10 Nov 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 12.0°C: Early low cloud began to break after 10:00. A few spots of drizzle early. Light SSE wind. Mainly good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:24 GMT

* = a photo today.

Priorslee Lake: 06:03 – 09:32

(246th visit of the year)

Another dull start.

Bird notes:
- A drake Eurasian Wigeon was present early only. One of the Great Crested Grebes poked a bill at it and it perhaps wisely decided to leave.
- c.75 Black-headed Gulls and c.30 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were present by 06:35 when a passing ambulance, blue-lights flashing and siren-blaring, put them all up. The Lesser Black-backs drifted off at this time, though 24 more(?) arrived at various times later.
- Eventually c.350 Black-headed Gulls present together. Likely more birds involved as there was continual coming and going.
- Five Herring and one Yellow-legged Gulls also stopped off.
- A big passing group of Jackdaws was largely hidden behind the bushes and trees alongside Castle Farm Way. Unlike yesterday there were numerous small groups later.
- The milder conditions tempted one Song Thrush to sing lustily. Why it chose to do so from bushes alongside the noisy M54 only he knows. But then 10 of the Redwings were roosting in the same area and presumably equally unconcerned by the traffic noise.
- All the fly-over Redwings were very early and likely leaving roosts close-by (but not around) the lake.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 2 Cormorants: singles
- 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 2 Stock Doves
- 31 Wood Pigeons
- c.210 Jackdaws
- 26 Rooks
- 19 Redwings: three groups
- 7 Pied Wagtails
- 1 Lesser Redpoll

Birds seen leaving roosts around the lake:
- 12 Starlings from W end reeds: single, duo and two small groups
- 13 Redwings
- 2 Reed Buntings

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Eurasian Wigeon: departed
- 8 (5♂) Gadwall again
- 13 (7♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Pochard
- 14 (8♂) Tufted Duck only
- 3 Cormorants: arrived together, departed separately
- 2 Grey Herons
- 1 Little Grebe
- 12 Great Crested Grebes again
- 6 Moorhens again
- 162 Coots
- >350 Black-headed Gulls
- >55 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 5 Herring Gulls: three (near) adults; two first-winter birds
- *1 Yellow-legged Gull: adult
- 1 Kingfisher

Playing fields.
Not checked

On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
- *1 Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata)
- 1 Common European Earwig (Forficula auricularia)
- *1 Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea)
- *1 probable Small Black Ant (Lasius niger)
- *1 unidentified ichneumon (wasp) sp. Same as yesterday?
- 1 Trichocera regelationis ('winter gnat') again
- *5 Larinioides-type (Orb-web spider) at leas two L. cornutus
- 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman

Of note seen later:
- *A tiny snail, likely Discus Snail (Discus rotundatus)
- *large fungus sp., perhaps The Miller, also called Miller Fungus (Clitopilus prunulus)
- 2 Grey Squirrels

Apologies for the quality of the photos of the gulls. It was rather dull and trying to hold the camera steady at maximum optical zoom with the fastest shutter speed I could set was a challenge. The back gull is a typical adult winter Herring Gull. The one in front with the darker mantle is, I concluded, an adult Yellow-legged Gull. The winter-plumaged Great Crested Grebe in the foreground is now bereft of head plumes. I think any immature would still show a hint of facial stripes.

Here is the Yellow-legged Gull again. No black on the bill suggests a full adult as does the pale eye.

Here flapping its wings (too fast!) only the outer primary seems to have a white mirror as well as a white tip.

Confirmed here. Its got pink feet. The legs look yellow to me.

This moth struck me as distinctly smaller than any of the November-type moths I have been seeing. It also looked rather more strongly marked. Both these are variable features of the November moth group. However upon checking I realised it was my first Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) of the season. Not new here this year as this species is on the wing (males only; females are flightless) well in to the New Year. They are the moths you see in car headlights as you return from Christmas and New Year parties. One clue to its identity, apart from its smaller size, is that it typically rests with its front legs forward whereas November-type moths do not.

Almost certainly a Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea). This species hibernates and loses its green pigmentation to do so.

Not easy to see with the shadow from the torchlight confusing things. Likely a Small Black Ant (Lasius niger). Did not expect to see one at this date. The black smudge at the top left is part of the worm lamp identification number giving scale to this creature.

