24 Aug 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

16.0°C > 18.0°C: Mainly cloudy start with light rain c.05:45. Gradually cleared to broken high-level cloud before low cloud arrived after 09:30. Very light south-westerly breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:07 BST

I give up with the weather app. I checked as I was leaving my house at 05:00: "rain likely Friday afternoon". At 05:45 when it started spitting with rain I re-checked: "rain after 06:30" with rain shown as continuing until 09:00. We had no more rain!

+ = my first sighting of this species at this site this year.
++ = new species for me at this site.
* = a species photographed today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:15 – 06:25 // 07:40 – 10:00

(170th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The geese were late outbound and some of those in the totals below flew over while I was transiting between the lake and The Flash.
- A Song Thrush sang briefly.

Counts of birds noted flying over here:
- 208 Canada Geese: 135 outbound in 16 groups; 53 inbound in four groups
- 77 Greylag Geese: 76 outbound in six groups; single inbound
- 1 Stock Dove
- 188 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Collared Doves: singles
- 1 Herring Gull: immature
- *17 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: not all ages determined

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 13 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (0) Reed Warblers
- 2 (0) Blackcaps

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 2 House Martins

Counts from the lake area:
- 20 Canada Geese: arrived together
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 3 (?♂) Mallard
- 3 Moorhens
- 102 Coots
- 1 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 88 Black-headed Gulls on the football field area c.06:15: still no juveniles. Just four (of these?) noted at the lake later.
- *1 Common Gull: juvenile, briefly

On or around the street lamp poles at dawn:

Moths:
- 3 Common Grass-veneers (Agriphila tristella)

Other things
- *1 ichneumon, possibly one of the Pimplinae group with black bodies and orange legs
- *1 red fly probably of the Lauxaniidae family and possibly Meiosimyza rorida
- *3 Red-legged Shieldbugs (Pentatoma rufipes)
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestman
- *1 Leiobunum blackwalli harvestmen

Around the sailing club HQ pre-dawn:
- *several Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius): my first here

In the sailing club shelter around dawn:
- only Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius) noted

Noted later:

Butterflies:
- *Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

Moths:
- Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

Bees / wasps etc.:
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- *ichneumon sp., perhaps of the Diplazontinae family specialising in parasitisation of hoverflies

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum)
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- *Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- Dead-head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)
- *++Grey-spotted Boxer (Platycheirus albimanus) [also known as Grey-spotted Sedgesitter]
- Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)

Dragon-/damsel-flies:
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- two different unidentified dragonflies

Other flies:
- greenbottles
- *female semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus
- *usual collection of unidentified flies

Beetles:
- larva and adult of Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- *pupa of Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)

Bugs:
- *++Brassica Shieldbug (Eurydema oleracea): also known as Cabbage Bug

Also
- Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius): on the 'boxing ring' at the dam. My first here
- Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestman
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

I wish I had a better photo of this distant juvenile / immature Common Gull. While I was reviewing the photo on the camera it apparently flew away. Features to note are the rounded head shape and the much weaker bill that would be shown by the Herring/Lesser Black-backed-sized gulls. It not usual to see this age bird but then 'Common Gull' is a misnomer in this part of Shropshire.

An adult Lesser Black-backed in moult. The secondary coverts are being regrown leaving the white bases to the secondaries to show. Note the wing-tip shape better seen...

 ...here with just four old outer primaries remaining and new inner primaries regrowing.

 The only species of butterfly I noted on the wing this morning was Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria).

Using suggestions from the Obsidentify app. supplemented using other web sites I think this ichneumon is possibly one of the Pimplinae group with black bodies and orange legs.

While this ichneumon is perhaps of the Diplazontinae family specialising in parasitisation of hoverflies.

Another Obsidentify starting point led me to provisionally identify this red fly as probably from the Lauxaniidae family and possibly Meiosimyza rorida. Very few of the many thousand species of fly known from the UK have common names.

One fly I can identify is this female Semaphore Fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus. Males have white tips to their wings to 'flash' at the ladies.

Another fly I cannot identify and Obsidentify failed to go beyond ' a flesh fly'. Seems to be rubbing its hands together!

