4 Oct 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

5.0°C > 13.0°C: Patchy, mostly thin high cloud. Mist over the water again. Calm / light westerly wind. Very good visibility above the mist.

Sunrise: 07:16 BST

* = a species photographed today. NB photos will be added later
! = a first sighting of the species this year
$ = a new species for me in this area

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:55 – 09:05

(224th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- no Mute Swans today.
- a lone brownhead Goosander flew West at 08:45.
- a Little Grebe heard only c.06:15.
- the largest arrival of Black-headed Gulls so far this year. Several very large groups arriving with, I would estimate, at least 700 birds.
- also a large arrival of Lesser Black-backed Gulls with arrivals from the East, the South and the West all swirling in to splash down making it a challenge to count. This was compounded by a car with the modern boy-racer "must have" of a staccato back-firing exhaust that put them all to flight with many leaving. My best estimate was c.350 birds
- when I visited the football field c.07:25 I logged 172 Black-headed Gulls, two first-winter Herring Gulls and two first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull.
- later I logged five Herring and just 15 Lesser Black-backed Gulls arriving from the East. There was another only minuscular passage of gulls overhead.
- a Grey Heron was heard calling as it flew off c.06:20. Another was over the water c.06:45 but not seen later.
- of the 50 Wood Pigeon over-flights 35 of them were in a single group flying South. Has the Autumn passage started already?
- at least one Skylark heard overhead passing just too high for my eyes to locate it.
- just two Chiffchaffs noted and I had to work hard for these as neither was calling let alone singing.
- another sign of the change in the seasons: four Song Thrushes seen or heard calling.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 4 Canada Geese: three East together; one South
- 1 Goosander
- 1 Herring Gull
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant yet again
- 50 Wood Pigeons: see notes
- 1 Skylark
- 249 Jackdaws
- 168 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 6 (3?♂) Mallard
- 9 (3?♂) Tufted Duck again
- 6 Moorhens again
- 27 Coot only
- 1 Little Grebe
- 11 Great Crested Grebes
- >700 *Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- 7 Herring Gulls
- >350 *Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 3 Cormorants, all briefly
- 2 Grey Herons: see notes

Warblers noted:
- 2 *Chiffchaffs: none of these calling or in song

Also noted:
Even less!

Bees, wasps etc.:
- no Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris with none annoying me pre-dawn as I tried to count the gulls arriving

True flies:
a few unidentified flies

Fungus:
- *Shaggy Inkcap or Lawyer's Wig Coprinus comatus

On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:

Moths:
- 1 *Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba : moth species #74 for me here in 2026

True flies:
- several unidentified small flies

Beetles:
- 1 *Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala

Arthropods:
- 1 *Striped Millipede Ommatoiulus sabulosus

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 *probable Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius [Bridge Orbweaver]
- 3 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Pre-sunrise with the sky again criss-crossed with contrails mainly left by over-night airliners from the USA and Canada in to all-point in Europe. Mist over the water and a small part of the Black-headed Gull party on the left.

Two decaying contrails splayed by the upper-air winds.

What happens when a car persistently back-fires near a lake full of gulls. Somewhere there should be a small (unidentified) duck departing at speed.

It was a struggle...I just about managed a Chiffchaff photo!

A Blue Tit checking for a tasty morsel.

A Robin takes off. Its left wing is perpendicular to me while the feathers on the right wing are spread.

What I believe to be a Large Yellow Underwing moth Noctua pronuba. Identification is not helped by a light covering of dew and that it seems to be being eaten by, most likely, a Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius. It is moth species #74 for me at the lake in 2026.

What I am identifying as a Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala. The epithet "flea" refers to the swollen hind femur that allows this group of beetles to escape by jumping like fleas. It is also very small – 3mm to 4mm.

Today's Striped Millipede Ommatoiulus sabulosus looks more convincingly "striped" than my photo yesterday.

A harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis. It shows the two most useful identification features: the legs significantly thicker on the third near the body; and the pale line down the centre of the abdomen. This specimen seems unusual in that the rear the abdomen has unusually pale sides. Doubly strange because there were two of these harvestmen on the same street lamp pole and both exhibited this feature.

