11 Oct 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 11.0°C: Overcast at low level with early very light drizzle. The cloud lifted somewhat later. Light westerly breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:29 BST

* = a species photographed today
$ = my first sighting of the species for this year
$$ = my first ever recorded sighting of the species in the area

No builders so lake and The Flash.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:45 – 09:25

(247th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the only wildfowl today were Mallard and Tufted Duck. Eight Mallard were seen flying off East and had probably not returned when it was light-enough for a complete count of birds on the water.
- a large arrival of large gulls with over 500 at the peak. Birds started arriving at 06:50 though I had heard some calling overhead the Ricoh area as early as 06:00 while I was checking the West end street lamp poles.
- three Cormorant arrived with two of them staying.
- three Grey Herons were disputing who would stay and none of them wanted to leave.
- in contrast to the larger than usual count of gulls there were almost no Jackdaws or Rooks. Strange as Jackdaws are usually noisy so despite the gloomy conditions it is unlikely that I missed them.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 73 Greylag Geese: inbound together
- 23 Wood Pigeons
- 11 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 3 Jackdaws only
- 4 Rooks only
- 1 Siskin

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- *31 (16♂) Mallard
- 13 (>4♂) Tufted Duck
- 9 Moorhens
- 35 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- >150 Black-headed Gulls: 103 seen on the football field c.07:30,
- 12 Herring Gulls: one first winter was on the football field c.07:30.
- >500 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *3 Cormorant: see notes
- *3 Grey Herons: see notes

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 2 (0) Chiffchaffs

Noted on the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla
- *3 November Moth types Epirrita sp.

Springtails:
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type

Flies:
- 1 plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- 1 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.
- *1 unidentified midge, perhaps a gall midge

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- 2 other spiders
- 6 harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis

Sailing club HQ
I gave the walls of the sailing club HQ pre-dawn a miss today as there only seems to be the usual species of spider at the moment:

Noted later elsewhere:

Bees, wasps, etc.:
- *Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris
- European Hornet Vespa crabro: just one noted in one minute watching the nest site

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- *3 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

Mrs. Mallard looks to be smiling as she leave the lake.

A typical photo I take of Cormorants. One minute they are in the surface and by the time I have pressed the shutter they are not!

Apologies for the poor quality of these Grey Heron photos taken in low light. Here two of the sparring birds head off in different directions.

More sparring. At least twice one of the birds settled on the water. I was surprised how easily it took off with soggy wings.

This one had the decency to make a slow, close pass.

A Common Plume moth Emmelina monodactyla. Although single-brooded the adults fly between September and May and will fly during any warm spell during that time.

One of three November Moth types Epirrita sp. noted. Only when I edited the photo did I note the small, unidentified, spider lurking close by.

This Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris I noted on the Teece Drive fence seemed to moribund (though I didn't poke it to chack!).

A springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type and probably a real one with the long and curving antennae.

I see these small flies from time to time during Autumn and Winter. Obsidentify suggests a gall midge. This family is closely related to craneflies. Adults are difficult to identify. All the photos on NatureSpot are of the galls that the larvae produce on their particular host plant.

A bright splash of colour on a dull day: some remnant Common Ragwort Jacobaea vulgaris.

One of three harvestmen Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus I found on the Teece Drive fence. This one sporting five legs.

 Better. This one with six legs.

Yay! Best! One with all eight legs!

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies:
- 1 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- 38 midges of various species

Arthropods:
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 7 spiders: usual suspects plus
*1 Snake-back Spider Segestria senoculata [a tube spider]

Not a species of spider I see very often: it is a Snake-back Spider Segestria senoculata so-called from the abdomen pattern recalling that of a snake. It is one of the tube spiders, from the design on the web.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:30 – 10:35

(245th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- 12 Mute Swans noted.
- a duck and a drake Shoveler seen separately
- 12 Goosanders including one drake
- once again only five Great Crested Grebes: they seemed to be all adults

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Sparrowhawk

Noted on / around the water:
- 3 Canada Geese
- *52+ Greylag Geese: at least 46 along the edge of the island; six more flew in
- 12 Mute Swans
- *2 (1♂) Shoveler
- 24 (18♂) Mallard
- 3 (2?♂) Tufted Duck
- *12 (1♂) Goosander
- 10 Moorhens
- *93 Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- *18 Black-headed Gulls
- *3 Herring Gulls: arrived together
- *2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: adult present throughout; first winter arrived
- 7 Cormorants
- *1 Grey Heron

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (0) Chiffchaff

Noted around the area:

Moths:
- *1 November Moth type Epirrita sp.

Springtails:
- 1 perhaps Tomocerus vulgaris

Bees, wasps, etc.:
- 1 Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Mrs. Shoveler. I have no idea why the bill looks speckled. None of my Field Guides show this.

Disappearing stage-right is Mr. Shoveler, mixing it with the Greylag Geese.

A drake Goosander leads a "brownhead" Goosander. At this date immatures of both sexes and well as the ducks have brown heads and are often impossible to ascribe to age and sex. A Coot photo-bombing (hard not to when there are so many).

One drake and three brownheads. The bird wing-flapping is a duck – on drakes of any age the white panel seen here in the trailing edge of the wing extends across whole width of the wing, albeit paler in immatures. A Black-headed Gull photo-bombs here.

Four brownheads ignore the sparring Coots.

The drakes often show a different head-shape with a very steep crown. I have never noted it on any brownhead.

Not facing the right way! A trio of Herring Gulls, left to right: a first-winter; an adult-winter; a second-winter

 Here is the adult just beginning to get the, sometimes extensive, head streaking.

One the left the second-winter with dark in the centre part of the bill and extensive pale on the back and folded wings. On the right the first-winter with an all-dark bill and little, if any, pale only behind the nape.

A closer view of the first-winter.

For comparison an adult-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull, also beginning to acquire the head streaking.

Last of the gulls (for today!). A first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. A neat tail band with no marks on the upper tail. All dark wings with no paler inner primaries, just a small amount of pale on the outer webs when the primaries are, as here, fully-spread.

I think the adjective "stately" was invented for this.

My first November Moth type Epirrita sp. here this year.

This springtail is a puzzle. Obsidentify suggested Tomocerus vulgaris and it may be. That is reported to have "transverse iridescent bands of scales: however the scales are easily lost". Which suggests this is a fresh individual. The puzzle is that none of the springtails of this general form is shown as having a pale band across the basal antenna segment. Perhaps Tomocerus wilsonii?

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
14 Redwing
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Common Gull, though it could have been Mew/Ring-billed Gull!
Yellow Legged Gull
(Mike Cooper/Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Ducks
42 Redwing
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
4 Wigeon
1 Shoveler
8 Pochard
64 Tufted Ducks
30 Robins
(Ed Wilson)