3 Oct 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

5.0°C > 9.0°C: Remnant cloud to E after yesterday's rain. Then mainly clear for a while with cloud spreading from the W later. Early mist over water in light S breeze, picking up moderate SW. Excellent visibility..

Sunrise: 07:14 BST

Busy day – no photos. Will add any still relevant tomorrow

Priorslee Lake: 05:45 – 09:10

(219th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- One of the cygnets now has a blue Darvic ring 7JVJ. One other cygnet is ringed but was standing in muddy water and I could not read it. One cygnet is definitely unringed (strangely one of the three that are normally together and which I had assumed were the trio that was caught). No idea about the fourth. All the cygnets were seen flying with two of them able to make circuits and choose where to land. The other two were less confident about making turns and landed rather inelegantly.
- A small arrival of Tufted Ducks. Possibly refugees from The Flash where fishermen were occupying almost all the pegs.
- At least 20 Black-headed Gulls flew E to the N without apparently having visited the lake, the football field or the academy playing fields.
- With dark clouds out to the E I repositioned so as to be able to see the gulls, Jackdaws and Rooks against lighter skies as they headed towards the lake. Thus I was able to count the 392 large gulls but I have no idea how many of these stopped off for a wash and drink.
- Later counts of Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls includes only later arrivals and ignores any that might be left-overs from the earlier arrival.
- What was presumably the same Little Grebe was seen in the SW area. I was told later that two had been seen together in the same place.
- Just three adult Great Crested Grebes remain.
- The Tawny Owl was whoo-ing from the Ricoh copse at 05:55.
- Three Jays flew out of the bushes alongside the M54 and climbed very high, flying strongly W. Likely more immigrants.
- The quartet of Mistle Thrushes flew S together. This suggests that the large thrush I saw rather poorly yesterday was more likely this species than a Fieldfare.
- Another small passage of Meadow Pipits with 18 seen. The clear sky again made finding these fly-overs a challenge.
- One group of Meadow Pipits was, unusually, accompanied by a Reed Bunting. Another by a Song Thrush.

Overhead:
- 5 Canada Geese: duo and trio outbound
- 1 Stock Dove
- 204 Wood Pigeons
- >20 Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- 22 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 139 Jackdaws
- 115 Rooks
- 2 Skylarks
- 1 Song Thrush
- 4 Mistle Thrushes: together
- 9 Pied Wagtails again
- 18+ Meadow Pipits
- 1 Reed Bunting

Warblers noted:
- 3 Chiffchaffs: no song

Count from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 4 (1♂) Mallard
- 11 (5♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhens again
- 81 Coots
- 1 Little Grebe: immature – see notes
- 3 Great Crested Grebes only
- >350 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Herring Gulls
- 41 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 392 large gulls: see notes
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

At / around the street lamps pre-dawn:

Moths:

None

Other things:
- 1 Plumed midge (Chironomus plumosus)
- 1 'Greenbottle', perhaps a Lucilia or Neomyia species
- 2 cranefly Tipula pagana
- 1 Birch Shieldbug (Elasmostethus interstinctus)
- 2 Stretch spiders (Tetragnatha sp.)
- 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman

A post-script to yesterday's rather brown-toned spider that I queried as to whether it was a Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius). Nigel, the Shropshire recorder, tells me it wasn't. It was one of the closely-related species L. cornutus, though the colour was not the determinant and this species is also usually dark.

Also noted:
- unidentified bumblebee in flight only
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- 2 Grey Squirrel

Identification of this dew-bespattered creature is more straightforward than is immediately apparent. The long front legs point to this being a Stretch spider (Tetragnatha sp.). The back legs are held along the body so there are four pairs.

A well-marked cranefly that is somewhat like Tipula confusa. However the thorax is not striped as it should be so it will stay unidentified.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel pre-dawn:

Moths:

None

With:
- 1 Owl Midge Psychodidae sp.
- 2 Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber)
- plus various midges and rather fewer unidentified spiders than recently

Another dinky little Owl Midge. It never ceases to amaze me that something this small can function.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:15 – 10:10

(197th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- One of the cygnets now has a blue Darvic ring 7JVN. The other cygnet and the 'spare' adult Mute Swan remain unringed. The parents retain their yellow (Staffordshire) ring (the cob) and green (Worcestershire) ring (the pen). [I hope I have that the right way round!]
- The Skylark overhead was my first of the year here and is species #78.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 4 Jackdaws
- 1 Skylark

Warblers noted:
- 1 Chiffchaff: no song

On /around the water:
- 26 Canada Geese
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 29 (19♂) Mallard
- 10 (3+♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 Moorhens
- 23 Coots
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 24 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

On a lamp pole:
- 1 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus-type harvestman

Noted elsewhere:
- Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Tapered Drone Fly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax)

I do not often get the chance to photograph the feet of a Tufted Duck. With white around the base of the bill this is likely a duck.

One of the young Great Crested Grebes. These are now able to fly.

A one-eyed Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax)? Apparently not because...

A few seconds earlier it had looked like this. I assume it had turned its head. Not something I had noted before.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day can be found via the yearly links in the right-hand column.

Sightings from previous years without links are below

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)