A fungus I can identify! This is Shaggy Inkcap or Lawyer's Wig Coprinus comatus growing here more or less under the academy fence on almost bare ground where the fence-line has been sprayed to kill the vegetation (too hard to mow or strim apparently)

Plane of the day #1: This is a 36-year old Boeing 747-412(BCF) of Belgian operator Challenge Airlines. This aircraft started life with Singapore Airlines and after 22 years was converted to a freighter and operated by Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific. It has been with Challenge Airlines for over six years. Most Boeing 747 Jumbos are now dedicated freighters. Lufthansa is an exception and still has 25 operating passenger flights.

Data on the route from FlightRadar24.

Plane of the day #2. At the other end of the size scale is a German designed two-seat Scheibe SF25C Falke motor-glider that can be used either as a touring aircraft or as a self-launching glider. This particular example is operated by the The Royal Air Force Gliding and Soaring Association out of RAF Shawbury. It is most often used to tow "real" gliders in to the air on the one day a week that gliding is permitted at this otherwise busy helicopter training base.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 1 Rusty-dot Pearl Udea ferrugalis : presumed same though in a slightly different potion
- 1 ! *Lunar Underwing Anchoscelis lunosa.

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

True flies:
- 17 midges of several species
- 3 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]

Arthropods:
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 9 Missing Sector Orb-web Spiders Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

A Lunar Underwing moth Anchoscelis lunosa. A distinctively-marked species with no confusion species. My first in Shropshire since 2018. Moth species #45 in the tunnel this year for me.

A slightly kinked Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperia carnea.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:10 – 10:25

(221st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- no obvious "static" Canada Geese seen though they may have been amongst the other geese beside the island.
- still six Mute Swans.
- a drake Goosander and at least 44 brownheads, once again well-scattered and difficult to see all birds at the same time.
- one full adult Great Crested Grebe was seen feeding just one juvenile. No other adults / immatures / juveniles seen. Although the juveniles are probably capable of feeding themselves if they want to I doubt they are fledged. So where have the others gone?
- *now SIX Little Egrets.
- a Chiffchaff in song at the top end and later one singing in squirrel alley. Just perhaps the same bird passing through?

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 26 Jackdaws: of these 24 in one group.

Noted on / around the water:
- 19 Canada Geese
- 26 Greylag Geese
- 6 Mute Swans
- 36 (18♂) Mallard
- 45+ (1♂) Goosander
- 6 Moorhens yet again
- 20 Coot
- 1 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebe: see notes
- 26 Black-headed Gulls
- 5 Cormorants yet again
- 2 *Grey Herons
- 6 *Little Egrets

Warblers noted:
- 2 Chiffchaffs in song: see notes

Noted around the area:
Again warm sun with an ambient temperature only c.13.0°C

Butterflies:
- 1 *Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 2 Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- >20 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- 1 Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
- 2 *Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax [Tapered Drone Fly]
- 2 *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax [Common Drone Fly]
- 1 Humming Syrphus Syrphus ribesii [Common Flower Fly]

Other true flies:
- 2 "bluebottle" Calliphora sp.
- 1 $ *Muscid fly, probably Polietes lardarius
several other species of fly not identified

Whee! I like this trampoline!

In reality the Grey Heron was just looking for somewhere to land in the trees. The other Grey Heron does not look too happy.

Missed and try again.

Better luck this time?

Now SIX Little Egrets. Two questions arise. Do they ever descend to eat? And how do the new arrivals find where to come?

That's better. With both wings of this Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta at a similar angle to the light the camera shows them as the same shade though still not the red that my eyes see.

A Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax

This example of a Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax shows no pale brown areas on the abdomen. A very variable species.

This speckled fly seems likely to be the Muscid fly Polietes lardarius which is a new species for me.

(Ed Wilson)

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Also at The Flash

I thought I'd share a photo of a Great White Egret that I took at the Flash this morning. It was there from 8am until I left at about 09:30am, mostly stood on one of the closed off bridges. Nice to see one here. I also saw a Kingfisher at 8am fly from the island. 

Great White Egret at the Flash this morning. (Laura Peyton)

(Laura Peyton)

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2013
Candles Landfill Site
1st-winter Yellow-legged Gull
(Tom Lowe)

2008
Trench Lock Pool
1st- winter Mediterranean Gull
c.150 Black-headed Gulls
15 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
Shoveler
(Ed Wilson)

3 Oct 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 13.0°C: Apart from some high cloud to the East fine and clear. Mist over the water and the fields. Calm at first with a light westerly wind developing. Excellent visibility above the mist.

