24 Aug 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

18.0°C > 19.0°C: Very mild and muggy. Clear to the East; mainly cloudy over and to the West. Cloud increased with drizzle for a while c.07:40. Moderate SSW breeze. Poor visibility in the drizzle, otherwise excellent.

Sunrise: 06:06 BST

* = a photo from today

Priorslee Lake: 04:45 – 06:30 // 07:35 – 09:30

(181st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The weather was too dull to count all the Great Crested Grebes from any one location and they were too mobile to obtain a meaningful total from different locations.
- Two individual House Martins flew N at 06:05. Today I saw them: other days recently at similar times I have only heard them. I wonder whether they are local birds returning from a roost site. It seems to me that if pairs have several broods then they cannot all roost inside the nest. So where do they go?
- Soon afterwards a noisy party of 22 Barn Swallows appeared overhead. If I had any doubts about whether the last few days' sighting were migrants then clearly these were. I guess they were setting off from a nearby roost site. I have seen them overnighting in maize fields while on passage.
- At the same time I could hear what sounded like a large group of House Martins overhead but I could not locate them. None was seen or heard later.
- It is two weeks since I saw or heard any Song Thrushes. There were as many as nine singing males in the area. Most days during the breeding season I noted several non-singing birds gathering food. The recent dry weather will have made it very difficult for this species (and Blackbirds) to access food and they may well have moved on.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 17 Canada Geese: quintet outbound: 12 inbound together
- 4 Stock Doves: a duo and two singles
- 106 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 2 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 48 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 4 Jackdaws
- 14 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 22 Barn Swallows: high SE together 06:10
- >2 House Martins: see notes

Warblers noted:
- 2 Chiffchaffs only
- 4 Blackcaps again

Counts from the lake area:
- *2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 10 (?♂) Mallard
- 6 Moorhens
- 82 Coots
- no meaningful count of Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Common Sandpiper: heard only 05:20
- 13 Black-headed Gulls only again: [none on the football field]
- 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- 1 Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
- *1 Square-spot Rustic (Xestia xanthographa)

and:
- *various small flies
- *1 Yellow Swarming Fly (Thaumatomyia notata)
- 1 black ant sp.
- *1 Alder Leaf Beetle-type (Agelastica alni?)

Noted later:

Nothing much in dull conditions with wet vegetation:

Repeat sightings:

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)

Other flies:
- Lucilia sp. of greenbottle

Bugs:
- *Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina): fourth instar

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle-type (Agelastica alni?)

Fruits:
- *Common Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea)
- *Elder (Sambucus nigra)

With clear skies to the East and low cloud overhead I was not expecting a decent sunrise.

However some colour did appear.

And got better.

Exceeding expectations.

The cob Mute Swan helps the sailing club removing some of the weed from the lake.

My first Square-spot Rustic moth (Xestia xanthographa) of the year. Moth species #82 at the lake this year.

Not many insects around this morning. Here a Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) tucks in to Red Clover (Trifolium pratense).

Meanwhile this one seems to have gone to sleep in its food – Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra).

One of several unidentified flies on the street lamp poles this morning. The obvious grey thorax does not help me identify it.

A slightly better photo of what I believe to be a Yellow Swarming Fly (Thaumatomyia notata). It is only 10mm long.

A different shieldbug instar today. This is a fourth instar of a Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina).

Another inhabitant of the street lamp poles was what I am assuming is an Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni).

Two fruits I missed off yesterday's Autumn section. These are the berries of Common Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea).

And these are from Elder (Sambucus nigra) still in various stages of ripening. These fruits are an important food for warblers fattening up for their migration.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:35 – 07:30

(177th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Certainly five adult Mute Swans. Did I see a sixth hiding behind the island? Hard to tell as when I could see that bird none of the others were visible.
- Some Tufted Ducks returned, assuming they ever went away and were not just hiding inside the island yesterday.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls again
- 1 Cormorant
- 14 Jackdaws

Warblers noted (no song recorded):
- 2 Chiffchaffs again

Noted on / around the water:
- 16 Canada Geese: of these two flew off; ten arrived together; and one was on the grass inside the Priorslee Academy grounds.
- 5? + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *3 (1♂) Gadwall
- 23 (?♂) Mallard again
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 24 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 16 Moorhens
- *67 Coots
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 24 Black-headed Gulls: two juvenile / first-winter birds
- *4 Cormorant: two of these arrived separately
- 2 Grey Herons
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted on / around the street lamp poles:
- 2 Common Grass-veneer moths (Agriphila tristella)
- 2 Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestmen

Elsewhere:
- *possible Peppery Milkcap fungus (Lactarius piperatus)

The drake Gadwall (foreground) with the two ducks, identifiable by the orange edges to their bills.

The drake in his breeding finery. The ducks paddled away.

I do not recall having previously captured a Coot in flight

 Flying Cormorants look almost pre-historic. Note the long tail which...

 ...is nearly in focus as it arrives!

Another arrives showing that its tail enters the water before the feet have a chance to slow the bird's progress.

 One of the Grey Herons was having a bad hair day.

"Are you talking about me?"

"In to the wind my comb-over is hardly noticeable". This individual sat on one of the bridge parapets and dared the walkers to disturb it.

It did eventually fly off.

A rather sullied top side to this fungus. Further 'gardening' would have lifted the surface. The Shropshire recorder suggested this was likely Peppery Milkcap (Lactarius piperatus) when it appeared in the same place last year (but a month later).

And the underside (it had already been broken off). I did not try it to see whether it tasted peppery.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- Nothing of note

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

One wall has been daubed with graffiti. I am sure someone thinks it fun and/or artistic rather than vandalism.

Moths:
- 1 Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba)

and
- 2 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)
- 1 Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber) again

(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

2012

Priorslee Lake

Yellow Wagtail

(Ed Wilson)