2 Sep 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash.

Priorslee Lake:  05:05 – 06:45 // 07:45 – 09:50
The Flash:  06:50 – 07:40

9.0°C > 16.0°C:  Almost clear early. Some mist over the water. Later thin high cloud from W. Calm start with light and variable wind later. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:21 BST

Priorslee Lake:  05:05 – 06:45 // 07:45 – 09:50

(212th visit of the year)

Best today was a juvenile Common Gull that arrived with c.80 Black-headed Gulls, 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (mainly first-winter birds) and a first-winter Herring Gull, all together from the E at 08:45. A new species for my 2019 bird list here - #96.

Bird notes from today:
- Geese counts ‘best effort’ today. The outbound geese where in mixed flocks when it was still too dark to reliably ID each bird. The inbound geese were on unusual flight-lines and some groups partially below / behind trees.
- Four unsexed Tufted Ducks flew out W at 05:30. Later singles and twos seen at various locations in the lake before four ducks seen together.
- Yet another update to the Great Crested Grebes: the NW pair now apparently with only two juveniles; the NE pair still with four juveniles. Two of near-adult juveniles seem to have left as has the latest pair of non-breeding adults to arrive.
- The lone small juvenile Coot is growing and has now lost its red-head.
- A group of eight Stock Doves flew E together. This is likely the largest single group I have recorded here.
- A Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard drumming. In September!!
- Four of the Barn Swallows were likely migrants passing through.
- House Martins troublesome to locate against the clear sky. Eventually at least 13 seen.
- Chiffchaffs seemed to be calling everywhere today. Largest count of the year – but then there should be all the juveniles around now.
- This mornings ‘football’ field count gave me 68 Black-headed Gulls, 14 Wood Pigeons, seven Magpies, 21 Starlings and 74 Pied Wagtails.
- Four Mistle Thrushes flew NE together. This species forms post-breeding groups of up to 30 birds that roam the fields.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 162 Greylag Geese (104 outbound in eight groups; 58 inbound in three groups)
- 86 Canada Geese (32 outbound in six groups; 54 inbound in three groups)
- 3 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 Common Buzzard again
- 6 Black-headed Gulls
- 11 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: 7 of these juvenile / 1st winters
- 131 large gulls (too dark to ID)
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 8 Stock Doves
- 75 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Collared Doves
- 12 Jackdaws
- 69 Rooks
- 4 Mistle Thrushes

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 6 Barn Swallows
- >13 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 18 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (0) Blackcaps

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 13 (8♂) Mallard
- 8 (?♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron
- 7 + 4 +6 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 5 + 5 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 74 + 1 (1 recent brood) Coots
- c.85 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Common Gull (juvenile)
- 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls : 22 of these first-winters
- 1 Herring Gull: 1st winter
- 1 Kingfisher

On the lamp poles pre-dawn:
a clear chilly night with a very heavy dew.
- 3 Dicranopalpus ramosus harvestmen once again.

The following logged later:
- Butterflies:
        - Small White (Pieris rapae)
        - Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
- Hoverflies:
- Broad-banded Epistrophe (Epistrophe grossulariae)
- Drone-fly (Eristalis sp.)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- Volucella zonaria
And other things:
- very many Mystacides longicornis (caddis flies) again
- 1 Scorpion Fly (Panorpa germanica)
- 1 Grey Squirrel

The pre-sunrise sky with a hint of colour

I seem only able to get long-range shots of Great Crested Grebes with juveniles at the moment. The adult is bringing a small fish to the two waiting juveniles. Both adults from this pair were fishing this morning and only two juveniles were evident. It is possible that another was hiding in the reeds, though I suspect that one of the recent juveniles has been lost.

Part of the gaggle of immature gulls that flew in this morning. The bird at the back right is the interesting bird – note the much smaller bill. In front of it the paler large gull is a Herring Gull. The others all appear to be Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

Our ‘interesting’ bird is the one on the left here. As well as the smaller bill note the rather rounded head.