Obsidentify did help me with this small hoverfly getting nectar from a Herb Robert flower (Geranium robertianum). It seems to be my first-ever Grey-spotted Boxer (Platycheirus albimanus) [also known as Grey-spotted Sedgesitter].

Stripe-faced Droneflies (Eristalis nemorum) show clean white between the abdomen segments (tergites).

I don't often bother to photograph Common Droneflies (Eristalis tenax). Sitting against Snowberry fruits (Symphoricarpos albus) [don't even think about eating!] reveals the wing markings and the swollen hind tarsi of this species. This female has unusually restricted brown markings at the top of the abdomen.

Because this is a female of the species and does not have a circular body I can identify this harvestman as a Leiobunum rotundum. The saddle on the female L. blackwalli widens posteriorly.

 I was delighted to find my first-ever Brassica Shieldbug (Eurydema oleracea): also known as Cabbage Bug.

Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes) seems an apposite name.

It has lost all its colour so I suspect the inhabitant of this pupa of a Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) is long gone.

A Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius). I wonder if the sailing club knows these are lurking around their HQ?

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:30 – 07:35

(157th visit of the year)

Definitive news on the third white Mute Swan. Cuan Wildlife Rescue agreed to investigate as someone was passing close-by. Initially they thought it was moulting its wing-feathers and that was why it was unable to fly away (I have seen it in flight, but not for many months). They then realised it was very under-weight and probably dehydrated as it had been prevented from feeding. They took it away to recover.

Bird notes:
- One brood of six Mallard ducklings again.
- The all-white feral duck had disappeared again: hiding away?
- Only the pair of Great Crested Grebes with the fast-growing two juveniles was noted.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Jackdaw

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 6 (0) Chiffchaffs

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 8 House Martins

Noted on / around the water
- 2 Canada Geese
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *24 (?♂) + 6 (1 brood) Mallard
- [no all-white feral duck]
- 27 (>8♂) Tufted Duck
- 11 Moorhens
- 68 Coots
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- *5 Black-headed Gulls: one juvenile / first winter
- 3 Cormorant: arrived together
- 1 Grey Heron

On / beside the street lamp poles etc. around the water etc.:

A bumper log of things noted 

Moths:
- 1 Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
- *+1 Small Phoenix (Ecliptopera silaceata)

Other things
- 1 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- *1 plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- *1 unidentified beetle
- 2 Red-legged Shieldbugs (Pentatoma rufipes)
- 1 Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber)
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestman

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:
- *unidentified fungus

Still the six Mallard ducklings.

A juvenile Wood Pigeon. At this age the white neck patch is missing. From this angle it is difficult to see the white in the bend of the wing...

 ...seen here as it alights on a twig. There was not enough light to 'freeze' the action.

Another win for the camera. I did not notice that any of the Black-headed Gulls were juveniles / first-winters. The flying bird here clearly is.

A very fresh and smart-looking Small Phoenix moth (Ecliptopera silaceata). My first at The Flash this year.

A female plumed midge Chironomus plumosus without plumes on her 'simple' antennae.

A tiny beetle I cannot begin to identify.

I gave the Obsidentify two attempts at helping identify this fungus growing out of the base of a large tree. 'In the field' its most helpful suggestion was 'Pheasant'! When I showed it the photo on the PC it was slightly better when it suggested a 'bracket fungus': which it is not. I downloaded a mushroom identification app. which suggested a Honey Fungus. That seems more likely though the photos of that species on the web do not look like this. So 'pend'.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash on / around street lamp poles:

Moths:
- 1 Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
nothing else

(Ed Wilson)

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Noted in the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- *1 Brindled Flat-body (Agonopterix arenella)

Other things
- 1 Banded Mosquito (Culiseta annulata)
- several unidentified midges
- *21 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)
- *9 Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber)
- seven unidentified spiders
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli harvestman

Only when I was looking at my photo of the Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber) [top right] did I notice the Brindled Flat-body moth (Agonopterix arenella) [bottom left].

I counted 21 of these White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger) on one wall of the tunnel. I have not noted them in such abundance in previous years.

(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)