27 Oct 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 11.0°C: Mostly overcast with a very few light showery bursts. Clearing somewhat after 10:00. Moderate westerly wind gusting fresh at times. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:58

* = a species photographed today
$ = my first sighting of the species for this year
$$ = my first ever recorded sighting of the species in the area

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:45 – 08:55

(262nd visit of the year)

Bird notes
Very quiet. No Wood Pigeon passage and fewer gulls on the water.

Other bird notes:
- *a trio of Shoveler noted: two drakes.
- an increase in the number of Tufted Duck present
- no Little Grebe found. Perhaps it saw me before I saw it.
- after the early arriving Black-headed Gulls had begun to disperse I visited the football field area. Initially there was none on what I term the football field – the fenced off area: but there was, unusually, 87 on the academy's own pitch inside their grounds. These flushed off (reason not known) and 69 then settled on the football field for a while.
- another high count of Jackdaws: some were passing low to the East; others high to the West. Very confusing.
- a Reed Bunting was seen to leave the south-side reeds soon after dawn and fly off West.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 12 Canada Geese: westbound together
- *114 Greylag Geese: all westbound: 113 more or less together in small groups and skeins. A lone bird a few minutes later
- *2 mainly white feral geese in with one of the Greylag groups
- 1 drake Goosander
- 16 Wood Pigeons only
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- c.400 Jackdaws
- 41 Rooks only
- 2 Pied Wagtails: singles
- 1 Siskin

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- *3 (2♂) Shoveler
- 10 (6♂) Mallard
- 25 (>8♂) Tufted Duck
- 9 Moorhens
- 55 Coots
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- c.200 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls
- c.185 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: c.175 before 06:55: 11 after 07:45
- 1 Grey Heron

Warblers recorded

None

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

Moths:
- *1 Narrow-winged Grey Eudonia angustea
- 5 November Moth types Epirrita sp.

Flies:
- *4 flies of different species perhaps including one Suillia pallida.

Bugs:
- *1 Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

Noted later elsewhere:
on a wall of the Telford Sailing Club HQ:

Flies:
- 1 cranefly Tipula pagana
on the Teece Drive fence

Bugs:
- *1 $ Tree Damsel Bug Himacerus apterus

A small skein of geese. The upper six are Greylag Geese and the lower two birds are feral geese with different amounts of white.

Little more than a record shot of the three Shoveler, two of them drakes with the right-most bird not yet in full breeding plumage. He may be a first-winter bird.

My second Narrow-winged Grey moth Eudonia angustea here this year: the last one back in August. It does not look very "grey", more brown. The markings fit this species as does the flight period.

A fly advancing on one of the five November Moth types that were on the street lamp posts here....

...This fly. I think I have probably logged this species as the Muscid fly Phaonia pallida. I am now sure it isn't that species as it is too slender. Quite what it is though requires more research.

Another fly I cannot identify. It seems to have a slight bulge in the leading edge of the wing which would point to a species of Muscid fly in the genus Phaonia. However the sheen on the abdomen is reminiscent of one of the blowflies in the Calliphora family.

And another! The only strong suggestion from any my apps was for the House-fly Musca domestica. It is not that species because the wing venation is very different and the wings here are brown tinged and not clear.

This may, just may, be Suillia pallida. I have seen similar species all with dark markings in the wings. This species, as its scientific name hints, lacks markings. Then again I may be in the wrong family completely!

On somewhat safer ground with this Tree Damsel Bug Himacerus apterus. This species has very short red-brown wings that cover only a small part of the abdomen. The wings are "micropterous" and too small for flight. This bug is an arboreal species feeding on aphids etc. in the canopy. So quite what it was doing on the Teece Drive fence is hard to say. I guess if you were on a leaf that has fallen off then you need to climb up anything that looks likely to get you back to the food.

A Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel pre-dawn:
Low numbers: the wind was whistling through the tunnel.