A good size comparison here – again it is on the left. 

And this really does show the smaller bill well. It is a juvenile Common Gull. ‘Common’ is not the correct epithet for this part of the country: it is my first here this year. It is also unusual in that it is still mainly in juvenile plumage – when I first saw it in flight I was confused as the upperwing lacked the pale grey panel that this species acquires by late September / early October. We can see signs of first-winter plumage with a hint of pale at the base of the bill. An instructive bird.

A first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull cruises past. Easy to see how dark the upper wing is even from this angle.

A female (the four black spots tell us that) Small White butterfly (Pieris rapae). When, as here, there is no scale to distinguish Small White and Large White it is the extent of the black around the wing-tip that separates. This is a very fresh specimen that shows a dark smudge below the inner black spot.

‘Only’ a Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria) but I submit that you would hard put to find a better posed specimen.

A particularly ‘bright’ banded hoverfly with the black ‘stripes’ straight and broad. It is a Broad-banded Epistrophe (Epistrophe grossulariae). The jet-black antennae separates from any confusion species.

Here from above the thorax shows just a hint of the striping that is so pronounced on The Footballer (Helophilus pendulus). My first record in 2019.

This dramatic-looking insect is the hoverfly Volucella zonaria which resembles a hornet though it is quite harmless. The light has perfectly highlighted the marks on the thorax.

Here is a close-up of the face and the compound eye. We get a good view of the antennae as well and they are more complex than is normally apparent. This is a female with the eyes well separated.

In close up what seems to be a hairy bumblebee covered in pollen. It reality the thorax seemed to be a very pale buffy orange.

This is, I think, the same bee emerging, even more pollen-coated, from a visit to a convolvulus flower. We see the body is black. There is also the suggestion that it is ‘wasp-waisted’ and I do wonder whether it is a bee at all. I am at a loss!

Lurking in dappled sunlight is this scorpion fly Panorpa germanica. As it lacks a curled ‘sting’ on its tail it is a female.
(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  06:50 – 07:40

(202nd visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- Now that most of the geese are out feeding it is rather quiet here.
- Mallard duckling hanging on...
and
- 1 Flounced Rustic moth (Luperina testacea) on a lamp pole in squirrel alley.
- 1 woodlouse sp. on a lamp post, probably Porcellio spinicornis.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 2 Feral Pigeon
- 14 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Starlings
- 1 Grey Wagtail

Hirundines etc. noted.
None

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 6 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (0) Blackcap

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans as usual
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 1 Canada Goose
- 34 (17♂) + 1 (1 brood) Mallard
- 22 (8♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 21 Coots
- 5 Black-headed Gulls: no juvenile / 1st winters
- 1 Kingfisher

A moth a long way up one of the tallest lamp poles in the area. So the photo had to be ‘over enlarged’. It is an unusually brown-looking specimen but I am reasonably sure it is a Flounced Rustic (Luperina testacea). My reasoning is influenced by the angled and wavy paler area near the wing tip. The normally obvious dark marking in the central area where the wings join at rest is not apparent: I think that is because of the acute angle from which the photo was necessarily taken.

There are two species of woodlouse with a dark line down the back. I think this is Porcellio spinicornis (no vernacular name), the larger of the two. It also lacks the ‘stepped’ outline of the other species - Common Striped Woodlouse (Philoscia muscorum)
(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 Moorhen(s) heard from and a juveniles seen beside the upper pool.
- 1 Blackcap heard calling beside the upper pool.
and
- 1 Angle Shades moth (Phlogophora meticulosa) on one of the lamp poles.
- 1 Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).

No problem with this moth. It is an Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa). Distinctive both in shape at rest and in markings. It is a very common moth. However my records suggest it is the first I have recorded in Shropshire.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day..........

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's News Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2011
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
c.65 House Martins
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
Swifts
(Ed Wilson)