9 Nov 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

11.0°C: Very misty and murky again. A few spots of rain at times. Light ESE wind. Moderate visibility, poor for a while.

Sunrise: 07:22 GMT

* = a photo today.

Despite the very similar weather the bird-watching today was as uninteresting as it had been interesting yesterday.

Priorslee Lake: 06:06 – 09:15

(245th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- What happened to all the ducks seen yesterday morning. Even most of the Tufted Duck have baled out.
- No Black-headed Gulls noted until c.35 arrived at 07:00. Eventually c.400 present. Most departed.
- The Lesser Black-backed Gulls visited in three tranches. c.25 were on the water by 06:35. 47 were noted arriving after 08:00. Then 27 more after 08:40.
- Large number of Jackdaws. The first big group of c.250 was followed by two smaller groups each of c.70 birds. Then another group of c.180. Almost no small groups / singles. A few Rooks noted scattered amongst them.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
Mist and low cloud again limited my ability to see birds flying over. Probably not many choosing to fly anyway..
- 13 Canada Geese
- 1 Cormorant
- 2 Feral Pigeons: duo
- 7 Wood Pigeons only
- c.600 Jackdaws
- 13 Rooks
- 24 Fieldfare: two groups
- 17 Redwings: two singles and one group
- 1 Mistle Thrush
- 4 Pied Wagtails

Birds seen leaving roosts around the lake:
- c.60 Starlings from N side reeds
- 4 Redwings
- no Reed Buntings: I was not positioned near any roost site at the appropriate time

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 1 Canada Goose: arrived and departed
- 8 (5♂) Gadwall
- 12 (7♂) Mallard again
- 9 (4♂) Tufted Duck only
- 2 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 Little Grebes again
- 12 Great Crested Grebes
- 6 Moorhens
- 151 Coots
- >400 Black-headed Gulls again
- c.100 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 4 Herring Gulls: one (near) adult; three first-winter birds again
- *1 possible Caspian Gull: adult?

Birds on playing fields c.09:10:
[Crows and Magpies excluded]
- 21 Black-headed Gulls on the football field
After the chaos of the school run a few gulls were present. Strangely there were no Wood Pigeon around at this time. In fact very few seen at all - have they all gone on their holidays?

On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
- 1 Mottled Umber moth (Erranis defoliaria) again: different specimen on different lamp pole to yesterday.
- *1 unidentified leafhopper
- *1 unidentified ichneumon (wasp) sp.
- 1 Trichocera regelationis ('winter gnat')
- *1 Larinioides cornutus (Orb-web spider)
- 3 Tetragnatha sp (Stretch spiders)
- *1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman again

Seen later:
Nothing of note

The best I could manage on a gloomy morning. This Herring-type gull had an unstreaked head which always makes me look twice at this time of year. The outer primary is still being regrown and is still rather short but shows a relatively large white mirror and a white tip. These features also appears to a lesser degree on the adjacent primary. This suggests it is a Caspian Gull. I would prefer to have confirmed that these markings were also present on the upper wing and found other supporting features before claiming the identity. Not to be in the conditions.

A tiny, tiny leafhopper. I had to illuminate this with a torch as it was necessary to use close focus on the camera. The flash would not illuminate as close is this. It would also have destroyed any detail even with the flash level wound right down. Surprisingly for such delicate-looking insects most species over-winter as adults, probably not by climbing lamp poles, as here. Some species are distinctively marked: some are brightly coloured. This is neither! And most need microscopic examination to identify. So leafhopper sp.

Another torch-light special. Seems to be a small ichneumon (wasp). I was surprised to read that this group of insects also overwinter as adults.

A plan view of the orb-web spider Larinioides cornutus. From this angle it is clear that the prosoma (cephalothorax) is brown which identifies it within the genus. A few droplets of dew adorn the small part of the web that is visible, giving scale to the spider.

The clearest specimen of what is most likely to be a Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman. This species can be recognised by the legs being characteristically thicker in the 40% or so nearest the body and the pale stripe running down the centre of the abdomen. As always there are similar species. This is the most abundant so I am going with that.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:18 – 10:20

(229th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- One of the adult Mute Swans not located. By the time I realised one was missing I had no chance to check the rings of those present to find out which.
- A few of the Tufted Duck back - there had been fewer at the lake, so perhaps from there.
- Four Redwings in trees near the medical practice, along with two Song Thrushes.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Pied Wagtail
- 1 Siskin
- 1 Lesser Redpoll

Counts from the water:
- 2 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 26 Canada Geese
- 28 (17♂) Mallard
- 2 (2♂) Pochard
- 26 (18?♂) Tufted Duck
- 16 (3?♂) Goosanders
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 12 Moorhens
- 39 Coots
- 74 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: immature, briefly
- 1 Kingfisher

On the lamp poles:
Nothing

On / around the Ivy:
- 1 Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris) only

Of interest elsewhere:
- two more species of fungus in squirrel alley:
- *unidentified small orange fungus.
- *Candlesnuff Fungus (Xylaria hypoxylon)

I thought these very small fungus would prove to be Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare). They seem not to be as they too robust, too orangey and too shiny. Which leaves me puzzling.

I am more confident that this is Candlesnuff Fungus (Xylaria hypoxylon).

(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

4 Wigeon 

4 Gadwall 

1 Pochard 

60 Tufted Duck 

1 Water Rail 

235 Coots 

7 Song Thrushes 

118 Fieldfare

30 Redwings 

466 Jackdaws

139 Rooks 

c.450 Starlings from roost

(Ed Wilson)

2012

Priorslee Lake

c.100 Greylag Geese

3 Gadwall

8 Pochard

18 Tufted Ducks

153 Coots

c.500 Black-headed Gulls

c.450 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

10 Herring Gulls

1 Great Black-backed Gull

118 Wood Pigeons

103 Redwings

154 Fieldfares

809 Jackdaws

201 Rooks

7 Siskin

(Ed Wilson)

The Flash

1 Pink-footed Goose

c.100 Greylag Geese 

41 Canada Geese 

41 Tufted Duck 

12 Goosander

(Ed Wilson)

2011

Priorslee Lake

Yellow legged Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

(John Isherwood)

2010

Priorslee Lake

28 Pochard

65 Tufted Duck 

46 Greenfinches

5 Fieldfares

11 Redwings

12 Siskins

(Ed Wilson)

The Flash

2 Goosanders

1 Pochard

45 Tufted Duck

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake

Great Black-backed Gull

1 Gadwall

1 Shoveler

2 Wigeon

Peregrine Falcon 

(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

2006

Priorslee Lake

23 Pochard

75 Tufted Ducks

950+ Black-headed Gulls

1204+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls

499 Wood Pigeons

11 Meadow Pipits

23 Robins

23 Blackbirds

13 Fieldfares

4 Song Thrushes

18 Redwings

1 Willow Tit

321 Jackdaws

241 Rooks

22 Greenfinches

9 Reed Buntings

(Ed Wilson)