6 Nov 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

7.0°C > 8.0°C: Started with low overcast and the lightest spits of rain only visible in my torch beam. The cloud lifted somewhat and I even saw a blue patch before light rain after 10:00. Almost calm. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:16 GMT

* = a species photographed today
! = a first sighting of the species this year
$ = a new species for me in this area

I'll let you decide how many of the changes since yesterday might have been in response to the fireworks last night. And we have at least two more days to come.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:55 – 09:05

(247th visit of the year)

An even quieter day.

Bird notes:
- no Mute Swans on the water. *A pair flew high South at 08:20.
- a duck (Eurasian) Wigeon was a new arrival.
- no Pochard found and a reduced number of Tufted Duck.
- the water was devoid of all gulls until 06:45 when a rush of c.400 Lesser Black-backs descended.
- the first Black-headed Gulls were heard at 06:55. I was not in a position to see how many. I logged 153 on the football field at c.07:25
- later gull arrivals comprised eight Herring and 84 Lesser Black-backs.
- *a couple of gull puzzles as well for more research.
- 69 fly-over Wood Pigeons were in three groups all heading north/north-east. One group seemed to be setting off from somewhere just to the North of the lake. Otherwise low-level local movements.
- no Starlings, Fieldfare or Redwings were noted. It is usually a busy time of year for these species to be flying over.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 7 Canada Geese: flew East together
- *2 Mute Swans
- 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 90 Wood Pigeons: of these 69 in three groups
- 445 Jackdaws
- 129 Rooks
- 2 Siskins

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese: throughout
- no Mute Swans
- 17 (10♂) Mallard: possibly more – much flying in and out
- 2 (1?♂) *(Eurasian) Wigeon
- no Pochard
- 41 (23♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 18 Coots only
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- >150 *Black-headed Gulls
- 8 *Herring Gulls
- >480 *Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 5 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron

Birds seen leaving roosts around the lake:

None

Later around the Teece Drive fence or elsewhere:

Nothing found

On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:

Moths:
- 1 November Moth type Epirrita sp.

True flies:
- 1 plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- 2 other smaller midges
- 1 male Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata
- 1 wood gnat, probably Sylvicola cinctus
- 5 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.

Bugs:
- 1 Hawthorn Shieldbug Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale

Beetles:
- 6 Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala

Arthropods:
- 1 *(Common) Striped Woodlouse Philoscia muscorum

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 *Garden Spider Araneus diadematus [Garden Cross Spider]
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius [Bridge Orbweaver]
- 5 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Two Mute Swans fly steadily South without even looking at the lake.

A (Eurasian) Wigeon in flight. Note the rounded head-profile, pale belly and pointed tail. In particular note the two-tone bill suggesting a possible drake.

A side-elevation view.

This implies there were two birds. This is a duck and her bill looks uni-coloured. This species often looks smudgy around the eye.

Gull puzzle #1. The bird in the centre looks small and dark-eyed as if it might be a Common Gull. A profile view would have clinched the ID with the distinctive rounded head of this species. It is a first-winter which I would have expected to show a paler back and a pale base to the bill.

Gull puzzle #2. From the left: a first-winter Lesser Black-back; a good question #1; two adult Lesser Black-backs; a Herring Gull behind; a Black-headed Gull; an adult Lesser Black-back; and a good question #2 with wings akimbo! Both the questionable birds look too dark for Herring Gulls and too pale for Lesser Black-backs. The wing-tip markings on #2 are a good fit for "just" a Herring Gull. #1 seems too streaked on the head to be either a Yellow-legged or Caspian Gull.

The group again. #1 looks to be a full adult with no black on the bill.

A slightly better view of #2 showing the wing-tip feathering. Certainly a Herring Gull but why did it look darker then usual on its back?

A ladybird that I cannot ID. For a start is there anybody home? There does not seem to be a head (pronotum) at either end! The spots look too large for a Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis and the colour is paler than usual. This large spots are reminiscent of the Water Ladybird Anisosticta novemdecimpunctata which turns this colour in Autumn. This is a species I have not recorded previously and which I am reluctant to "claim" without seeing its diagnostic pronotum.

A (Common) Striped Woodlouse Philoscia muscorum.

This seems to be a Garden Spider Araneus diadematus, also known as the Garden Cross Spider though the "cross" is not evident on this somewhat tubby-looking individual (signalling its intention to turn left?)

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
none

True flies:
- 3 unidentified midge

Arthropods:
- 2 Common Shiny Woodlouse Oniscus asellus
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 *possible money spider Lepthyphantes minutus
- 3 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

This small spider may be the money spider Lepthyphantes minutus, one of the largest money-spiders apparently.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:10 – 10:15

(245th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- again only one drake Shoveler
- no (Common) Teal located
- a drake Goosander present when I arrived: two more with a brownhead flew in together
- a persistently calling *Chiffchaff was searching for insects at the top end. Surely the latest date on which I have heard this species calling?

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 10 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Geese
- 1 (1♂) Shoveler
- 35 (24♂) Mallard
- no (Common) Teal
- 18 (9♂) *Tufted Duck
- 4 (3♂) Goosander: see notes
- 8 Moorhens
- 19 Coot
- 37 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted around the area:
dull with light rain starting.

Moths:
- 1 November Moth type Epirrita sp.
- 1 *Feathered Thorn Colotois pennaria. Same place as yesterday

Bees, wasps etc.:
- >10 wasps Vespula sp. A surprising number in the rain.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 harvestman Opilio canestrinii

That overhanging vegetation is a favourite place for ducks to hide. One duck Tufted Duck is easy to see. The eye and part of the flank feathering of another is to the right.

You will have to take my word for it – a Chiffchaff!

The Feathered Thorn moth Colotois pennaria was in exactly the same place as yesterday. I forgot to mention yesterday that this is my first-ever sighting of this species around The Flash and moth species #54 this year here.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
4 Wigeon
4 Gadwall
1 Teal
1 Pochard
64 Tufted Duck
21 Moorhens
235 Coots
5 Song Thrush
19 Fieldfare
18 Redwings
439 Jackdaws
89 Rooks
1 Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
c.110 Greylag Geese
2 Gadwall
7 Pochard
32 Tufted Ducks
4 Moorhens
145 Coots
1 Great Black-backed Gull
c.1650 Wood Pigeons
51 Redwings
302 Fieldfares
c.375 Jackdaws
c.100 Rooks
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
5 Pochard
40 Tufted Duck
18 Stock Doves
3800+ Wood Pigeons
6 Skylarks
1 Meadow Pipit
238 Fieldfare
19 Redwings
91 Starlings
3 Siskins
11 Linnets
1 Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
2 Yellow Legged Gull
2 Wigeon
(John Isherwood)

The Flash
1 Yellow Legged Gull
2 Goosander
(John Isherwood)

2008
Priorslee Lake
26 Greylag Geese
Gadwall
5 Shoveler
3 Pochard
79 Tufted Duck
1 Lapwing
Snipe
2 Herring Gulls
1 Yellow-legged Gull
16 Redwings
3 Fieldfares
9 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock Pool
4 Cormorants
3 Shoveler
3 Pochard
27 Tufted Duck
149 Coot
1 Yellow-legged Gull
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
30 Pochard
111 Tufted Ducks
1 drake Ruddy Duck
47 Coots
c.562 Black-headed Gulls
63 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
89 Wood Pigeons
22 Pied Wagtails
20 Wrens
12 Dunnocks
27 Robins
31 Blackbirds
5 Song Thrushes
22 Redwings
16 Magpies
111 Jackdaws
68 Rooks
86 Greenfinches
7 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)