28 Nov 23

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

3.0°C: Variable amount of cloud with a few good sunny spells. Light northerly breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:54 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: 06:05 – 09:20

(247th visit of the year)

One that might have got away. I read a review of Cornell University's "Merlin" bird sounds app. which noted that it was very good at distinguishing Goldcrest and Firecrest (as well as other species that have similar calls), Since I am not good at separating the calls of the two 'crests I thought I would give it a try when I heard what I would normally have logged as "Goldcrest heard". The app quickly told me it could heard Firecrest, Goldcrest and Treecreeper and then seemed to select these at random in response to calls that I could not separate. Try as I might I could not see the bird(s) giving the calls. Just a Goldcrest?

Other bird notes:
- Five Black-headed Gulls were noted on the water as soon as it was light-enough to see. Had they perhaps roosted here?
- Afterwards there was a minimal early arrival of Black-headed Gulls - no more than 40. Birds then continued to arrive in small groups from the West. By this time some of the originals had already started to leave to the West and some may have been returning individuals.
- Both the recently-arrived Great Crested Grebes were first-winter birds. They stayed well apart.
- As well as the singing Mistle Thrush alongside Teece Drive another bird flew West over the dam.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 12 Canada Geese: inbound together
- 1 Greylag Goose: outbound
- 14 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: together
- 4 Jackdaws
- 46 Starlings together
- 1 Mistle Thrush
- 2 Pied Wagtails

Birds seen leaving roosts around the lake:
- c.430 Starlings left the north-side reeds in nine groups
Three Reed Buntings were heard calling at the West end before dawn: none was seen to leave this potential roost site.

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 69 (42♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhens
- 131 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- c.175 Black-headed Gulls
- 14 Herring Gulls
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull
- 66 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 1 Grey Heron: arrived

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

Moths:
- *2 male Winter Moths (Operophtera brumata)

Otherwise:

Springtails:
- *++1 possible Lepidocyrtus sp.
- 1 globular springtail

Beetles:
- 1 very small all-black beetle

Spiders and allies:
- *8 spider Clubiona sp.
- *1 Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)
- 2 Long-jawed Orb-web Spiders Tetragnatha sp.
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Noted later on the Teece Drive fence:
- *1 female Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata)
- 2 Alder Leaf Beetles (Agelastica alni)

New groups of fungus found:

None

Makes a change after all the cloudy mornings. This moon is known as the Beaver Moon here about 21 hours after being full. All I can say is "nice beaver" [© Leslie Nielsen]

Taken from the dam by moonlight so the sky did not look blue to my eyes. The lights in the distance are those along the West end Public Footpath with the Ricoh lights behind.

A male Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata).

And in comparison the small wingless female. Most moth species seen in winter have flightless females. Most of these females have vestigial wings of varying sizes. The Winter Moth female has the smallest wings.

A small springtail with short thick-looking antennae though these may be enhanced by the dew. It may be a Lepidocyrtus sp. Or not.

A male spider Clubiona sp. There were eight of these on the same street lamp pole along with...

...a Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis).

Plane of the day. Turkish Airlines, for it is one of their aircraft, will not win any prizes for an attractive livery even if they have painted their logo and name on the belly. It is an Airbus A330-303. The 3xx series are the longer and shorter-range version of the A330. Turkish configure it with 28 Business Class flat-bed seats and 261 'steerage' class seats. The final '3' of the model number specifies the engine type fitted, in this case a General Electric CF6-80.

Data from FlightRadar24 on the eight and a half hour flight.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flash: 09:25 – 10:20

(232nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I do now think the Pochard is a first winter duck and not a drake as I originally thought.
- The belligerent Robin by one of the footbridges actually flew in to me to attract my attention. No food: sorry!

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Skylark: a most unusual date for a fly-over

Noted on / around the water:
- 3 Canada Geese
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 42 (26♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- 2 (1♂) Common Teal
- 1 (0♂) Pochard
- 39 (19♂) Tufted Duck
- 17 Moorhens
- 41 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- *15 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gull: *second- and third- winter birds
- 1 Grey Heron

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

Moths:
- none

But:
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Nothing. Yesterday in the rain I did not visit the street lamp pole on which the Sprawler moth (Asteroscopus sphinx) has been resting. By today it had gone.

New fungus found:
- *probable Field Blewit (Lepista saeva)

A second winter Herring Gull in pursuit of an adult winter Black-headed Gull. The extent of the grey on the back is the best feature to separate this bird from a first winter. A duck Tufted Duck bottom right.

Another view of the Herring Gull. In this view the pale tip to the bill is another clue it is a second winter bird.

This fungus was a bit battered before I did some 'gardening' to get a clearer view. My app did not give me a positive identification. Checking its options against NatureSpot I think a Field Blewit (Lepista saeva).

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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
3 Gadwall
7 Pochard
24 Tufted Ducks
1 Goldeneye
c.373 Wood Pigeons
2 Woodcock
17 Redwings
29 Fieldfares
c.490 Jackdaws
56 Rooks
9 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
2 Pochard
48 Tufted Duck
10+ Goosander
(Ed Wilson)

2009
The Wrekin
Firecrest
(Martin & Ian Grant)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
26 Pochard
47 Tufted Ducks
1 drake Ruddy Duck
1 Water Rail
64 Coots
895 Black-headed Gulls
48 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
35 Fieldfares
24 Redwings
191 Jackdaws
123 Rooks
53 Starlings
16 Greenfinch
13 Goldfinches
7 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
2 Little Grebes
A duck Wigeon
Cormorant
c.75 Lapwing
2 Fieldfares
1 duck Pochard
34 Tufted Duck logged.
200 Coot
(Ed Wilson)