8 May 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 11.0°C: Low / medium overcast. Light / moderate ESE wind. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:25 BST

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:55 – 06:00 // 07:00 – 08:30

(106th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- One of the fishermen had been kept busy chasing the cob Mute Swan and preventing it attacking the Canada Geese and their goslings. Will they survive?
- The two pairs of Tufted Duck were a surprise given their complete absence from The Flash.
- A pair of House Sparrow was seen along the S side again.
- Bumper number of 20 singing Blackcaps noted.
- I did not hear or see a Garden Warbler on any of my passages past its previous singing area.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 7 Canada Geese: pair outbound; pair and trio inbound
- 4 Greylag Geese: together as two pairs outbound
- 1 Stock Dove
- 8 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 11 unidentified large gulls flew W together at 05:15
- 4 Jackdaws
- no Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Sand Martin again
- 8 Barn Swallows

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 16 (14) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Sedge Warblers again
- 8 (8) Reed Warblers again
- 24 (20) Blackcaps: gulp
- no Garden Warbler
- no Lesser Whitethroat
- 2 (2) Common Whitethroats

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 2 Mute Swans: pen on nest
- 2 (2♂) Mallard
- 4 (2♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens still
- 19 Coots: no juveniles seen
- 6 Great Crested Grebes again
- 1 Back-headed Gull: first year, briefly
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: first year, briefly

On / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:

Nothing noted

Noted later:

Moths
- *White-pinion Spotted (Lomographa bimaculata)

Dragon / damsel-flies:
- *Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula)

Other things:
- St Mark's Fly or Hawthorn Fly (Bibio marci)
- *a sawfly which might be Aglaostigma fulvipes
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)
- *flowers of Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens)

A confiding male Pied Wagtail on the dam-face.

Not sure what he is doing here. There is something on the tip of its bill...

 ...but it is still there in this later photo.

"Which shoes did I put on this morning?"

He did not seem to be doing much.

Meanwhile his partner (I assume – you cannot be too careful these days) was busy collecting a beakful of yummy squirmy things.

Talking of yummy squirmy things here is a Long-tailed Tit with a beak-load. At this nest site I was amazed at the constant supply of food being shuttled in by at least three adults. Where do they find all the morsels? As a communal bird species there are frequently 'helpers', often last year's birds, to participate in the nesting activity.

A White-pinion Spotted moth (Lomographa bimaculata). I noticed this resting, mostly hidden between sycamore leaves. I was amazed it allowed me to gently separate the leaves to take its photo. I have two previous records of this species here: on 27 May in both 2015 and 2016.

This is one of the c.500 species of sawfly known from Great Britain. Most cannot be positively identified from photographs. The yellow marks on the head and thorax suggest it might be Aglaostigma fulvipes. A view of the abdomen markings might have helped.

A bit of good fortune. As I bent down to photograph this Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) I saw out of the corner of my eye....

...a dark shape hanging down the stem of a Dandelion well past its best. Closer examination revealed it to be a resting Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:05 – 06:55

(103rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Again only one Canada Goose goslings noted. I fear the worse as the 2019 Mute Swan was chasing Greylag Geese. It has clearly learned his craft from his now deceased father.
- *Two broods of Greylag Geese of eight and four goslings were new. Will they survive?

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Jackdaws
- 2 Starlings

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 6 (6) Chiffchaffs still
- 6 (5) Blackcaps

Noted on / around the water:
- 30 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- *6 + 12 (2 broods) Greylag Geese
- 3 Mute Swans
- 23 (19♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 9 Moorhens
- 24 + 3 (1 brood) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: both adults; one departed

Noted on / around the street lamp poles
- *1 Chocolate-tip moth (Clostera curtula)
- *1 cranefly sp., perhaps Tipula vittata
- *1 female midge
- *1 owl midge

Elsewhere:

Nothing of note

A gloomy corner so a record shot only of a brood of eight Greylag Geese goslings with one of the parents.

And the other brood. Just four goslings and both parents.

This is a Chocolate-tip moth (Clostera curtula). This my first-ever around The Flash although I have seen one at the lake. Shropshire is at the north-west edge of this species' range. Its name seem apposite.

Why do insects like to rest on the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme sign? Here a cranefly. It is a female – the pointed abdomen (its ovipositor) tells us that. It seems to be resting in a strange position and the wings appear to be on the wrong way around. They were not really orange - they seem to have picked up a reflected colour caste from the flash I used to take the photo. A large species of cranefly in Spring is likely to be Tipula vittata. The wing pattern is a good match.

At a handy height for photography. My best shot to date of what I assume is a female midge.

This owl midge is not only very fuzzy but sports a punk haircut. The fuzziness of the wings shows best on its shadow.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 Moorhen at the lower pool again.
- 1 Chiffchaff still singing at the upper pool.
- 1 Blackcap singing beside the lower pool.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- plumed and other midges as usual
- *1 possible Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)

Not certain about this spider. The way the front two pairs of legs are held together suggests it might be a Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis) though the body-shape and colouration are wrong. The latter may be because it is lit with an LED torch to enable me to get closer with the camera. When I get very close the camera lens blocks the flash reaching its target. It was small: perhaps spiderlings are different.

(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

2010

Priorslee Lake

1 Wheatear

1 Common Sandpiper

(John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill

6 Wheatear

(John Isherwood)

2008

Priorslee Lake

Spotted Flycatcher

5 Black Terns

(Ed Wilson)

Nedge Hill

2 Wheatears

3 Ravens

(Ed Wilson)

2006

Priorslee Lake

2 Ruddy Duck

(Ed Wilson)