13 Sep 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 17.0°C: Patchy mainly high cloud. Light / moderate SW wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:41 BST

* = a photo today.

Priorslee Lake: 05:11 – 09:22

(191st visit of the year)

Bird notes:

- 27 Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew SE between 06:15 and 06:35 with the first four briefly stopping off at the lake.

- 35 arrived from the E at 08:20 in a very scattered group to be followed by 18 more (and two Herring Gulls) over the next 10 minutes. A few overhead as well at this time and a few more on the lake both earlier and later. None stayed very long/

- House Martin(s) heard calling at 06:30. Two birds seen over the estate area at 06:45 and again at 09:10. No others noted.

Birds noted flying over / near here:

- 24 Canada Geese (single group flying N to E)
- 1 Sparrowhawk again
- 30 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Feral Pigeons (singles)
- 3 Stock Doves (single and duo)
- 22 Wood Pigeons
- 22 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook
- 1 Skylark: first of Autumn
- 9 Pied Wagtails
- 8 Meadow Pipits
- 2 Siskins

Hirundines etc. logged:

- 4 Barn Swallows
- 2 House Martins only

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):

- *14 (7) Chiffchaffs
- 6 (0) Blackcaps

Counts from the lake area:

- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 1 Canada Goose: briefly – chased away by swan
- 16 (10♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Cormorants: arrived
- 1 Grey Heron
- 14 + 7 (5 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 8 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 86 adult and juvenile Coots
- 28 Black-headed Gulls
- *77 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *2 Herring Gulls

Birds on the football and academy playing fields c.06:50:

[Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded]

- 28 Black-headed Gulls on the football field
- 69 Black-headed Gulls on the academy playing fields

On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:

Moths:

- *1 Dark-triangle Button sp. (Acleris laterana/comariana)
- *1 Notch-wing Button (Acleris emargana)

Other things:

- 7 Common Wasps (Vespula vulgaris)
- 3 Orb-web spiders, presumed Larinioides sclopetarius
- *1 Mitopus morio harvestman
Very many midges / gnats flying around.

Insects / other things etc. noted later:

Butterflies / moths:

- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

Bees / wasps:

- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

Hoverflies:

- Common Drone-fly (Eristalis tenax)
- Syrphus ribesii-type

Dragonflies:

- Hawker sp. (not Brown Hawker)

Others:

- Dicranopalpus ramosus-type harvestman on fence
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

Mammals

- 6 Pipistrelle-type bats
- 2 Grey Squirrels again

Too much cloud for the sun to give any colour to the dawn today.

A scruff of a moulting adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. As I have shown before the moulted and yet to regrow secondary coverts show the white bases to the secondaries as a white bar in the wing. Note the four outer primaries are yet to be replaced though the fourth looks about to fall out. Three primaries are regrowing and are still to position to give the clean white trailing edge. Just a hint of winter head-streaking – not quite so pristine as when in breeding plumage.

A collection of adult gulls – all bar the right-most are Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The odd-one out is a Herring Gull. Herring Gulls average larger than Lesser Black-backs but this looks the smallest of the group.

In direct comparison it is quite difficult to separate these two and say which is larger. Probably a female Herring Gull – they are typically smaller than males.

A sunny perch amongst the Hawthorn berries for this Chiffchaff.

Sitting up straight.

Four none too sharp photos – poor light and ever-active Grey Wagtails. Here they are, unusually, chasing insects in a field near the lake exit sluice. I usually associate this species with water and often running water but I guess if you are hungry then go for it.

Here is one very close to water – on the concreted channel at the sluice exit.

And a different individual. The long legs and strong feet that are needed to hunt from rocks in fast-flowing streams are well shown. The very pale wash suggests a juvenile.

And a different view of the second bird. From the droppings on the concrete this is a favourite hunting place. A local bird-ringer has fitted colour rings to many Grey and Pied Wagtails that like to feast on the insects at Shifnal sewage works. I once recorded a Grey Wagtail with his rings at Trench Lock. I will keep looking.

This moth is one of the Dark-triangle Button sps. (Acleris laterana/comariana). They can only be separated by examination of the genitalia. Moth species #97 here this year. I have recorded this in four of the last seven years always at the very end of August or the first part of September.

A moth that is easy to recognise from its unique wing-shape. It is Notch-wing Button (Acleris emargana). The red streak had me puzzled. A photo on the excellent Norfolk Moths web site Here shows the same. That photo is clearer and suggests it is a red edge to one wing folded over the other, the red colour being more prominent in some individuals than others. Moth species #98 this year. I last recorded this here on 31st August 2016. Both these moths were present on lamp-poles at 05:30 but had gone by 05:45.

Another species of harvestman for the year – a sure sign that Autumn is here. This is, I think, Mitopus morio.

(Ed Wilson)

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Woodhouse Lane:

I made a short visit to the area around the sluice exit to check whether there were any warblers or other migrants. I noted:

- 4 (0) Chiffchaffs: one of these, most unusually, was seen to drop to the ground and chase after insects in the field edge where...

- *3 Grey Wagtails were also chasing insects in the field and then flying back and forth to the sluice exit. These presumably the birds seen on the dam later.

No other birds of note.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:24 – 10:22

(175th visit of the year)

Many species down in number today – not sure why.

Bird notes:

- Four Mute Swan cygnets were with the three adults partaking of proffered food. One lone cygnet on the island. I did not see the other two.

- Grey Wagtail here again

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:

- 1 Pied Wagtail

Hirundines etc. logged:

- 4 House Martins

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):

- 2 (1) Chiffchaffs

Counts from the water:

- 3 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- no Greylag Geese
- 18 Canada Geese
- 24 (14♂) Mallard
- 35 (>5♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Great Crested Grebe only
- 5 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 47 adult and juvenile Coots only
- 3 Black-headed Gulls

Nothing on any lamp poles:

Elsewhere:

Butterflies:

- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

Bees / wasps:

- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

Hoverfly:

- Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis): a new species for me here.

As a postscript to yesterday's digger wasp Ectemnius cephalotes I now find I have recorded this here previously – on 17th October 2017 to be exact.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2019

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2015

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2014

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2007

Priorslee Lake

Shoveler

Redwing

(Ed Wilson)