7 Sep 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

14.0°C > 16.0°C: Low cloud and light drizzle with the Telford 'hat' - clearer to both East and West. Breaks started to appear after c.07:15, however staying mostly cloudy. Moderate / fresh SSE breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:30 BST

* = a photo from today

Priorslee Lake: 05:10 – 09:25

(190th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Yesterday there were two Tufted Ducks that flew off: today there were three. Yesterday they seemed to be ducks / juveniles: today they seemed to be moulting drakes.
- The two pairs(?) of Barn Swallows that flew through are a bit of a puzzle. In Autumn this species normally migrates in family groups, so why only two? Would failed breeders not have left already?

Birds noted flying over here:
- 54 Canada Geese: outbound in four groups
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 1 Stock Dove again
- 117 Wood Pigeons
- 42 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 5 Jackdaws
- 8 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 4 Barn Swallows: two duos
- House Martin(s): heard only

Warblers noted (no song recorded unless specifically noted):
- 12 Chiffchaffs: three in song
- 2 Blackcaps

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *3 (1♂) Gadwall
- 11 (6♂) Mallard
- 3 (0♂) Tufted Ducks: departed
- 9 Moorhens
- *119 Coots
- 12 + 10 (5 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 149 Black-headed Gulls: 128 of these were on the football field at 06:15
- *1 presumed Yellow-legged Gull
- 26 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: three of these were on the football field at 06:15

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn

Another bumper haul of strange things

Moths:

None

and:
- various plumed midges, *one probably Microtendipes pedellus
- various flies
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- 1 Clubiona sp. spider
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestman
- *1 female Leiobunum blackwalli harvestman

Noted later:

Butterflies:
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

Bees, wasps etc.
- *unidentified bee sp.
- *German Wasp (Vespula germanica)

Hoverflies:
- *Broad-banded Epistrophe (Epistrophe grossulariae)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- *Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens) [Pied Plumehorn]

Other flies:
- greenbottle Lucilia sp.

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)

There was a drake Gadwall here as well as, later, at The Flash. This bird looks to be a first winter bird as the bill is not all black and, in particular, the vermiculations on the flanks need some further development before it comes in to full breeding plumage.

Even though many Coots have settled down to a more or less peaceful winter in one large group a few residents still have unfledged juveniles and the odd scrap occurs.

There are not too many photos on the internet that show the underwing pattern of large gulls. I think this is a first winter Yellow-legged Gull on the basis of the strength of the underwing markings being too bold for a Herring Gull and the inner primaries looking too pale for a Lesser Black-backed Gull. The rather dark markings on the head are a bit of a puzzle on this normally pale-headed species.

The pale inner primaries show well here as it almost dips a wing tip in the water.

As it flies away from me the upper-wing looks good for Yellow-legged Gull with a solid dark trailing edge to the secondaries but no dark on the median coverts.

For comparison a first winter Lesser Black-backed Gull with all-dark wings; no paler inner primaries; and the median coverts showing dark. Note too the solid tail band almost horseshoe shaped where it meets the upper-tail.

Blurred special #1 – well they are small. This plumed midge with a brown thorax, pale green abdomen fading to brown at the tip is most likely Microtendipes pedellus. The abdomen is particularly thin on this species.

Blurred special #2. I cannot recall seeing a plumed midge where the antennae are banded as well as plumed. It also has wings that fall well short of the tip of the abdomen. I cannot suggest an identity for it.

Well it looks like a bee but I cannot find anything on the internet or in my library that illustrates anything like this. The banded black and red abdomen with a rather rounded shape looks distinctive enough. It does not seem to match any wasps either which normally have yellow markings somewhere. A puzzle. Another insect using Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis).

Now this IS a wasp – a German Wasp (Vespula germanica) on one of the few remaining Common Hogweed plants (Heracleum sphondylium) whose flowers are still producing nectar.

Also feeding from the same Common Hogweed plant is this Broad-banded Epistrophe hoverfly (Epistrophe grossulariae) with the parallel yellow and black bands. Note its long tongue.

This is why they are called hoverflies. (Actually the definition of what makes a fly a hoverfly is very complex.)

Another hoverfly today. At rest is a Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens).

A scary head-on view. There is still not enough definition to illustrate why it was given the alternative name of Pied Plumehorn.

The distinctive marking on the abdomen of this long-legged harvestman identifies it as a female Leiobunum blackwalli.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flash: 09:30 – 10:15

(186th visit of the year)

Highlight today was *Redshank: not the bird but my first sighting, as far as I can recall, of the plant Persicaria maculosa.

Bird notes:
- It seems ages since I last noted any Common Buzzards here. One juvenile was heard begging. Soon after three birds, presumably including the juvenile, were noted circling over.

Birds noted flying over here:
- *3 Common Buzzards

Warblers noted:
- 3 Chiffchaffs

Noted on / around the water:
- 41 Canada Geese
- 1 Greylag Goose
- *6 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall again
- 28 (15♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- *14 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 14 Moorhens
- 36 Coots
- 1 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes still
- 15 Black-headed Gulls: two(?) first winters
- 6 Cormorants: one departed
- 1 Grey Heron only

On / around the street lamp poles:
Nothing noted

Noted later:
- 1 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- *1 ichneumon sp.
- *1 froghopper
- *Redshank plant (Persicaria maculosa)

Three of the four 'spare' Mute Swans went for a fly around, still showing no inclination to see what lies outside their watery world. One passes by.

And another.

Two decide that is quite enough flying and come back.

Many of the Tufted Duck are difficult to sex at the moment. This drake is an exception, retaining much of the white flanks of breeding plumage with just a few grey feathers showing and also only a few brown feathers in the back. The bill is usually cleanly tipped black with a white subterminal band: all a bit smudgy here.

One of the first Common Buzzards I have seen overhead for a while. Perhaps they have been too busy feeding their chick and now it has fledged they can go for a soar again.

My initial impression when I saw this flower was that it was a Bistort (Polygonum bistorta). But: wait. That species grows in marshy ground alongside the Balancing Lake and not on a hedge bank: and anyway Bistort is now looking well past its best. Out with the Plant. Net app. which told me it was Redshank (Persicaria maculosa).

If you look carefully at the base of a flower in that photo there is an insect. Here it is in close up – a froghopper. And a rather strange one too in that you can see through the wing cases to the striped abdomen. I hope to have an identification by tomorrow.

I cannot tell you much about this ichneumon. It is a male – females have long ovipositors and usually a curled end to their antennae. I had hoped the white area half way along the antennae might help but it seems a number of species have this feature.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- 3 different species of cranefly
- 11 midges of various sizes
- 1 Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber)
- 6 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Little Grebe

3 Shoveler

Green Sandpiper

Tawny Owl

(Ed Wilson)

2012

Wrekin

Firecrest

(J Shutt)

2011

Priorslee Lake

Common Sandpiper

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake

Snipe

(Ed Wilson)

2006

Priorslee Lake

Kingfisher

(Ed Wilson)