9 Oct 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake only

11.0°C > 12.0°C: Overcast. Light westerly breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:25 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

Some urgent and essential home maintenance will mean intermittent and / or abbreviated visits for the next 10 days or so.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:40 – 09:15

(245th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a trio of Mute Swans flew West.
- the pair of Shoveler still present.
- the number and composition of the Mallard is "best effort". There was much flying about and hiding away. My count is from a single sweep of the water. It does not include nine birds that flew off East c.06:50. They may or may not have returned before I did the count.
- a single duck Tufted Duck flew in.
- two Cormorants arrived together one departing almost immediately
- very few Wood Pigeons flying over. As I was preparing to leave well over 50 birds were put up from the Ricoh grounds and swirled around, possibly mostly settling back down there.
- one Song Thrush was quietly singing. In a different location to the two songsters from Tuesday.
- the Jackdaws and Rooks were a challenge. A very tight group of c.90 Jackdaws were swirling around changing relative position making individual counting impossible. The continuous stream of Rooks with Jackdaws interspersed was also hard: the number of birds was not a problem but ascribing them all accurately to species was hard.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 107 Greylag Geese: counted flying inbound together.
- 3 Mute Swans: together
- 7 Wood Pigeons only again
- 5 Black-headed Gulls: flew very high South
- 23 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 158 Jackdaws
- 184 Rooks
- 3 Pied Wagtails: singles yet again

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Shoveler
- 22 (14♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Tufted Duck: arrived
- 6 Moorhens
- 36 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- c.60 Black-headed Gulls: 58 (of these?) seen on the football field c.07:30
- 9 Herring Gulls
- c.100 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: arrived together: one soon departed
- 1 Grey Heron

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

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

Moths:
- 1 November Moth-type. Epirrita sps. [Autumnal, November, Pale November Moths]
species 95; remarkably consistent first dates 9 / 7 / 11 / 10 / 6 November in previous five years

Springtails:
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type

Bugs:
- 1 Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius

Flies:
- 1 presumed "blackfly" aphid
- 2 winter craneflies Trichocera sp.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 Orb-web spider Metellina segmentata
- 2 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- 3 other unidentified spiders
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
- 3 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Noted on the walls of the sailing club HQ pre-dawn:

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 39 spiders: usual suspects
Nothing else.

Noted later elsewhere:

Bees, wasps, etc.:
- European Hornet Vespa crabro: at least five around the nest site

Mammals:
- a small bat flying around tree tops in the south-east area c.06:45 again.
Nothing else

Not much for you on an overcast morning. Mostly the photos are of insects etc. taken pre-dawn. This duck Tufted Duck is an exception. She flew in and sort-of posed for me.

My first November Moth-type Epirrita sp. of the year. This group – Autumnal, November and Pale November Moths – cannot be reliably separated without genitalia examination. This is moth species #95 for me at the lake this year. My "first dates" for this often abundant group are remarkably consistent. For the previous five years the date has been 09 / 07 / 11 / 10 and 06 October.

A springtail of the Pogonognathellus longicornis-type, though the antennae look too short for that particular species in the group of many similar species.

A Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius. This species comes in many differently-marked forms though this one is very bland.

I presume this tiny creature is the winged form of one of the "blackfly" aphids.

One of two winter craneflies Trichocera sp. I noted. At first glance it looks as if the wings have markings towards their tips. Not so: it is the markings on the street lamp pole showing under the shadow of the wing tips. The wings themselves end above that area.

Based on the "tuning fork" mark on the thorax of this spider it must be the Orb-web spider Metellina segmentata.

One of two Long-jawed Orb-web Spiders Tetragnatha sp. on the street lamp poles this morning.

And the other one.

One of three very similar small spiders that remain unidentified. Obsidentify wanted to call this a Garden Spider Araneus diadematus. I am fairly certain it isn't.

(Ed Wilson)

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

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies:
- 48 midges of various species

Arthropods:
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 5 spiders: usual suspects including
1 lace-weaver spider Amaurobius sp.

Not a common spider species I note in the tunnel: a lace-weaver spider Amaurobius sp. This one was seen on the ceiling.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2013
Priorslee Lake
4 Wigeon
4 Gadwall
1 Pochard
60 Tufted Duck
1 Water Rail
235 Coots
7 Song Thrushes
118 Fieldfare
30 Redwings
466 Jackdaws
139 Rooks
c.450 Starlings from roost
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
c.100 Greylag Geese
3 Gadwall
8 Pochard
18 Tufted Ducks
153 Coots
c.500 Black-headed Gulls
c.450 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
10 Herring Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
118 Wood Pigeons
103 Redwings
154 Fieldfares
809 Jackdaws
201 Rooks
7 Siskin
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
1 Pink-footed Goose
c.100 Greylag Geese
41 Canada Geese
41 Tufted Duck
12 Goosander
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Yellow legged Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
28 Pochard
65 Tufted Duck
46 Greenfinches
5 Fieldfares
11 Redwings
12 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
2 Goosanders
1 Pochard
45 Tufted Duck
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Great Black-backed Gull
1 Gadwall
1 Shoveler
2 Wigeon
Peregrine Falcon
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

2006
Priorslee Lake
23 Pochard
75 Tufted Ducks
950+ Black-headed Gulls
1204+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls
499 Wood Pigeons
11 Meadow Pipits
23 Robins
23 Blackbirds
13 Fieldfares
4 Song Thrushes
18 Redwings
1 Willow Tit
321 Jackdaws
241 Rooks
22 Greenfinches
9 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)