6.0°C > 5.0°C: Very low cloud and misty / light drizzle. Light SE wind. Moderate visibility at best.
Sunrise: 08:17 GMT
* = a photo today
Priorslee Lake: 06:45 – 09:20
(292nd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Just one Mute Swan: ring read.
- At least 350 Black-headed Gulls appeared overhead at 07:35 circling around for ages before many of them began to settle after 07:50. Many appeared to leave to the SE before this but probably returned. They were all getting lost in the mist at times.
- Small movement of large gulls overhead. Some of those logged as passing overhead may have swung around out of sight and come in for a wash and drink. Two Yellow-legged Gulls – an adult and a first winter – noted amongst those that stopped-off.
- In order to shelter from the rather chilly and damp wind I was not well-positioned to hear any Cetti's Warbler song or calls.
Overhead:
With very low cloud and mist only birds passing directly overhead could be seen.
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 2 Wood Pigeons only
- 4 Herring Gulls
- 99 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 27 Jackdaws
- 4 Pied Wagtails heard again
Birds leaving roost sites around the lake:
- 17 Redwings
Warblers noted:
None
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese: arrived
- *1 Mute Swan: blue Darvic ring 7JVC
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 7 (4♂) Mallard
- 39 (20♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 44 Coots again
- >350 Black-headed Gulls
- 32 Herring Gulls
- 2 Yellow-legged Gulls
- 72 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
Around the street lamps pre-dawn in cool and damp conditions:
Moths:
- 1 male Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) again
- 1 male Mottled Umber (Erranis defoliaria) again
- 2 Canada Geese: arrived
- *1 Mute Swan: blue Darvic ring 7JVC
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 7 (4♂) Mallard
- 39 (20♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 44 Coots again
- >350 Black-headed Gulls
- 32 Herring Gulls
- 2 Yellow-legged Gulls
- 72 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
Around the street lamps pre-dawn in cool and damp conditions:
Moths:
- 1 male Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) again
- 1 male Mottled Umber (Erranis defoliaria) again
Also:
- *1 cranefly just perhaps Molophilus obscurus.
- *1 unknown gnat(?) sp.
- 5 'winter gnats / midges'
- *1 cranefly just perhaps Molophilus obscurus.
- *1 unknown gnat(?) sp.
- 5 'winter gnats / midges'
Spiders or harvestmen:
There are many gnats and midges around at the moment and I generally cannot distinguish between them. This slightly larger insect is almost certainly a cranefly from the shape of its head and thorax. I suspect it is one of the small craneflies in the genus Molophilus from which there are 23 known British species, largely separable only by microscopic examination. A close match on the NatureSpot web site is M. obscurus which is noted as having a long flight season so is perhaps a candidate. Then again I could be entirely wrong!
The adults are: the cob (male) has a yellow Staffordshire ring coded 52F. He was born in 2004 and first bred here in 2009; the pen (female) has a green Cheshire ring coded CF59. She arrived in 2019 after the previous pen broke her wing and had to be put down.
The other adult-looking bird is a 2019 off-spring but what sex it is and exactly which pen is its mother is unclear. Nesting had begun when the previous pen was put-down and the new (and current) pen arrived fortuitously just two days later. This off-spring is unringed.
None of the 2020 cygnets was ringed and the three survivors are assumed to have flown / been driven off without ever having been ringed.
This year there were nine eggs; eight hatched but only two cygnets survived to learn to fly: not that they seem in a hurry to leave. Only one of these has been ringed as blue 7JVN. I do not have any information as to which sex it is.
Bird notes:
- The Song Thrush was singing reasonably lustily this morning.
Birds noted flying over here:
I did hope that the flat but rather dull light might allow a better representation of drake Goosanders. When it is bright the contrast between the white body and wings and green head and back it too great for the camera to handle. Dull weather does not seem to improve things!
Sexing these 'brownheads' drives me mad. I consult at least three different bird books and am still left wondering about some birds. The extensive white flight feathers surely means this is a drake. Probably a first-winter still moulting in to adult plumage.
None
Noted later:
Only one Mute Swan this morning. 7JVC means this is the Pen (female) seen here with an unringed bird on several days in mid-November. She is not the erstwhile resident.
