Tufted Duck – possibly more: see notes
- 8 brownhead Goosanders
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 8 Moorhens
- 32 Coots again
- 42 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: first-winter again

On various lamp poles:
- 1 November Moth-type (Epirrita sp.)
- 1 Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus-type harvestman

On / around the Ivy

Nothing of note.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2018

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2017

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2016

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2014

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2010

Priorslee Lake

733 Wood Pigeons

11 Sky Larks

151 Fieldfare

20 Redwings

2 Brambling

2 Linnets

2 Redpolls

(Ed Wilson)

2009

Priorslee Lake

5 Wigeon

1 Little Grebe

(John Isherwood)

The Flash

1 Shoveler 

1 Teal (female)

1 Common Gull

(John Isherwood)