Saturday, 20th

Water Rail - single bird showing well in ditch on N.side(usual spot). This is my earliest record for the species.
Goldeneye - single female loosely associating with a small party of Tufted Duck.Initially close to dam and then later on N.side of Lake
Fielfare - several parties flying west. > 100 in total.

Had a good look for Golden Plover to east of Lake but no success. Not seen any so far this autumn.

(John Isherwood)

Top

Saturday, 13th

Mild and calm but very dull with low overcast, occasional light drizzle and very moderate visibility

After the bumper crop of sightings yesterday it was back to earth with a bump!

'Best of day' prize goes to the heard of Tree Creepers in the NE area

Migrants were in distinctly short supply:
A single Meadow Pipit seemed to be calling from the trees in the SW area, probably where it roosted over-night from the same direction there were several calls from Redwing(s) between 06:55 and 07:20 and I concluded that these calls were given by the same bird(s) awakening rather than fly-overs - a column of gnats above my head made looking for over-flying birds rather hard! Much later I did see 5 Redwings in flight

Other notes
1 of the 3 juvenile Great Crested Grebes seems to have gone. I rather suspected as much yesterday, but I again failed to find it. I hope it has flown away: it seemed old-enough, though I never saw any of them fly (probably not the immature seen at The Flash yesterday as that lacked any head-stripes). 3 adults still present. And 1 of the 2 remaining juveniles is still following the parent and begging - the other has been independent for at least 3 weeks
no Heron today
39 (or 41 at first count) Greylag Geese outbound at 07:28
no Canada Geese seen in the poor conditions
2 adult Swans arrived from the NW at 07:56 and needed to be 'dealt with'! One soon took the hint and left at 07:59 to the SE. The other took longer to dislodge and only left at 08:29 after much chasing and scattering of the Mallard and Coots
39 Mallard on the lake at 09:00 when I did a full sweep count (27 drakes): but 7 birds noted flying off earlier may not have returned, so 46 goes in my log
3 Pochard today with a 2nd drake
42 Tufted Duck seemed to be the total: hard to be certain as the gloomy weather made them hard to count and keep track of
no Ruddy Ducks seen
1 Kestrel on the wires to the SE at 07:40 - a rare moment when I could see the wires clearly
no other raptors
13 Moorhens noted
170 Coots counted
335 Black-headed Gulls arrived from the W between 06:40 and 07:25. Thereafter birds streamed back W. I logged a further 297 arriving and while there was probably some duplication many of these arrived at height and there were some Lesser Black-backed Gulls intermixed and these had not been present earlier. At 09:00 there were just 103 on the lake 68 Lesser Black-backed-type Gulls noted with 7 on the lake at 08:40 that, unusually, stayed until after 09:45. As usual mainly W-bound, but a party of 13 flew NE at 09:35
2 Herring Gulls at least in amongst the Lesser Black-backed types
2 Feral Pigeons flew E
2 Stock Doves did the same - my first for several days
101 Wood Pigeons: low count that does not seem entirely due to the poor visibility - there were fewer around the lake as well as flying over
2 Grey Wagtails: birds seem to be more regular in the Teece Drive / Wesley Brook area than at the dam at the moment
11 Pied Wagtails though 9 of these were 'heard only' over flights
no woodpeckers this morning
today's count of Blackbirds was 19; and Robins was 57
7 Song Thrushes a better number: only 1 seen with most heard scolding pre-dawn. There are at least 3 together in the SW bushes
2 Chiffchaffs only: both heard
the Long-tailed Tits late up today - heard at 07:26: but still well ahead
of the Great (08:03) and Blue (08:06) Tits
3 Jays at least with 2 seen flying off across the M54
low corvid passage was to be expected with the poor visibility but even so just 42 Jackdaws and 9 Rooks was disappointing. The expected passage coincided with a particularly dark spell which saw some of the street-lights in Castle Farm Way come back on!
64 Starlings: 58 of these were seen in the poplars in the SW corner by the M-way. It is very strange that they gather here well after dawn for a week or so at this time every year. Apart from any reed-bed roost they are otherwise rather scarce around the lake. These birds flew from and then back to the wires to the E. The other 6 were 2 small groups that flew over
low numbers of all finches with no flocks seen at all
I may just have heard some Siskins feeding quietly in trees in the NE area but was unable to confirm
3 Reed Buntings with a male seen in the bushes; 1 seen flying in to the reeds from the S; and 1 other heard