Sunrise: 07:14 BST

* = a species photographed today. NB photos will be added later
! = a first sighting of the species this year
$ = a new species for me in this area

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:50 – 09:10

(223rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a pair of Mute Swans and two cygnets present at dawn. The cygnets left to the East at c.07:55 and the adults to the South at c.08:25
- a Little Grebe seen again briefly at the West end early and then later presumably the same bird in the north-east area.
- no Lesser Black-backed Gulls arrived until c.05:40 with only c.40 on the water by 06:00 – no definitive count due to the mist.
- the first Black-headed Gulls arrived later after 05:45. About 250 were present by 06:55 when a party of c.250 arrived low from the south-west over the sailing club container. Many of these immediately veered away towards the football field/
- when I visited the football field c.07:25 mist made counting difficult. I logged 288 Black-headed Gulls, five Herring Gulls (one (near) adult and four first-winters) and one first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull.
- later I logged nine Herring and 114 Lesser Black-backed Gulls arriving from the East. There was again a minuscular passage of gulls overhead.
- just three Chiffchaffs noted: no song.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Herring Gulls
- 37 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant again
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 15 Wood Pigeons only
- 1 Skylark
- 284 Jackdaws
- 151 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 4 *Mute Swans: all departed; see notes
- 12 (>5♂) Mallard
- 6 (2?♂) Tufted Duck again
- 6 Moorhens
- 39 Coot
- 1 *Little Grebe
- 12 Great Crested Grebes
- >500 Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- 9 Herring Gulls
- c.150 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant, briefly
- 1 Grey Heron

Warblers noted:
- 3 Chiffchaffs: of these one in song

Also noted:
Very little. Very wet vegetation

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
these again annoying me pre-dawn as I tried to count the gulls arriving

True flies:
many unidentified flies

On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 1 *unidentified ichneumon wasp

True flies:
- 1 wood gnat Sylvicola sp.
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.
- 1 *male Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata
*many unidentified (and probably unidentifiable) flies, some covered in dew

Springtails:
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type

Arthropods:
- 1 *$ Striped Millipede Ommatoiulus sabulosus

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 unidentified spider

I guess you could call this "half-moon". Was it the moon or me that was leaning at an angle?

The dawn according to my phone camera.

And according to my "big camera".

The atmospherics this morning painted the sky with vapour- or con-trails. I read that an expensive study using AI is underway to try and predict flight-levels that will minimise these trails. Funny: I understood the military had been doing this for years to avoid their aircraft being seen. Meanwhile on the other side of the world there are studies on how to increase cloud cover so as to cool the planet! None of this will have any impact on the exhaust gasses emitted by aircraft engines.

The two cygnets departing to the East. Until they did so it had looked for all the world that they were with their parents on the lake.

And some 30 minutes later here is the adult pair circling around to depart to the South.

The Little Grebe just as it emerged from the West end reeds and before it dived.

One of many of this morning's inhabitants of the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn. An unidentified (they mostly are!) ichneumon.

A male Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata.

There was an unusually large array of flies on the street lamp poles pre-dawn. I do not have the time, the experience or, frankly, the inclination to try and identify them. So I have made collages of them. Here are four species.

And another three.

After sun-up I saw few flies: this is one of the Root-maggot flies.

This seems to be a Striped Millipede Ommatoiulus sabulosus. The striping is most obvious near the head. I have had my suspicions about this species previously: this is my first confirmed record.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 1 *Rusty-dot Pearl Udea ferrugalis : presumed same

True flies:
- 21 midges of several species
- 7 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.

