30 Nov 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

5.0°C > 8.0°C: Yet another 'not as forecast' morning. Started low overcast, soon lifting somewhat. Unexpected rain after c.08:00 and then blue sky for a while before cloud lowered and more light rain. Calm start with light / moderate WNW breeze developing. Good visibility

Sunrise: 07:58 GMT

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 06:22 – 09:18

(266th visit of the year)

A quiet morning with very little flying over

Bird notes:
- When, as this morning, the light-level is low I count birds on the lake in sections as I move around the area. There is obviously the possibility of missing birds and / or duplicate counting.
- The drake Red-crested Pochard still present.
- The Tufted Duck were very mobile especially at first. They seemed more settled by the time I attempted the count.
- *A pair of Mistle Thrushes was seen in trees alongside the lake end of Teece Drive. The male was in intermittent song. My first song from this species this season at a traditional nesting site.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 7 Cormorants (duo, quartet and singleton)
- 2 Common Buzzards
- 18 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 24 Wood Pigeons
- 297 Jackdaws
- 161 Rooks
- 1 Pied Wagtail

Birds seen / heard leaving roosts around the lake:
- 6 Redwings

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 10 (6♂) Gadwall
- 8 (4♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Red-crested Pochard
- 6 (4♂) Pochard
- 61 (34♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Cormorant
- 2 Grey Herons
- 10 Great Crested Grebes again
- 10 Moorhens again
- 168 Coots
- >550 Black-headed Gulls
- 21 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: 16 pre-dawn; five later
- 3 immature Herring Gull-types pre-dawn: too murky to positively ID
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull: third winter later
- 1 Caspian Gull: second winter also later - seemed to be the usual bird

On / around the street lights etc.
Pre-sunrise: a good haul on a reasonably mild overcast night - good conditions for moths to be around.
- 1 November Moth agg. (Epirrita sp.)
- *8 Winter Moths (Operophtera brumata)
- *1 Feathered Thorn moth (Colotois pennaria)
- 1 Scarce Umber moth (Agriopis aurantiaria)
- *1 plumed midge (Chironomus plumosus)
- 1 Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)
- *1 other spider sp.
- *1 Leiobunum rotundum-type harvestman
- *1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman

Later:
Nothing of note

A pair of Mistle Thrushes with the male on the right. The sexes are visually inseparable and it is only because it has its beak open and it was in song when I took the photo that I know it is the male. The spots on the breast of this species are less dense than on the smaller Song Thrush. The song is very different. Another dull morning to try and take photos.

This is one of eight Winter Moths (Operophtera brumata) that I noted this morning. I am on the lookout for a Northern Winter Moth (O. fagata) which typically rests with the wings held slightly open, as here. However the hindwing of that species is whiter than this specimen so I will have to try again. The almost wingless females are easy to separate: I have yet to come across any of the females so far this season as they crawl up tree trunks and lamp poles.

My idea for this photo: a different take on a Scarce Umber moth (Agriopis aurantiaria), this one with wings akimbo showing the pattern on the underwings and the markings on the body. Wrong! It is a Feathered Thorn moth (Colotois pennaria) and they typically rest like this. My excuse is that this is a female: in females the antennae are not 'feathered'.

None too easy to ID and apparently not easy for the camera to lock-on to anything. I think a plumed midge (Chironomus plumosus) covered in dew.

Not sure about this spider. Looks fearsome.

A Leiobunum rotundum-type harvestman. Many species of harvestmen have legs that look as if they plug in to sockets in the abdomen.

This Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman shows clearly the disparity in leg-length between, in particular, pairs two and three.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:21 – 10:28

(248th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- At least 80 Jackdaws and 20 Starlings were put up by something in St. Georges - not the Sparrowhawk that flew over here. Soon after 42 Jackdaws flew S, followed some five minutes later by 32 flying SW and then 10 more flying W. Whether these were some / all of the St. Georges birds was unclear.
- In addition six single Jackdaws and a Starling had already flown over.
- The / a Grey Wagtail here yet again. Seems to have deserted the main lake and moved here.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Feral Pigeons
- 3 Wood Pigeons: together
- >100 Jackdaws: see notes
- >20 Starlings: see notes
- 1 Fieldfare
- 2 Redwings

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 9 Greylag Geese
- 21 Canada Geese
- 40 (25♂) Mallard
- 65 (30♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 (0♂) Goosanders
- 2 Grey Herons
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 10 Moorhens
- 33 Coots
- 42 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: the same floating mortal remains.

On the lamp poles and around the Ivy or elsewhere
Nothing of note

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day
2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2012
Priorslee Lake
9 Pochard
3 Gadwall
1 duck Goldeneye
1750 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
370 Black-headed Gulls
76 Herring Gulls
1 adult Great Black-backed Gull
1 adult Yellow-legged Gull
Redpoll
Siskin
Willow Tit
(John Isherwood / Martin Grant)

Holmer Lake
3 Goosander
1 Pochard
(John Isherwood)

Little Wenlock, Candles Landfill Site
11 Yellow-legged Gulls
An adult Caspian Gull
3,000 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
30-40 Waxwings
2 Common Gulls
(Tom Lowe)

2010
Madeley
3 Waxwings
(Pete Nickless)

2006
Priorslee Lake
3 Cormorants
20 Pochard
56 Tufted Ducks
6 Buzzards
1 Kestrel
>1050 Black-headed Gulls
451 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
188 Wood Pigeons
18 Blackbirds
166 Fieldfares
62 Redwings
187 Jackdaws
80 Rooks
4 Siskin
6 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
1 Wigeon again
3 Pochard
47 Tufted Duck
215 Coot
4000 Black-headed Gulls
2500 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
3 Herring Gulls
1 Fieldfare
1 Skylark
168 Jackdaws
72 Rooks.
19 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)