Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash12.0°C > 15.0°C: The Telford micro-climate wins again. Clear in Newport: here it was mist / fog / low cloud only lifting after c.09:15. Calm / light westerly wind. Poor / very poor visibility.
Sunrise: 07:16 BST
* = a species photographed today.
! = a first sighting of the species this year
$ = a new species for me in this area
Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:55 – 09:05
(226th visit of the year)
The weather seriously hampered sighting on just about everything here.
Bird notes:
- no Mute Swans today.
- in a failed attempt to view over the mist I walked up the concrete road to Woodhouse Lane. I did learn where at least some of the Mallard have gone. I guess the storm pools dried up earlier leading to frequent counts of >40 birds at the lake back in August. I noted at least 24 on the very muddy water of the lower storm pool. The upper storm pool seems to so overgrown that it was unlikely to harbour any ducks (or anything else for that matter. Bittern?!).
- a brief partial clearance suggested at least 250 Black-headed Gulls present c.07:00.
- at least 400 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were also present at this time.
- I did not visit the football field.
- later I logged just two Herring and 62 Lesser Black-backed Gulls as new arrivals.
- no Chiffchaff seen or heard.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
seriously hampered by the mist / low cloud
- 3 Wood Pigeons
- 34 Jackdaws
- 29 Rooks
Counts from the lake area:
also hampered by fog and mist
- 11 (6?♂) Mallard
- 5 Moorhens
- Coot not counted
- 6 Great Crested Grebes: probably a partial count
- >250 Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- 2 Herring Gulls
- >450 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: see notes
- no Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
Warblers noted:
None
Also noted:
Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris many annoying me pre-dawn; also one later
- *German Wasp Vespula germanica
On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:
Moths:
- 1 *Feathered Thorn Colotois pennaria: moth species #75 for me here in 2026
True flies:
- 1 female plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- 1 wood gnat Sylvicola sp.
- 2 different Root-maggot fly sps.
- 2 unidentified dew-covered flies
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 unidentified dew-covered spider
Another moth for my lake year list. It is a Feathered Thorn
Colotois pennaria. Amazingly this is exactly 31 days earlier than my first sightings of this species on each of the last three years – yes: 06 November in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Moth species #
75 here.
Perhaps the same German Wasp
Vespula germanica still munching away on the Teece Drive fence. A slightly different angle makes it more obvious that the yellow on the side of the thorax is not parallel-sided as it is on Common Wasp
V. vulgaris.
This view confirms the identity. Common Wasp has an anchor-shaped mark on its face.
A species of Root-maggot fly (I cannot say which) against a back-drop of mist droplets on the leaf.
A typical sighting on a misty Autumn morning. How do spiders do that?
(Ed Wilson)
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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:
Moths:
none
True flies:
- 9 midges of several species
- 1 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
Arthropods:
- 1 *Brown-lipped Snail Cepaea nemoralis
- 2 Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber
- 5 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 *Stout Sac Spider Clubiona sp.
- 6 Missing Sector Orb-web Spiders Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]
Many species of snails are tricky to identify with considerable variability and some overlap in features. With that in mind I think this is a Brown-lipped Snail
Cepaea nemoralis.
Its distinctive abdomen shape identifies this as one of the Stout Sac Spider from the
Clubiona genus. I would not like to commit as to which species.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 09:10 – 10:25
(222nd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- the two "static" Canada Geese seen.
- *a large group of Greylag Geese arrived with an all-white feral-type (and probably three Canada Geese)
- still six Mute Swans.
- two Tufted Duck were new. A drake was at the top end and an immature/duck was at the bottom end.
- a drake Goosander and at least 48 brownheads. Again well-scattered, often lurking under over-hanging vegetation and some (later?) hauled out on the island.
- a Little Grebe was at the bottom end.
- why are the Great Crested Grebe so hard? At least three full adults one of which was, for a while, with three dependent juveniles.
- just(!) five Little Egrets.
- a Kingfisher seen speeding toward the top end.
- no Chiffchaff seen or heard.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull.
Noted on / around the water:
- 5 Canada Geese
- 34 *Greylag Geese
- 1 *all-white feral goose
- 6 Mute Swans
- 26 (16♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 49+ (1♂) Goosander
- 6 Moorhens remain
- 22 Coot
- 1 Little Grebe
- 3 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebe: see notes
- 30 *Black-headed Gulls
- 5 Cormorants still
- 4 Grey Herons
- 5 Little Egrets
- 1 Kingfisher
Warblers noted:
None
Noted around the area:
Very intermittent sun with an ambient temperature still c.13.0°C
Bees, wasps etc.:
- 11 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
Hoverflies:
- 1 *Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax [Tapered Drone Fly]
- 1 Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax [Common Drone Fly]
- 1 *Syrphus sp.
Other true flies:
several species of fly not identified
Springtails:
- 1 *springtail
Orchesella cinctaJust as I was arriving so too were these 38 geese. At the time, from the sound and what I could see, I thought they were all Greylags. I think close-examination of the fourth from the bottom may reveal...
...that there was an all-white
feral goose among them. My later count from the water suggests there were also three Canada Geese among them.
A close-up of this brownhead Goosander clearly shows why this group of ducks are known as sawbills. All the better for gripping the slippery fish that constitutes their diet.
Always a shy species and soon away to open water. I can only suggest that the different tone on the left and right tail-feathers is due to the angle of light.
It is no wonder the bridge is collapsing. Send the bill to the gulls! All are winter-plumaged Black-headed Gulls.
There is always one (or in this instance two) contrary individuals who want to sit on the other hand-rail.
How could I resist?
Again!
A Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax tucks in to the Ivy blossom.
A
Syrphus species of hoverfly. On this one the second complete yellow band on the abdomen shows a definite orange/brown cast. Three of the 62 examples in Steven Falk's photo-gallery on Flickr show this feature to some degree. He does not mention it in the text.
The white band across the black abdomen suggests this is the springtail
Orchesella cincta. However that species typically has dark antennae with a small white segment whereas this example shows unmarked pale antennae. I found this on the same street lamp pole as the
O. cincta three days ago. Obsidentify gives that suggestion a 96% rating. I'll go with that.
(Ed Wilson)
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2014
Priorslee Lake
1st-winter Caspian Gull.
(Observer Unknown)
2008
Priorslee Lake
3 Pochard
100 Tufted Duck
Water Rail heard
39 Lapwings
Kingfisher
3 Redwings
Redpoll
Siskin
(Ed Wilson)
2006
Priorslee Lake
49 Tufted Duck
1 Chiffchaff
Willow Tits
(Ed Wilson)6 Oct 06 - Wesley Bridge under water (Ed Wilson)
