2 Nov 16

The Flash in passing; then Priorslee Lake; back via The Flash

The Flash: 07:10 – 07:20: 10:05 – 10:35
Location

Sunrise: 07:09 GMT

3°C > 9°C: Mainly clear with a few patches of low cloud with rather more thin, high cloud. Mainly light W wind. Excellent visibility

 Some significant passage this morning with highlights being
- >8100 (gulp!) migrant Wood Pigeons
- 18 Skylarks on the move
- Peregrine over the lake

(101st visit of the year)

First pass notes
- just the one Canada Goose (as well as the ever-present and non-flying feral all-white farmyard specimen)
- 1 drake Goosander arrived, apparently from the N / NE at 07:15, closely followed by 6 brownheads
- 14 Black-headed Gulls passing high over towards the lake
- 71 Wood Pigeons over in 6 small groups – passage first noted 07:17

Second pass notes
- now 11 brownhead Goosander
and
- late Red Admiral on Ivy
- still a few wasp sp. around the ivy
- several Eristalis tenax hoverflies also on the ivy

Birds noted flying over
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 7 Jackdaws
- 1 Skylark
- 1 Meadow Pipit
- 2 Goldfinches as ever!

 The counts from the water
- 2 Mute Swans
- 19 Canada Geese
- 1 all white feral goose
- 29 (21♂) Mallard
- 18 (12♂) Tufted Ducks only
- 12 (1♂) Goosander
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 1 Great Crested Grebe only
- 5 Moorhens
- 11 Coots
- 39 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Dawn across The Flash.

A Red Admiral on the Ivy. November is about the hardest moth of the year to find butterflies as any warm weather after Christmas will awaken a few hibernating moths. The very warm Autumn seems to have prevented this specimen starting to hibernate. I should perhaps point out that it is now realised that while many of the Vanessid butterflies – Red Admiral, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell etc. – do hibernate a large percentage ‘reverse migrate’ back to the Mediterranean.

A late wasp sp. enjoys the last of the nectar. All the wasps I saw here today seemed to be particularly small.

And this species of hoverfly was still at work: it is Eristalis tenax which flies all-year when it is warm-enough (generally the cut-off for insects is c.10°C.
And here is another specimen.

(Ed Wilson)

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Priorslee Lake: 07:25 – 09:55
Location

(138th visit of the year)

Notes from today
- the 2 brownhead Goosander may have landed briefly: I only saw them flying low around the lake and then leaving to the SE
- first Cormorant for a while dropped in: an immature
- Little Grebe again: has it been hiding since I last saw it?
- the Wood Pigeon passage lasted until c.09:15 after which it was very sporadic with some small groups and even some singles. The most intense passage was just after 08:00. The biggest group contained, I estimated, at least 780 birds, one of the largest I can recall seeing. In with these groups were at least 37 Stock Doves and a single Feral Pigeon. Groups were passing thick and fast to E and W, all headed more or less S or SW, and it is very likely that the true number was considerably higher. Whilst I was trying to count / estimate a group over here there were likely groups over there that I missed
- the number of winter thrushes – Fieldfares and Redwings – was, by comparison, rather low. These tend to pass somewhat earlier and I may have arrived too late
- the Sky Lark groups were passing S, W and N so did not seem to be a migration as such, just movement
and
- 2 November Moth agg. moths on one of the lamps today – the only lamp not in full sun when I checked. Likely any moths on the sunlit lamps would have flown off to hide

Counts of birds flying over the lake (in addition to those on / around lake)
- 28 Canada Geese (2 groups)
- 2 (0) Goosander
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 1 Peregrine (female)
- 51 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 37 Stock Doves
- >8050 Wood Pigeons (94 groups logged)
- 13 Jackdaws
- 6 Rooks
- 17 Skylarks (6 groups)
- 49 Starlings (6 groups)
- 32 Fieldfare (3 groups)
- 40 Redwings (also 3 groups)
- 5 Pied Wagtails
- 1 Meadow Pipit
- 2 Greenfinches
- 4 Goldfinches again
- 9 Siskins
- 1 Linnet
- 2 Lesser Redpolls

Count of birds seen leaving roosts around the lake
*** all gone before I arrived ***

The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 1 Mute Swans
- 4 (2♂) Gadwall again
- 8 (4♂) Mallard
- 70 (34♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Little Grebe
- 7 Great Crested Grebes
- 10 Moorhens
- 63 Coots
- 96 Black-headed Gulls
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

The 2 brown-headed Goosanders over the lake.

Another view showing the upperwing pattern rather better.

All the looking up for the Wood Pigeons left little time for much else: however this Autumn colour deserved to be recorded.

And in more detail: Beech (Fagus sp.) I think.

Cheating a bit here as this is not-so-much a garden escape as a garden over-hang. I am no gardener so ID is a bit of guesswork but I think it is a Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina).

More from my favourite Acer sp. before all the leaves come off.

Strangely this branch on the same tree shows almost no signs of autumn colour.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day in ...........
2015
Priorslee Flash
Today's Sightings Here

 2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2012
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
7 Pochard
Kestrel
Little Grebe
Sparrowhawk
(John Isherwood)

 2011
Priorslee Lake
4 Yellow legged Gulls
(John Isherwood)

 2010
Priorslee Lake
36 Pochard
85 Tufted Ducks
4 Lapwings over 
c.200 Starlings roosted at W end 
53 Wood Pigeons
249 Fieldfare
14 Redwings
7 Siskins
1 Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

 2006
Priorslee Lake
Little Grebes
17 Pochard
57 Tufted Ducks
1 drake Ruddy Duck
c.170 Golden Plover
1175 Wood Pigeons
1 Kingfisher
16 Pied Wagtails
22 Wrens
10 Dunnocks
27 Robins
22 Blackbirds
298 Fieldfares
8 Song Thrushes
24 Redwings
1 Mistle Thrush
69 Starlings
12 Chaffinches
33 Greenfinches
11 Goldfinches
1 Redpoll
5 Bullfinches
9 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

 2005
Priorslee Lake
Adult Arctic Tern
172 Redwing
9 Pochard
47 Tufted Duck
Siskin
Redpolls
7 Reed Buntings
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)