Arthropods:
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger
- no Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 15 Missing Sector Orb-web Spiders Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

Here for the third morning is the Rusty-dot Pearl moth Udea ferrugalis.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:15 – 10:20

(220th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- only two of the four "static" Canada Geese again. 51 more arrived in two groups
- six Mute Swans.
- a drake Goosander with at least 45 brownheads.
- one full adult Great Crested Grebe was seen feeding three juveniles. No other adults / immatures / juveniles seen.
- *five Little Egrets again.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 53 Canada Geese: of these 51 arrived
- 3 Greylag Geese
- 6 Mute Swans
- 34 (18♂) Mallard
- 46+ (1♂) Goosander
- 6 Moorhens again
- 22 Coot
- 1 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebe: see notes
- 35 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull: near adult, briefly
- 5 Cormorants once again
- 3 Grey Herons again
- 5 *Little Egrets once again

Warblers noted:

None

Noted around the area:
The sun felt warm but the ambient temperature was only c.13.0°C

Butterflies:
- 1 *Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 3 Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- >30 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- 1 Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax [Tapered Drone Fly]
- 4 *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax [Common Drone Fly]

Other true flies:
- 3 "bluebottle" Calliphora sp.
several other species of fly even less identified

Springtails:
- 1 *springtail Orchesella cincta

Beetles:
- 2 larva of Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis

All five Little Egrets in the same frame.

A Red Admiral butterfly Vanessa atalanta. The camera apologises for being unable to render the wings the same colour.

The warm sun was making all the insects hyperactive. Only this Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax posed for me.

The springtail Orchesella cincta. Identified by the white band across the dark body and the white segment toward the base of the antennae.

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Nedge Hill
1 Wheatear
50+ Meadow Pipits
2 House Martin
(John Isherwood)

2006
Priorslee Lake
29 Golden Plover
House Martin
1 Chiffchaff
(Ed Wilson)

2 Oct 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

12.0°C > 14.0°C: Broken cloud. A light shower c.06:00. A few sunny intervals later. Moderate south-easterly wind veering southerly. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:13 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:45 – 09:10

(222nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a pair of Mute Swans. These departed to the East 08:45 but were presumably the pair that arrived from the East a few minutes later.
- a Little Grebe seen again, briefly along the south side.
- Lesser Black-backed Gulls started arriving with inbound calling birds heard overhead before 06:00. I was doing reasonably well in keeping count of arrivals, albeit they were hard to spot early on. My count had just reached 450 when a huge arrival of at least 200 more in company with at least 450 Black-headed Gulls confused the issue. So at least 650. Many of these birds soon departed to the East making it impossible to tell whether, as there had been yesterday, there was any passage to the East.
- I visited the football field c.07:25 when at least 350 Black-headed Gulls were feeding and moving around on the grass – at least they were until three sparring Sparrowhawks appeared overhead. I noted no other gull species on the field.
- apart from a few Black-headed Gulls all the gulls had departed by 07:45.
- later I logged 2 Herring and 103 Lesser Black-backed Gulls arriving from the East, possibly birds returning. There was a minuscular passage of gulls overhead.
- five Chiffchaffs noted: no song.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 16 Canada Geese: flew East together
- 1 Greylag Goose: flew West
- 2 Herring Gulls again
- 14 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Grey Heron
- 3 Sparrowhawk
- 30 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Skylark
- 259 Jackdaws
- 150 Rooks exactly
- 1 Pied Wagtail again
- 1 Chaffinch

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 14 (9♂) Mallard
- 6 (2?♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 Moorhens
- 36 Coot
- 1 Little Grebe
- 11 *Great Crested Grebes
- >450 Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- 2 Herring Gulls again
- >600 *Lesser Black-backed Gulls: see notes
- 2 *Cormorants: arrived separately
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Kingfisher again

Warblers noted:
- 2 Chiffchaffs: of these one in song
- 1 Blackcap: calling only

Also noted:
Very little. Stayed mostly dull.

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
these all annoying me pre-dawn as I tried to count the gulls arriving

True flies:
- cranefly Tipula confusa
not a single other fly seen

On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:
The light shower while I was at the lamps no doubt affected the numbers as did the brisk wind.

True flies:
- 1 *female plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- 1 wood gnat Sylvicola sp.
- 1 *unidentified fly

Beetles:
- 2 Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 unidentified spider
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

The sunrise just starting to colour. The specs above the distant trees are Black-headed Gulls leaving for the football field.

An expanse of colour developed.

Intensifying as the sun was about to rise.

As the sun did so the contrast became too great for my phone camera to handle and the "big camera" came to the rescue.

An adult Great Crested Grebe in threat posture. Several of the families have now dispersed with the remaining three families tending to use much of the lake rather than stick to the area close-by their nest site. Occasional conflicts occur.