Moths:
- 1 Mottled Umber Erranis defoliaria: day eleven

Flies:
- 11 midges of various species

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 2 spiders
- *1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

It is not often I find the harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis in the tunnel. Identify by the combination of pale stripe down the back and the abrupt change in length width c.40% down every leg.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:00 – 10:20

(257th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- twelve Mute Swans including the first winter bird again.
- a pair of (Common) Teal was still tucked up against the island. The drake and duck were seen on separate occasions between all the geese.
- *now at least five drake Goosander.
- the Little Grebe was not seen here either.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Sparrowhawk

Noted on / around the water:
- >40 Canada Geese: more inside the island?
- >34 Greylag Geese: more inside the island?
- no mainly white feral geese
- 12 Mute Swans: see notes
- 27 (19♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Common Teal
- 11 (2?♂) Tufted Duck
- *36 (5♂) Goosander: see notes
- 9 Moorhens again
- 90 Coots
- 7 Great Crested Grebes
- 61 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls: first- and second-winter
- 2 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted around the area:

Moths:
- *5 November Moth types Epirrita sp.
all in squirrel alley

Bees, wasps etc.:
- >25 wasps: only Common Wasps Paravespula vulgaris specifically identified

Four-winged flies:
- *1 Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperia carnea

Fungus:
- *perhaps Silverleaf Fungus Chondrostereum purpureum
- *perhaps Root Rot Heterobasidion annosum

A Goosander moulting from a brownhead in to a drake. The wispy crest is even more wispy as it replaced by the drake's short bottle-green feathering. There were five obvious drakes today, more than I have seen here for many years. Brownheads always dominate.

Two brownhead Goosanders fly off. These are ducks, either adults or immatures. Immature drakes have the white panel in the inner wing extending across the width of the wing though it is greyer in immatures.

They have colourful feet and legs. Rather strange as most fish have good colour vision and could spot them easily.

A Carrion Crow tucking in to yesterday's left-overs.

Down the hatch it goes.

Crows are not quite as "all black" as they are portrayed in literature. Many of the feathers have thin white fringes.

November Moth types can be hard to spot against the street lamp poles. I did some checking as to what species they might be using the data on the West Midlands Moths "flying tonight" tab. There there are 2537 unassigned to specific identity: 857 as "real" November Moths Epirrita dilutata: 77 as Pale November Moth E. christyi and 42 as Autumnal Moth E. autumnata. The fourth species in the group, Small Autumnal Moth E. filigrammaria, is a moorland species which flies in August.

A Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperia carnea. I have not seen any as yet starting to turn brown so as it be less conspicuous while they over-winter as adults.

One of two photos I took of fungus that were close together. Showing the photos to Obsidentify produced different, but confident, identities. This is perhaps Silverleaf Fungus Chondrostereum purpureum

While this is perhaps Root Rot Heterobasidion annosum. This seems less likely because, as the name suggests, it rots the roots of trees. NatureSpot describes it as forming large brackets. Both are growing here on trees felled ("thinned") by the council last year. I must keep an eye on how the fungus develops.

(Ed Wilson)

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Priorslee Lake
1 Adult Great Black-backed Gull
1000+ large gulls
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Great Black-backed Gull
11 Golden Plover
2 Kingfishers
16 Reed Buntings
5 Skylarks
8 Meadow Pipits
71 Redwings
457 Fieldfare
31 Siskins
1 Linnet
4 Redpolls
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
40 Tufted Duck
16 Pochard
2 Ruddy Duck
Common Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
c.2500 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1 Kingfisher
2 Goldcrest
42 Fieldfare
Willow Tit
14 Long-tailed Tits
(Martin Adlam)

26 Oct 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

6.0°C > 8.0°C: Another morning of light showers early, fading away to sunny intervals before more general cloud arrived. Chilly moderate westerly wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:55
All times now GMT

* = a species photographed today
$ = my first sighting of the species for this year
$$ = my first ever recorded sighting of the species in the area

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:40 – 08:45

(261st visit of the year)

Bird notes
Another Wood Pigeon passage with one party of >500 birds. All the others of a more modest size.