also
a bat was briefly tempted out at the rather late time of 07:21 over the NE area
2 Grey Squirrels noted: no Rabbits seen
all the molehills at the E end were flattened when the grass was cut yesterday and none had sprouted back up
1 carpet moth inside one of the street lights pre-dawn had disappeared later and must remain a mystery
the only other insect on the lamps was a carefully wrapped hover-fly sp. ready for a spider's meal
I've mentioned the plethora of gnats dancing above my head ...
outside the Teece Drive gate a cluster of 4 Shaggy Ink-cap fungi have sprung up - oddly I did not see them at 08:15 but they were about 9 inches high and very obvious at 09:45. Could they have shot up in that time?

(Ed Wilson)

Top

Friday, 12th

Despite the rather gloomy weather first thing it was an excellent andinteresting day at both the lake and The Flash this morning

Stars of the morning:

- my first confirmed Tawny Owl at the lake when one made me jump out of my skin by screeching near the Teece Drive gate directly above my head at 06:41. This was species 107 for my lake year-list
- my second-ever Stonechat at the lake when I spied a juvenile in the scrubby bits at the W end at 09:25. This was species 108 for my lakeyear-list

Other lake highlights
- a first-winter Common Gull briefly on a day with more gulls than recent days
- 29 Redwings seen overhead and more heard: none seemed to have roosted here though
- 27 Fieldfare flew W at 07:30 and were my first of the winter
- 6 Siskins flew W
- 1 Redpoll flew S
- but 57 unidentified finches logged in 4 parties: from the flock 'jizz' I would judge none of the parties comprised Goldfinches, Linnets or Siskins but at a loss to know what they were - and at least 2 different species as a party of 15 I thought initially were Redwings they were so large

Other notes from the lake
the Little Grebe seemed to have gone
35 Greylag Geese outbound at 07:16
Canada Geese heard calling at 06:30: only birds seen were 13 outbound at 06:50
44 Mallard: 29 of these drakes
2 Pochard - a drake and a duck - were different to yesterday's 2 immatures
46 Tufted Duck at least: they were being harassed by the gulls and continually diving and hard to count: 2 flew off towards The Flash at 07:50
2 Sparrowhawks flying together over the NW trees with 'elastic', deep wing-beats (display?) at 07:14 were the only raptors logged (apart from the owl!)
11 Moorhens logged
174 Coot was another 'year-best'
274 Black-headed Gulls noted arriving from the W, the first at 07:06 - none had roosted. At 08:40 I counted 203 on the lake
281 Lesser Black-backed-type gulls logged. 7 of these noted on the lake with one most peculiar 1st winter bird with a deformed wing that stuck up vertically at the tip and making the bird's profile rather like a push-me-pull-you when I first saw it in the gloom at 07:35. It was present throughout and while I never saw it fly it was on the 'pier' for a while.
At least 150 of these birds were seen heading SW from the direction of the tip at 08:10
1 Herring Gull specifically identified overhead, but none on the lake another large count of Blackbirds (28) and Robins (55) around the lake
177 Wood Pigeons logged: conditions were good for seeing the early E-bound movement and the log of just 121 birds suggests that many have found alternative food sources. 28 in the trees around the lake was a 'normal' number
1 Green Woodpecker heard calling, probably from the Ricoh grass, at 09:20: presumed same in the NW trees at 09:45
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker seen and heard in flight at the W end
2 Meadow Pipits only: 1 heard in flight; the other an uncharacteristically silent bird also in flight
no Sky Larks logged
12 Pied Wagtails noted with 7 seen and the rest heard: significant roost-dispersal, possibly from the M-way services, has not been apparent for the last 3 days
4 Song Thrushes noted with 3 together in the SW bushes one of which was sub-singing
1 Mistle Thrush heard calling in flight but not seen
Corvid roost dispersal was much better with 315 Jackdaws and 97 Rooks logged despite the gloomy conditions. 94 Jackdaws and 74 Rooks flew over the lake at c.07:15 with the main party of at least 200 more Jackdaws to the E at 07:28. Long 'tail' of singles / pairs of both species
33 Starlings in 6 small groups in flight
3 Chiffchaffs this morning
29 Greenfinches logged, 19 of which seemed to be leaving a roost in the NE area in small groups: will investigate
4 Reed Buntings at least with 2 flying off E from the W-end reeds