An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. Usually the outer wing looks darker than the inner wing and I am not sure why that is not true here. What is obvious is that it has not quite completed its annual wing moult with the outer primary still growing.

It is the leasing bird here. The trailing bird has developed more extensive winter head-streaking. The strength of the streaking is variable and seems unexplained. A theory that older birds have more streaking has been debunked recently. What this bird also shows is a very ragged edge to the secondary feathers suggesting it too is still in moult.

Another variation. On this bird the outer three primaries have yet to be dropped with primaries #4 and #5 still growing. The secondaries on this bird are all in a neat line.

The same bird from underneath.

The Cormorant on the right had just finished swallowing a fish for breakfast. I thought it was about to usurp the one on the buoy. Not so. It was obviously still hungry and went off in pursuit of more fish.

"I've seen him off" Standing on the buoy looks a risky business.

One of the trio of Sparrowhawks over the football field c.07:25. Note the broad and rounded wings as well as the long tail - allowing exceptional manoeuvrability when chasing small birds.

Two of them sparring. Males and female are of very different size from which I deduce these are the same sex. I would not like to hazard a guess as to which.

A side-elevation view of a female (hence no plumes) plumed midge Chironomus plumosus.

An unidentified fly on a street lamp pole pre-dawn. There seem to be numerous fly species with brown at the base of the wings. I asked Mr. Google why this is so. Seems he does not know as the suggestions were mainly about butterfly wings! The closest I can get is the Noon Fly Mesembrina meridiana , one of the Muscid family. However that is both a more robust species and, as its vernacular name implies, mostly seen inactive, resting on fences etc. in the midday sun.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 1 *Rusty-dot Pearl Udea ferrugalis : presumed same as yesterday

True flies:
- 22 midges of at least three species
- no moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]

Arthropods:
- 3 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger
- 2 Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 4 Missing Sector Orb-web Spiders Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

The only moth of the day (as it had been yesterday) was this Rusty-dot Pearl Udea ferrugalis.

I am bemused by this. About twice the length of any millipede I have seen here. It also appears to have no legs as if it might be a slug or a worm. I am wondering whether it is just a felt-top pen scribbling though it did not seem connected to any of the other messages scrawled on the wall.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:15 – 10:30

(219th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- only two of the four "static" Canada Geese noted. 22 more arrived together
- I could only find five Mute Swans. This seemed to included "billy-no-mates" who is often tricky to spot.
- yesterday's Tufted Duck gone [not the additional birds at the Balancing Lake as no drakes were seen yesterday].
- *a drake Goosander with at least 44 brownheads. They were everywhere and sitting inside the island. Probably more.
- one full adult Great Crested Grebe was seen with two juveniles. A third juvenile has declared UDI and was at the top end.
- still five Little Egrets.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Jackdaw

Noted on / around the water:
- 24 Canada Geese: of these 22 arrived together
- 10 Greylag Geese: arrived together
- 5 Mute Swans: see notes
- 29 (18♂) Mallard
- no Tufted Duck
- 45+ (1♂) *Goosander: see notes
- 6 Moorhens
- 21 Coot
- 1 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebe: see notes
- 31 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull: near adult, briefly
- 5 Cormorants again
- 3 Grey Herons
- 5 Little Egrets again

Warblers noted:
- 1 Chiffchaff: no song

Noted around the area:
A short burst of sun tempted a few things out:

Butterflies:
- 1 *Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 1 Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- >10 *Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- 2 Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax [Tapered Drone Fly]
- 1 *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax [Common Drone Fly]
- 1 *Wasp Plumehorn Volucella inanis [Lesser Hornet Hoverfly]

Other true flies:
- 1 "bluebottle" Calliphora sp.
- 1 Muscid fly Phaonia sp.
- 1 *root-maggot fly sp.
several other species of fly even less identified

Beetles:
- 1 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata

A brownhead Goosander among a patterned water-scape.

And here a brownhead with the only obvious drake. These have such contrasting plumage that even when there is no sun it is difficult for the camera to show clearly.

In a sheltered sunny spot a Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria was tempted to show.

A Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax tucks in to the Ivy blossom.

As does a Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

And not a wasp but a hoverfly – a Wasp Plumehorn Volucella inanis

One of the many root-maggot fly species most of which I cannot identify.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)