Other bird notes:
- I was inside a wooded area when most of the Greylag Geese flew westbound so the numbers recorded are much lower than usual.
- a Little Grebe found again: probably been hiding all along.
- reckoned by daylight time the gulls were late in. They were also in lower numbers both early and later.
- there remains little sign of any passage of gulls, especially Lesser Black-backed Gulls. In earlier years sometimes large numbers passed over or to the West heading south-west. I surmised that these were on roost dispersal from, say, Aqualate Mere in Staffordshire. I am not seeing any this second-winter period.
- a big and prolonged passage of Jackdaws: less so of Rooks.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 9 Canada Geese: westbound together
- 11 Greylag Geese: a duo westbound at the early time of 06:25; two small groups later
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 1 Stock Dove
- c.1200 Wood Pigeons: c.1175 of these estimated in ten migrant groups
- 1 Herring Gull
- 23 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 379 Jackdaws
- 110 Rooks
- 1 Skylark
- 3 Pied Wagtails: singles
- 3 Siskins: together

Counts from the lake area:
- 3 Canada Geese: visited briefly
- 2 Mute Swans
- 17 (10♂) Mallard
- 12 (5♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhens
- 46 Coots
- 1 Little Grebe
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- c.300 Black-headed Gulls
- 12 Herring Gulls
- c.225 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: c.200 before 06:45: c.25 after 07:45
- 5 Cormorants: a trio and a single arrived
- 1 Grey Heron

Warblers recorded

None

Noted on the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn:
The cold and rain did not worry the moths much.

Moths:
- 6 November Moth types Epirrita sp.

Flies:
- 1 fly Dryomyza anilis
- 1 $$ Protoclythia rufa
- 1 other species of fly

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 2 male harvestmen Leiobunum rotundum

Noted later elsewhere:
on the Teece Drive fence

Flies:
- 1 cranefly Tipula pagana

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Fungus:
- possible Weeping Widow Lacrymaria lacrymabunda

Between the showers there was some colour in the sky.

Just as the sun rises.

With the sun up and dark shower clouds to the West the Autumn colours were shown to good effect.

Perhaps why Americans call this season "Fall".

A Little Grebe with a Coot. As soon as the grebe saw me it scurried for cover.

On a street lamp pole pre-dawn was what is probably a male Protoclythia rufa, a fly in a group of flies known as flat-footed flies. I am sure I have seen this species before but it is not in my master log of sightings. Perhaps I did not identify it then. It is a good example of what is known as holoptic eyes, found in the males of many fly species. The eyes meet and cover a large part of the head and give it almost 360 degree vision. Which begs the question why females do not need to see like that. Mr. Google says "females have a separate primary function for their eyes and do not need to search as extensively" without elaborating on what that separate function might be.

On the Teece Drive fence is a cranefly Tipula pagana. "Why has it not got long antennae?" I hear you ask. It has: look closely and it is holding them back over its thorax, perhaps easiest to see by the shadow on the wood.

This may or may not be a spider. I suspect it is only an exoskeleton, discarded when a spider grew too large. Exoskeletons are flexible but hard and can only expand so far.

These are possible Weeping Widow fungus Lacrymaria lacrymabunda and were growing on a football pitch in the fenced off area. I was unable to get closer than about twenty feet.

