25 Oct 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

7.0°C > 12.0°C: Another mixture. Clear when I arrived with some low-level mist rolling off the football field. By 06:45 this replaced by thin low cloud which gradually descended until by 07:15 it was very misty as well. After 08:15 the cloud began to lift with a few breaks. Calm early with a light south-east breeze picking up. Very good visibility became poor for a while, then good if somewhat hazy.

Sunrise: 07:53 BST

* = a photo from today.

Priorslee Lake: 06:20 – 09:30

(231st visit of the year)

All counts from here more or less affected by the low cloud, mist and resultant low light-levels.

Undoubted highlight of the morning was a Water Rail that flushed out of the vegetation on the north-east shore as I was trying to see whether the loudly singing Cetti's Warbler would pop out of the reeds and sedges in which it was hiding. I had thought that Water Rail was probably no longer possible here with the increased disturbance. My 2022 bird species total for here moves on to 101.

Also worth special mention was the first Pochard of the winter: though that species was present in the early part of the year.

Other bird notes:
- I suspect more than the 74 Canada Geese were present early because I was unable to see what was at the far end. Many birds departed and when the visibility improved to allow a complete count there were just 38 remaining.
- When a small party of presumed resident Mallard flew back in from the East a (the?) duck Common Teal was with them.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 16 Canada Geese; inbound together
- 77 Greylag Geese: 11 flew outbound together; 66 flew inbound together
- no gulls
- 1 Grey Heron
- 20 Jackdaws only
- 3 Rooks only
- 1 Skylark
- 9 Pied Wagtails

Warblers noted:
- 1 Cetti's Warbler: in north-west area at dawn then singing loudly in north-east area later

Birds noted leaving roosts around the lake (also affected by poor visibility):
- no Starlings
- Redwings heard only
- 4 Reed Buntings only: more calling

Counts from the lake area:
- >74 Canada Geese: see notes
- *2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall
- 11 (8♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Common Teal
- *1 (?♂) Pochard
- 27 (14♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Water Rail
- 10 Moorhens
- 218 Coots again
- 11 Great Crested Grebes yet again
- c.150 Black-headed Gulls
- 5 Herring Gulls
- 32 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron, briefly
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn

Another miscellaneous collection:

- *6 November Moths agg. (Epirrita dilutata agg.)
- *7 small flies, possibly Spotted-winged Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii)
- *1 Tipula pagana cranefly
- 1 plumed midge sp.
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus-type
- *1 Mitostoma chrysomelas harvestman

Noted later:

Nothing

Mute Swans making one of today's sorties. The adults with orange bills flank two of the cygnets in this view. The cob (male) is on the left of the photo with the larger black bulge at base of his brighter bill.

All four cygnets with the pen (female). I have never noticed how 'white-faced' they look at this age.

I am not sure I can age or sex this Pochard. It was sitting in deep shade so getting any decent photo was difficult. The pale flanks extending on to the back suggest it is a drake. The extensive pale behind the bill and running back from the eye suggests a duck or perhaps a first winter bird. Recently drakes have typically well-outnumbered ducks so my best suggestion would be a first winter drake.

One of those pesky November-type moths. I am showing this one because for once it was not fifteen or more feet up a street lamp pole but at head-height allowing for a photo with (ahem!) more detail.

These two November-type moths were upside down on the horizontal fitting of one of the street lamps. They would not be 'grounded' so the fact they cannot read the warning about electrocution matter little.

This is frustrating. There were six of these small flies with black wing tips on various street lamp poles this morning and one similar-looking fly with plain wings. A thorough search of the NatureSpot web site for the flies shown led me to Spotted-winged Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) as being a species where the female (and a few males) have plain wings. The photos on that site are rather small: but then so is the fly as the spots of dew alongside it illustrates! A search on the web was rather inconclusive as it showed mounted dead specimens that allowed a banded abdomen to be seen. My photos, with the wings covering the abdomen, are therefore rather inconclusive. If correct it is an invasive species of fruit fly from Asia and a major pest of soft fruit. Not sure where the soft fruit is around here: blackberries perhaps.

Craneflies are rarely easy to identify but this female Tipula pagana, dusted in dew, is an exception. It is the only species where the female has very short wings and is flightless. The ovipositor confirms it as a female.

This is perplexing. It is a Mitostoma chrysomelas harvestman. Whenever I see it, which is not every morning, it is in more or less the same place half way up the same street lamp pole. I have never been able to find it after daybreak. It seems a long way for this tiny harvestman to climb.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:40

(224th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- All four Mute Swan cygnets were present and correct.
- Yesterday's Eurasian Wigeon seems to have gone.
- One pair of Mallard was seen mating.
- Another bumper count of Goosanders.
- Only one Great Crested Grebe was located and that was lurking under overhanging vegetation. Were others there as well?
- A bird I do not see too often here is Great Spotted Woodpecker. One was calling from trees on the island.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Jackdaws

Noted on / around the water
- 21 Canada Geese
- 36 Greylag Geese: more uncounted inside island
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 49 (28♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Peking(?) Duck)
- 18 (9♂) Tufted Duck
- *39 (1♂) Goosander
- 14 Moorhens
- 23 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe only
- 11 Black-headed Gulls
- 7 Cormorants again
- *2 Grey Herons

Noted on / around the street lamp poles:
- 2 November Moths agg. (Epirrita dilutata agg.)
- *1 Tipula pagana cranefly

Noted later around the Ivy bank:
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Noted elsewhere:
- Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus)

Stab! This Grey Heron is grabbing at something. One of the herons here is becoming very bold, as here, fishing right alongside the footbridges. At other times it stands on a handrail of a footbridge and dares people and dogs to come closer, only flying away at the last minute.

It caught something but it was too quick swallowing it for me to see what it was.

The Goosanders were unusually bold this morning. Normally I find they melt away as I approach and are always at the other end of the water. Here is one of the 38 (gulp) brownheads.

Another. A brief sunny moment improved the contrast on this individual.

And another.

Two together. The literature is not at all clear about separating ducks from immatures. The front bird has the crest of an adult duck. The back bird has a cleaner demarcation on the neck and a head-shape more reminiscent of a drake so perhaps it is a first winter drake.

In the foreground is a proper drake though the bottle-green head that it will acquire in full breeding condition is still rather sullied brown in places.

A quintet of brownheads. Nothing should be read in to the different tones to their heads: it very much depends upon how they are catching the light.

Not so easy to see as the one at the lake but another female Tipula pagana. Strangely I cannot recall ever having seen the short-winged female of this species previously.

(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

2010

Priorslee Lake

Little Grebe

5 Lapwings

1487 Fieldfare logged, mostly flying W. 7 of the flocks estimated at between 110 and 130 birds

25 Redwings

Raven

56 Goldfinch

(Ed Wilson)

2009

Priorslee Lake

62 Swans

5 Wigeon

14 Pochard

22 Tufted Ducks

231 Coots

Great Black-backed Gull

3 Buzzards

1 Kestrel

27 Redwings

Chiffchaff

c.250 Starlings

8 Siskins

c.15 Goldfinches

(Ed Wilson)

2006

Priorslee Lake

1 Cormorant

25 Pochard

72 Tufted Ducks

1 Kestrel

1 Kingfisher

20 Robins

17 Blackbirds

15 Song Thrushes

59 Redwing

3 Mistle Thrushes

1 Chiffchaff

1 Blackcap

5 Goldcrests

(Martin Adlam)