24 Nov 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

5.0°C > 7.0°C: Early low overcast with light drizzle. Cloud gradually lifted with breaks from the N after 10:00. Light WSW wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:47 GMT

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 06:05 – 09:15

(270th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The group of 12 Canada Geese and one Greylag Goose arrived at 08:45. They left five minutes later.
- The adult Mute Swan with the blue Darvic ring 7JTJ was asleep when I arrived. It flew the length of the water on several occasions and eventually departed to the E.
- I found a dead drake Tufted Duck at the side of the water on the SW grass. It appeared uninjured though I was reluctant to investigate with the current outbreak of bird flu. There were a few feathers around it but too few for e.g. a Sparrowhawk to have started work on it as prey.
- There were at least 250 Black-headed Gulls settled on the water by 06:40. They stayed that way until after 07:00 when more arrived. There were at least 400 on the water at 07:30 after I thought many had left, though they could well have returned – they often do.
- An adult Great Black-backed Gull dropped in for a bathe and drink. My first of this winter season here.
- There seems to be no Magpie roost in the NW trees this year. Perhaps due to the construction work on the final phase of the houses on the old Celestica site. I never managed a proper count last winter: however numbers were much lower than the c.75 – c.80 noted in previous years.
- A Cetti's Warbler called briefly at the W end at c.08:50.

Overhead:
- 13 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Herring Gull
- 51 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: together
- 2 Common Buzzards
- 74 Jackdaws again
- 15 Starlings: one group
- 15 Redwings: two parties of six and three singles
- >22 Pied Wagtails only heard
- 1 Lesser Redpoll
- 9 Siskins

Birds noted leaving roosts around the lake:

None

Warblers noted:
- 1 Cetti's Warbler: calls only

Counts from the lake area:
- 12 Canada Geese: briefly
- 1 Greylag Goose: briefly, with the Canada Geese
- *1 Mute Swan: blue Darvic 7JTJ; departed
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall again
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 3 (3♂) Pochard again
- *41 (19♂) Tufted Duck: see notes
- 8 Moorhens
- 47 Coots
- >400 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Great Black-backed Gull
- 8 Herring Gulls
- 35 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

At / around the street lamps pre-dawn:

Moths:

None

Also:
- *1 Common Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius)
- *1 plumed midge with patterned wings, perhaps Psectrotanypus varius
- *1 presumed fungus gnat sp.
- *1 Sylvicola species of 'wood gnat'

Spiders and Harvestman:
- *1 Walnut Orb Weaver (Nuctenea umbratica)
- *2 Tetragnatha sp. Stretch spiders
- 2 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestmen

Later:

Nothing of note

After about 20 failures I managed at last to get a clear shot of the Darvic ring of today's Mute Swan. Thank goodness for digital cameras and the delete function.

I left this dead drake Tufted Duck where it was, Cause of death unknown.

A Common Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius).

I think this is a female plumed midge, a species with patterned wings and probably Psectrotanypus varius.

A different all-dark insect. Not easy to see with the shadow from the flash. My best suggestion is that it is a fungus gnat.

I can do slightly better with this insect. It is one of the Sylvicola species of 'wood gnat'. Smaller and more compact than the typical crane fly. There are four species in the UK, only separable with genitalia examination.

A close-up of a Walnut Orb Weaver spider (Nuctenea umbratica).

I guess this is just a Tetragnatha sp. stretch spider. The left hand legs look unusual in that the front leg looks rather short and the second leg rather long. Also the abdomen has spots rather then the usual marks.

This is what I would expect a Tetragnatha sp. stretch spider to look like.

Underneath the low cloud this helicopter appeared overhead. It is a Leonardo, Italy built AgustaWestland AW109SP Grand New. It has an Isle of Man registration and is owned by Leo Aviation Ltd. from Halifax.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:20 – 10:20

(245th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Just one rather vocal drake Teal seen several times out in the open.
- Certainly three Great Crested Grebes: I rather suspect a fourth though as usual they were playing submarines and hard to keep track of.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Jackdaws

On /around the water:
- 7 Canada Geese only
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 27 (18♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Teal
- 53 (29♂) Tufted Duck
- *18 (7♂) Goosander
- 14 Moorhens again
- 24 Coots
- 3 (4?) Great Crested Grebes
- 22 Black-headed Gulls again
- *1 Grey Heron

On a lamp pole:
- *1 Scarce Umber moth (Agriopis aurantiaria)

On / around the Ivy:

Nothing seen. All flower finished? all wasps finished?

Of note:

Nothing else

In the flesh (feather?) this looked like a full drake Goosander. The photo shows that it is still moulting. The head is still blotchy rather than a shiny bottle-green. The flanks are also rather blotchy rather than pure white – indeed later on it will develop a delicate pink flush.

Just one Grey Heron today. Here it is. This species breeds early in the year and the bill it already starting to colour.

I know I have shown Scarce Umber moths (Agriopis aurantiaria) previously: this is absolute cracking specimen.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day can be found via the yearly links in the right-hand column.

Sightings from previous years without links are below

2013

Priorslee Lake

6 Gadwall 

2 Teal 

3 Pochard 

114 Tufted Duck

228 Coots

1 Snipe 

Tawny Owl

157 Fieldfare

63 Redwings 

208 Jackdaws

(Ed Wilson)

The Flash

31 Tufted Ducks 

3 Goosander

(Ed Wilson)

2012

Priorslee Lake

35 Greylag Geese

3 Gadwall 

9 Pochard

19 Tufted Ducks 

157 Coots

1 Yellow-legged Gull

1 Great Black-backed Gull.

18 Redwings

16 Fieldfares 

4 Siskins

3 Redpoll

(Ed Wilson)

2011

Priorslee Lake

6 Yellow-legged Gulls

700 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

1 Great Black-backed Gull

(John Isherwood / Tom Lowe)

2007

Priorslee Lake

A male Stonechat

1 Gadwall

(John Isherwood)

Priorslee Flash

Great Black-backed Gull

5 Goosander

(John Isherwood)

East of Priorslee

60 Golden Plover

(John Isherwood)