A closer, slightly, pair of fruiting bodies, perhaps of the same species. I obviously could not do any "gardening" to obtain a better view of the stem and possibly the gill structure.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel pre-dawn:

Moths:
- 1 Mottled Umber Erranis defoliaria: day ten

Flies:
- 36 midges of various species

Arthropods:
- no White-legged Snake Millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 spider only
- 1 harvestman Opilio canestrinii

This is the harvestman Opilio canestrinii. I frequently see this species here and nowhere else in the area.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 08:50 – 10:15

(256th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the twelve Mute Swans included a first winter bird which was clearly a new arrival.
- a pair of (Common) Teal was tucked up against the island.
- the brownhead Goosander were very difficult to census. They were spread all over the water, often at the very edges poking about for fish in the reeds. They were also jumping on and off the island. There were certainly more than recently.
- the Little Grebe was present.
- one large and three small parties of migrant Wood Pigeons

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 156 Wood Pigeons: four migrant parties
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 1 Pied Wagtail

Noted on / around the water:
- c.26 Canada Geese: a party of c.20 flew in and landed behind the island
- 29 Greylag Geese at least: more heard inside the island
- 2 mainly white feral geese
- 12 Mute Swans: see notes
- 21 (15♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Common Teal
- 7 (3♂) Tufted Duck
- 38 (2♂) Goosander: see notes
- 9 Moorhens
- 95 Coots
- 1 Little Grebe
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 63 Black-headed Gulls
- 14 Herring Gulls: various ages
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: various ages
- 5 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted around the area:

Moths:
- 1 $ Juniper Carpet Thera juniperata: moth species #76 for me at The Flash in 2025
- 2 November Moth types Epirrita sp.
both in squirrel alley

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 3 wasps: all Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Flies:
- 1 Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- none

Flowers:
- White Dead-Nettle Lamium album – still in flower (and probably will be all Winter)

"Show off!" A Canada Goose performing aerobatics.

Now look what you have done. They will all want to join in. When skeins of geese arrive they all have to select a piece of water to splash down and that involves some of them needing to lose height very quickly as well as manoeuvre out of the way of all the others. No AI to help them.

A first-winter Mute Swan cygnet was present today.

 I am not sure displaying to a minor is permitted! Tail in the air indeed.

The wing feathering is pale though far from being white.

Ignore the three gulls (two immature Herring Gulls and an adult-winter Black-headed Gull as you ask) and look between the fallen branches and tree trunk. There is a pair of (Common) Teal lurking.

Just to prove it with the camera on maximum electronic zoom, which was never going to give a crisp image in the lighting conditions, here they are, drake on the right.

Looking fresh from the hairdressers is this brownhead Goosander.

A first-winter Moorhen. Note the pale feathering on the belly and the not fully-developed red shield.

A first-winter Black-headed Gull.

Another being Mr. Belligerent.

Compare the leg, feet and bill colour on this adult-winter.

"Psst. Have you heard...?" Two adult-winters gossiping?

A gull puzzle that resolved itself. The area behind the neck looks pale-enough to be a first-winter Herring Gull while the back-end looks darker. Note the tertials have white along the edge which is a good Herring Gull feature.

Luckily it took off and the pale inner primaries leave me in doubt it is a first-winter Herring Gull.

The amount of contrast depends on the angle of light. Less contrast here.

The underwing. On a Lesser Black-backed Gull there would be much stronger contrast between the rows of feathers.

I think it has been watching too many Gannets.

Plop.

"Man overboard!"

"I have seen the sign!". This moth is a Juniper Carpet Thera juniperata. My only previous record of this species in Shropshire was one here on 31 October last year.

I have not seen this species for many weeks. This is a female Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria, hence it is not "yellow".

White Dead-Nettle Lamium album in flower. This clump seems to keep flowering all Winter. The council mowed this area and it was also disturbed by the new owners of the adjacent house. It survives.

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
17 Tufted Ducks
c.400 Lesser Black-backed Gull
(Mike Cooper)

2005
Priorslee Lake
16 Pochard
41 Tufted Duck
212 Coot
778 Fieldfare
199 Redwings
800 Wood Pigeons
Chiffchaff
Possible Firecrest
3 Siskin
18 Redpoll
275 Starlings
(Ed Wilson)