Noted later:
Nothing
I was puzzled when I took this photo. Looking at the result on the PC does not provide any clarity. It is a small insect, probably a midge, over 10 feet up a lamp pole: so I was never going to get a good photo. The white circle was, and remains, a mystery. My only thought is that it is a water droplet reflecting the camera flash. However it seems unnaturally circular – surely a droplet would be elongated by gravity? Also I took several photos from slightly different angles with the same result. It was also visible in the camera viewfinder when illuminated only by the camera's weak focus-assist beam.
(Ed Wilson)
The Flash: 09:25 – 10:15
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Flash: 09:25 – 10:15
(267th visit of the year)
Mute Swans
Mute Swans
I have been asked to clarify what I know about the five Mute Swans here:
The adults are: the cob (male) has a yellow Staffordshire ring coded 52F. He was born in 2004 and first bred here in 2009; the pen (female) has a green Cheshire ring coded CF59. She arrived in 2019 after the previous pen broke her wing and had to be put down.
The other adult-looking bird is a 2019 off-spring but what sex it is and exactly which pen is its mother is unclear. Nesting had begun when the previous pen was put-down and the new (and current) pen arrived fortuitously just two days later. This off-spring is unringed.
None of the 2020 cygnets was ringed and the three survivors are assumed to have flown / been driven off without ever having been ringed.
This year there were nine eggs; eight hatched but only two cygnets survived to learn to fly: not that they seem in a hurry to leave. Only one of these has been ringed as blue 7JVN. I do not have any information as to which sex it is.
Bird notes:
- The Song Thrush was singing reasonably lustily this morning.
Birds noted flying over here:
None
On /around the water:
On /around the water:
All numbers potentially affected by limited visibility
- 9 Canada Geese
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 39 (26♂) Mallard
- no Pochard
- 48 (26♂) Tufted Duck
- *18 (4♂) Goosander
- 12 Moorhens
- 23 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 41 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult again
- 1 Grey Heron again
On / around different street lamps:
- 2 male Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) again
- 1 male Mottled Umber moth (Erranis defoliaria) again
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus-type harvestman
Around the Ivy or elsewhere:
- 9 Canada Geese
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 39 (26♂) Mallard
- no Pochard
- 48 (26♂) Tufted Duck
- *18 (4♂) Goosander
- 12 Moorhens
- 23 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 41 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult again
- 1 Grey Heron again
On / around different street lamps:
- 2 male Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) again
- 1 male Mottled Umber moth (Erranis defoliaria) again
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus-type harvestman
Around the Ivy or elsewhere:
Nothing
A different drake and no better.
Another 'brownhead'. There is pale between the bill and eye so this is certainly a first-winter bird. The extent of the white in the rear flank area does not seem extensive-enough for it to be starting to moult in to drake plumage. I suspect it is a duck.
(Ed Wilson)
(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
5 Gadwall
7 Pochard
48 Tufted Ducks
233 Coots
324 Black-headed Gulls
19 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
11 Herring Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
6 Fieldfare
151 Redwings
284 Jackdaws
156 Rooks
4 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)
2012
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe.
4 Gadwall.
12 Pochard.
43 Tufted Ducks.
182 Coots
189 Wood Pigeons
20 Redwings
184 Jackdaws
3 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)
2009
Priorslee Lake
1 Black-necked Grebe
4 Great Crested Grebes
29 Swans
42 Pochard
2 Water Rails
c.900 Black-headed Gulls
c.2200 large gulls
127 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
12 Redwings
2 Fieldfare
16 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)
2008
Priorslee Lake
3 Gadwall
13 Pochard
(John Isherwood)
2005
Priorslee Lake
c.2500 Black-headed Gulls
c.200 Lesser Black-backs
20 Pochard
58 Tufted Duck
A drake Wigeon
6 Great Crested Grebe
2 Little Grebe
c.200 Coot
2 Water Rail
202 Rooks
247 Jackdaws
11 Pied Wagtails
23 Siskin
5 Redpoll
19 Reed Bunting
(Martin R Adlam)