14 Sep 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 15.0°C: A few clear spells early: mostly cloudy afterwards. Light wind to start with moderate WNW breeze later. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:41 BST

* = a photo from today

Priorslee Lake: 05:30 – 09:30

(197th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- A drake Gadwall was heard calling c.06:15. Two unsexed birds were seen flying off West at 08:00.
- Of the 68 Black-headed Gulls counted on the football field I could only identify four first winters. A very disappointing total though I did read in the West Midlands Bird Club newsletter that first winter birds tend to winter further South than adults.
- The juvenile Common Tern was not seen today.
- A Tawny Owl was again calling alongside Teece Drive at 05:35.
- Unusual at this date was a Mistle Thrush calling from the Ricoh copse before flying off East. This species breeds there but birds leave after raising their broods and congregate in open country, only returning to their breeding sites late in the year.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 10 Canada Geese: quartet and sextet outbound
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 1 Stock Dove
- 109 Wood Pigeons
- 17 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 35 Rooks
- 2 Jackdaws
- 1 Meadow Pipit: again

Hirundines etc. noted again:

None

Warblers noted:
- no Cetti's Warbler
- 11 Chiffchaffs: three in song
- 2 Blackcaps: no song

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 2? (1♂) Gadwall: see notes
- 11 (6♂) Mallard
- *1 (0♂) Tufted Duck
- 12 Moorhens
- 142 Coots
- 1 Little Grebe still
- *11 + 10 (5 broods) Great Crested Grebes again
- c.85 Black-headed Gulls: 68 of these were on the football field at 06:45
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron: arrived and departed

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 German Wasp (Vespula germanica) in web
- 2 plumed midges
- *1 male Aedes punctor mosquito
- 1 small red fly
- *2 possible snipe fly-type
- 1 Yellow Swarming Fly (Thaumatomyia notata)
- 1 Clubiona sp. spider
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- *2 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestmen

Noted later:
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- black ant sp.
- Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- owl midge Psychodidae sp.
- *Grouse Wing caddis fly (Mystacides longicornis)
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)
- Grey Squirrel

I managed this shot of the waning Corn (or Harvest) Moon before the cloud cover became too extensive and prevented a view of the sunrise.

An immature / duck Tufted Duck looks suspiciously at me as it preens.

Clap hands! After preening it needs to rearrange its feathers.

On the right an adult Wood Pigeon with a juvenile alongside it. The juvenile lacks the white neck patch but can be identified as this species by the white around the edge of the folded wing. This forms the white flash in the wing of this species when in flight. Note too the juvenile's lack of white around the eye.

An adult Great Crested Grebe provides a meal for a juvenile.

Juvenile begs the adult to let it go.

And goes off rewarded.

A (distant) near-adult Herring Gull showing extensive moult to its wings. The two outer primaries are still to be dropped. Some of the others are regrowing. Missing and regrowing feathers are also visible in the secondaries and in the tail. A hint of a dark tail band is a clue that this is not a full adult.

The extensive antennae indicate this is a male mosquito. It is not easy even with flash to see all the detail mainly because I have to concurrently use the torch to ensure the camera can 'see' and focus on these small insects.

The split second before I pressed the camera shutter I inadvertently I let go of the torch switch. On its own the camera has revealed the antennae in all their detail and also shows this insect has green eyes. With the banded abdomen this is likely a male Aedes punctor, the female of which regularly bites man.

Yesterday I thought I had one of these possible snipe flies showing wing markings. This photo suggests I was probably mistaken and what I thought were markings were just reflections of the camera flash. Note this insect has the slightly swollen area on the front legs of a Hilara species of snipe (or dance) fly.

A very similar species with an apparently shorter body.

On the exit sluice control mechanism I found this Grouse Wing caddis fly (Mystacides longicornis).

One of the smaller harvestmen is this Paroligolophus agrestis. It is most easily identified by the change in the width of the legs at about the one-third point.

These leaves belong to...

..this species.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:405

(193rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The drake Gadwall was with a group of Mallard. A duck Gadwall was somewhat apart from Mallard at the opposite end of the water.
- A Stock Dove was on the roof of a house in Westcroft Walk again. I did not hear it call.
- I am sure the fishermen will not be happy that there were 10 Cormorants present.

Birds noted flying over here:
- *3 Common Buzzards
- 1 Jackdaw

Warblers noted:
- 2 Chiffchaffs again: no song

Noted on / around the water
- 57 Canada Geese: 25 of these arrived together
- 3 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 33 (18♂) Mallard only
- no all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck) seen again
- 12 (?♂) Tufted Duck yet again
- 15 Moorhens
- 27 Coots
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 16 Black-headed Gulls: three of these first winter birds
- 10 Cormorants
- 2 Grey Heron

Noted on / around the street lamp poles:
- *Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)

Noted later:
- *Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner moth (Cameraria ohridella)
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- *Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- *Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- *Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)

This morning's duck Gadwall, Note it seems to have several vermiculated drake-type feathers at the top of its back.

It is not immediately obvious that this is a Stock Dove. It lacks any white on the neck and has no white around the bend in the wing so it is not a Wood Pigeon. Its pose does not allow the green / blue glossy patch on the neck to be seen and the normal dark spots in the wing seem mostly absent with just one showing. It is most likely an immature.

One of the three Common Buzzards overhead.

 One of the others.

I do like these tiny Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner moths (Cameraria ohridella). I could see several flying around and chasing each other but it was ages before I could spot one landing. And then it was not on a Horse-chestnut leaf.

A Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) comes in for fuel at the Honeysuckle. A popular plant at the moment. Note the pollen on its hind leg.

A Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) does the same and is also carrying pollen on its hind leg.

Not to be left out is this Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus).

When I photographed this hoverfly I expected it to be a male Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum). Checking the literature indicates that the extent of the clouding in the wing is too extensive and I wondered about a Stripe-winged Dronefly (Eristalis horticola). As this would have been a new species for me I asked friend and hoverfly expert Leon for his thoughts. His vote was for Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax). He explained that in his experience the facial stripe was too broad for either of the other species. He thought the apparent extensive wing clouding could be attributed to the angle of the photo.

An Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni) still learning or perhaps just confused. It is on a street lamp pole and not an Alder tree.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- 3 owl midges Psychodidae sp.
- 25 other midges of various sizes again
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger)
- 4 small spiders too high up to get an identification

(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

2013

Priorslee Lake

Water Rail

Hobby

(Ed Wilson)

The Flash

Snipe

(Ed Wilson)

2010

Priorslee Lake

Sandwich Tern

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake

Green Sandpiper

(Ed Wilson)