18 Dec 23

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 13.0°C: Mostly cloudy at medium level with a few breaks. Moderate south-westerly wind. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 08:18 GMT

* = a species photographed today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:20 – 09:25

(264th visit of the year)

Today was very quiet after a busy morning yesterday.

Bird notes:
- The Black-headed Gulls seemed to have that Monday morning feeling with the first of eventually c.800 arriving overhead at the later time of 07:30. They continued to fly around only beginning to settle around 07:50 with the lake not covered in gulls until 07:55. By 08:10 most had gone again. Why bother? A lot of wasted energy.
- Even fewer large gulls today.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 5 Canada Geese: outbound together
- 19 Greylag Geese: 15 flew North together; a single and a trio outbound
- 5 Wood Pigeons only
- 9 Herring Gulls
- 11 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 37 Jackdaws
- 4 Rooks
- c.70 Starlings: together
- 2 Redwings
- 3 Siskins

Birds seen leaving roosts around the lake.

None

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 4 (3♂) Pochard
- 39 (24♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 Moorhens
- 116 Coots
- c.800 Black-headed Gulls
- 5 Herring Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 1 Grey Heron

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

Moths:
- 2 male Winter Moths (Operophtera brumata)
- 2 Mottled Umbers (Erranis defoliaria)

Bees, wasps etc.
- 1 Braconid sp. ichneumon

Flies:
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.
- 1 wood gnat Sylvicola punctatus
- *several non-biting midges Chironomus sp.

Bugs:
- *2 planthoppers Eupteryx urticae
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis

Beetles:
- 1 Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephala)
- *1 rove beetle in the Staphylinidae family
- *1 weevil, perhaps one of the Dorytomus species

Spiders and allies:
- *1 money spider, probably Erigone dentipalpis
- *1 Running Crab Spider Philodromus sp.
- *1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- *1 other money spider, perhaps Tenuiphantes tenuis
- 2 harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis
It is very strange that after dawn I can only find the odd moth still on the lamp poles: everything else has hiding away.

Noted later on the Teece Drive fence:
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Another mainly cloudy morning with just a brief colouration.

For a change(!) a Long-tailed Tit.

One of the non-biting midges Chironomus sp. This rather different-looking from most that I see.

One of the two planthoppers Eupteryx urticae this morning. Why would something so small (just 0.1" or 3mm) have an evolutionary need to develop such a complex pattern?

A rove beetle from the Staphylinidae family. There are a lot to choose from and too many look like this.

A weevil, perhaps one of the Dorytomus species. Again there are many similar-looking species in the family.

Many spiders this morning: several that I have not recorded previously. With the help of Obsidentify this money spider is probably Erigone dentipalpis.

What seems to be a Running Crab Spider Philodromus sp.

A Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp. My previous use of the alternative name Str-e-e-e-tch Spider seems more apposite.

Another money spider, again with the possible identity of Tenuiphantes tenuis suggested by Obsidentify.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:30 – 10:50

(248th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Just one Common Teal, a drake, was noted. With all the geese near the island others could well have been obscured.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Common Buzzard (perhaps the bird seen in squirrel alley later?)

Noted on / around the water:
- 43 Canada Geese: of these 41 arrived together
- 61 Greylag Geese: of these 33 arrived together and then 36 departed in two groups
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 3 (2♂) Gadwall
- 42 (30♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- 1 (1♂) Common Teal
- 3 (2♂) Pochard
- 67 (41♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (0♂) Goosander
- 13 Moorhens
- 43 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 41 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull: third winter
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Grey Heron

Elsewhere:

Nothing noted

(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

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)