also noted
1 flushed a Fox from the N shore at 06:45 having just flushed the Mallard Reynard was stalking for breakfast!
no other mammals - oddly no bats on this mild morning
1 moth silhouetted on a street-light pre-dawn had gone later but was probably a Light Brown Apple Moth
also on the lights pre-dawn was a plumed midge and a small fly: no wasps!
finally
some splendid 'mushrooms' in the wood along the N shore - under trees they are presumably NOT edible Mushrooms

(Ed Wilson)

Top

Thursday, 11th

A very misty lake this morning that prevented me from logging many fly-overs. A clearance between 08:00 and 08:30 allowed me to log most of the birds on the lake

Highlights from the visit

1 immature Little Grebe again
the 4 cygnets were being distinctly 'un-Mute' this morning making a lot of grunts
35 Greylag Geese flew over: a noisy single flew E at 07:03 with perhaps the same bird W at 09:45. The main group of 32 or 33 birds flew silently E at 07:15
no Canada Geese on the lake or over
a duck Wigeon throughout
2 Pochard, both immatures I think
39 Tufted Duck seemed to be the total in the mist
2 Ruddy Ducks: a pair
12 Moorhens noted: not aged
172 Coots my highest count of the year
Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and Kestrel not seen
175 Black-headed Gulls noted arriving from the E in the mist, with most heading off SW later: with 131 on the lake at 08:30 more must have arrived from somewhere else
19 Lesser Black-backed Gulls over in the mist: 1 immature briefly on the lake
85 Wood Pigeons only logged - just 58 flying E as most were lost in the mist
5 Meadow Pipits over
4 Sky Larks at least over - all heading W
no hirundines again - all gone?
2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers heard calling
even more Blackbirds (23) and Robins (58) than yesterday
2 Song but no Mistle Thrushes
42 Redwings at least: 25 flushed / emerged from trees around the lake with 6 seen climbing up trees from roost and away at the W end, and a party of 14 in the NE trees. At least another 17 flying over
4 Chiffchaffs again with 1 tempted to sing when the sun came out
Jays heard
just 2 Jackdaws heard in the misty conditions: but 56 Rooks noted
party of 15 Starlings over: the wires could not be seen most of the time
no Siskins but 2 single Redpolls flew over

also
1 Squirrel; more new molehills
no bats seen
1 Light Brown Apple Moth on the lamps
other insects on the lights pre-dawn were 1 wasp sp.; 2 large ichneumon sps.; 1 lacewing; 1 midge!

(Ed Wilson)

Top

Wednesday, 10th

Back from a 2-week aircraft-spotting trip in Japan and South Korea(!) at 23:58 on Tuesday evening but managed the usual early-morning Priorslee Lake and Flash visit Wednesday morning

Highlights from the visit

1 immature Little Grebe
37 Greylag Geese flew over
45 Canada Geese sharing the lake with the resident Swans at 06:30 left by 07:30. No others seen
4 Pochard (though I could only find 2 later)
45 Tufted Duck
1 Ruddy Duck
11 Moorhens noted with 9 of these immatures
165 Coots
Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and Kestrel all seen
161 Black-headed Gulls a low number for the date
46 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, almost all over
234 Wood Pigeons logged - 181 flying E early
7 Meadow Pipits over
no hirundines
more Blackbirds (19) and Robins (50) than on previous visits
3 Song and 2 Mistle Thrushes
1 probable Redwing in flight to N
4 Chiffchaffs calling
222 Jackdaws was good for the misty murky conditions: only 5 Rooks noted
just 9 Starlings on the wires (>200 2 weeks ago)
11 Siskins in party: 8 put up by Sparrowhawk from the trees alongside Teece Drive extension, but later 11 in party along the N side

also
2 Squirrels; 4 Rabbits; lots of molehills
2 bats at least of different species
1 moth on the lamps provisionally identified as a Sallow

(Ed Wilson)