26 Nov 23

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

0.0°C > 2.0°C: Cloudy: dull: light drizzle in the air later. Light south-east breeze. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:51 GMT

+ = my first sighting of this species at this site this year.
++ = new species for me at this site.
* = a species photographed today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:10 – 09:10

(246th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The adult Mute Swans back to normal behaviour today.
- A Woodcock was seen flying to roost c.07:15.
- Black-headed Gulls were noted flying South and I initially assumed these were birds that had arrived at the lake (at the unusually late time of 07:20) just moving off. This small movement seemed to go on too long and some were with obvious overflying large gulls. I cannot estimate the number involved: double figures for sure.
- Single Cormorants simultaneously approached the lake from opposite directions, circled twice and carried on. Later another, bolder individual did arrive.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 1 (0♂) Goosander
- 9 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Collared Doves: together
- ?? Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- 8 Herring Gull
- 87 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: singles
- 1 Rook
- 1 Redwing
- 7 Pied Wagtails
- 1 Greenfinch
- 2 Siskins

Birds seen leaving roosts around the lake:
- c.380 Starlings left the north-side reeds in 13 groups
Two Reed Buntings were heard calling along the South side before dawn: neither was seen to leave this potential roost site.

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese: arrived
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 8 (6♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Pochard
- 37 (26♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhens
- 133 Coots
- no Great Crested Grebe
- c.200 Black-headed Gulls
- 22 Herring Gulls
- 28 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant: arrived
- 1 Grey Heron: arrived

The (semi) nocturnal community on or around the street lamp poles at dawn:
Cold again:

Moths:
- 1 Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata)

Otherwise:

Spiders and allies:
- *1 spider Clubiona sp.
- *1 Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)
- *2 harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis
- also the same spider exoskeleton as seen the previous two days

Noted later on the Teece Drive fence.
- 1 Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)

New groups of fungus found:

None

Not much on a gloomy day so some favourites(?). A spider Clubiona sp.

A Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis).

A harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:15 – 10:15

(230th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- A 24-hour fishing marathon overnight may have affected some of the counts: no Common Teal or Pochard located.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Noted on / around the water:
- 5 Canada Geese
- 14 Greylag Geese: arrived together
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 41 (27♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- *55 (33♂) Tufted Duck
- *1 (0♂) Goosander: arrived and departed
- 18 Moorhens
- 41 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 6 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull: third winter
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on / beside the street lamp poles etc. around the water etc.:

Moths:
- 1 Sprawler (Asteroscopus sphinx): its 20th day but possibly dead
Nothing else.

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Nothing

New group of fungus found:
- *Crepidotus sp., perhaps Variable Oysterling (C. variabilis)

A duck Tufted Duck flies by.

A brownhead Goosander leaving. The white panel in the hindwing shows no indication of spreading toward the forewing and hence I am safe in saying this is a duck.

These are small fungus growing on a small dead broken branch. My app could not give a positive identification, suggesting it was likely a species of Crepidotus. Looking at photos on the NatureSpot web site it seems possible it is the common Variable Oysterling (C. variabilis).

(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

2012
Priorslee Lake
22 Tufted Ducks
143 Coots
Nuthatch
34 Redwings
1 Fieldfare
228 Jackdaws
98 Rooks
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
11 Greylag Geese
27 Pochard
70 Tufted Ducks
1 drake Ruddy Duck
70 Coots
>400 Black-headed Gulls
315 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
5 Herring Gulls
221 Wood Pigeons
22 Blackbirds
45 Fieldfares
38 Redwings
264 Jackdaws
71 Rooks
5 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
1 Pochard
40 Tufted Duck
1 Goldeneye
2 Ruddy Duck
C.700 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
16 Herring Gulls
2 Yellow-legged Gull
2 Great Black-backed Gulls
Caspian Gull
Sparrowhawk
c.628 Jackdaws
c.358 Rooks
(Martin Adlam)