Probably the same ichneumon (wasp) sp. as yesterday - was on the same lamp pole. From this angle the wasp-waist can be seen more clearly. Does not help with an ID.

A different view of a Larinioides cornutus Orb-web spider.

The world's smallest snail? Probably not. I held a 1p coin adjacent to it for scale. I think Discus Snail (Discus rotundatus).

Probably not the world's largest fungus either. I think it might be The Miller, also called Miller Fungus, (Clitopilus prunulus).

In this view - more 'gardening was needed' - the lack of a collar eliminates several similar species.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 11:10

(230th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- All three adult Mute Swans seen although one was sitting rather forlornly on the island. A resident told me that their Facebook group had reported that 'the pen had been taken in to care'. Whether that was the adult pen, mother to the cygnets, or the 2018 bird, presumed this sex, was unclear. I was unable to get close-enough to any of the adults to read any rings.
- A few Pochard and Tufted Ducks have drifted back.
- Six of the brownhead Goosanders flew in, Birds were well-scattered and difficult to census.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all (near) adults
- 1 Herring Gull: immature
- 1 Rook
- 1 Pied Wagtail again
- 2 Siskins

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 23 Canada Geese
- 35 (20♂) Mallard
- 5 (4♂) Pochard
- 37 (>12♂) Tufted Duck
- *31 (6?♂) Goosanders
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 10 Moorhens
- 41 Coots
- 41 Black-headed Gulls - same as number of Coots
- *2 Herring Gulls: one adult; one immature, both briefly
- 1 Kingfisher again

On the lamp poles:
Still nothing

On / around the Ivy:
- >5 Common Wasps (Vespula vulgaris)

Elsewhere:
- 1 Grey Squirrel

A 'transition' Goosander. The white between the bill and the eye indicates an immature bird. The 'brownhead' is losing that colour with the centre beginning to become green-toned. That allied to the extensive white along the flanks indicates it is moulting in to drake plumage.

Drake Goosanders sometimes hold their heads with the crown feathers pushed forward to give a steep forehead appearance - as these two are doing. The nearer bird is another bird moulting in to adult drake plumage.

It is less obvious that the nearer bird is a drake but I think the flanks are too blotchy for a duck. It is later to moult than the one in the previous photo.

An adult Herring Gull with an unusual wing-tip pattern. The outer primary has the usual quite large white mirror as well as a white tip. There also seems to be another smaller white mirror. Never seen anything like it illustrated.

And here again. A mean-looking gull indeed.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day
2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
2 Teal
1 Wigeon 
7 Gadwall 
75 Tufted Duck 
1 Water Rail 
226 Coots 
720+ large gulls over and c.50 on the lake
1 Yellow Legged Gull
c.3100 Wood Pigeons
159 Fieldfare
31 Redwings
(Ed Wilson / John Isherwood)

2012
Priorslee Lake
c.170 Greylag Geese
3 Gadwall 
6 Pochard
19 Tufted Ducks 
146 Coots 
c.700 Black-headed Gulls logged
c.250 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
5 Herring Gulls
41 Redwings
10 Fieldfares
634 Jackdaws
198 Rooks
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Trench Lock Pool
Yellow-legged Gull
(Martin Grant)

2008
Priorslee Lake
300+ Wood Pigeons
326 Redwings
652 Fieldfare
269 Jackdaw
136 Rooks
c.75 Starlings seen leaving roost
6 Pochard
78 Tufted Ducks
4 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
4 Goosander
47 Greylag
95 Canada Geese 
42 Tufted Duck 
6 Redwings 
1 Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Gadwall
Shoveler
21 Starlings in the roost
12 Pochard
57 Tufted Ducks
c.80 Lapwing
192 Coot 
500+ Black-headed Gulls
800+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1 Chiffchaff
26 lb Carp landed by one of the fishermen
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
20 Pochard
60 Tufted Ducks
1 drake Ruddy Duck
1 Water Rail
19 Lapwings
1700+ Black-headed Gulls
518+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls
334 Wood Pigeons
14 Pied Wagtails
24 Robins
27 Blackbirds
1 Fieldfare
8 Song Thrushes
12 Redwings
52 Jackdaws
142 Rooks
5 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)