15 Sep 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

15.0°C > 16.0°C: Very low cloud / mist lifted after 08:00 with some breaks appearing after 09:30. Light southerly breeze. Very poor visibility for a while; eventually becoming good.

Sunrise: 06:44 BST

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

Highlights today were:
- a drake Wigeon at the Balancing Lake
- a drake Gadwall at The Flash
- the sheer number of geese that (almost all) arrived at The Flash
- Meadow Pipits over both the Balancing Lake and The Flash: the first Autumn passage birds for me in the area.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:20 – 09:10

(188th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- One of the Mute Swan cygnets seems to paddle away from others and 'dot its own thing' some of the time.
- At least 16 Pied Wagtails were put up from the football field c.09:00 by a passing Sparrowhawk. A few minutes later I could only find 11 Pied Wagtails on the grass. A few years ago, around this date, almost 100 Pied Wagtails were feeding on the grass some mornings. Since then I have noted very few doing so. Will this year be different?

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 2 Canada Geese: outbound together
- 18 Greylag Geese: outbound together
other geese heard only, lost to view in the mist
- 5 (2♂) Mallard
- 6 Feral Pigeon: a duo and a quartet
- 108 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 2 Jackdaw
- 9 Meadow Pipits

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 13 (6) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (4) Blackcaps

Hirundines etc., noted:
- House Martins: heard only, lost in the mist high over the football field c.06:15

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- *1 (1♂) Eurasian Wigeon
- 3 (1♂) Mallard
- 4 Moorhens
- 94 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 76 Black-headed Gulls on the football field c.06:30. At least 36 at the lake later.
- 2 Herring Gulls: adult and first winter
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: two adults and two first winters

On or around the street lamp poles at dawn:

Moths:
- none

Other things:
- 1 wood gnat, perhaps Sylvicola fenestralis
- 1 other wood gnat sp.
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis
- *1 female Leiobunum blackwalli harvestman
- *1 male and *1 female Leiobunum rotundum harvestman
- 2 male Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli harvestmen
- *1 unidentified slug sp.

Around the sailing club HQ
- *1 possible Strawberry Snail (Trochulus striolatus)
- *1 Walnut Orb Weaver spider (Nuctenea umbratica)
- some of the usual spiders
- 1 unidentified slug sp.

Noted later: dull with wet vegetation

Butterflies:
- none

Moths:
- none

Bees / wasps etc.:
- none

Hoverflies:
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)

Dragon-/damsel-flies:
- none

Other flies:
- cranefly Tipula paludosa
- other craneflies not identified

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni); adults

Bugs:
- none

Spiders / Harvestmen:
- Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus)
- Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)

Also
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
- *many slugs

This is what I have been doing the last few days. Here is a Lockheed-Martin F-35A Lightning II blasting off from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. The aircraft has its afterburner on – neat fuel is injected in to the hot exhaust to provide extra thrust for take-off – producing the glow. Condensation streams off the wing-tips. There are over 40 of these aircraft based here with the US Air Force 48th Fighter Wing.

Landing at the air base is a Lockheed C-130H Hercules of the US Air Force 139 Air Wing Missouri Air Guard based at Minneapolis St Paul Airport. Now on to today...

 'A record shot' only of the drake Eurasian Wigeon.

A very odd-looking fly with a large or swollen abdomen.

This is a female Leiobunum blackwalli harvestman (harvestperson?) with the dark saddle widening posteriorly and white eye surrounds (not that these are too easy to see here). There is the remains of another harvestman – just a few legs – at the top right; and bottom right is a springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis.

And this is a female Leiobunum rotundum harvestman with a parallel-sided dark saddle and black eye surrounds.

The males are harder to separate with only the eye-surrounds separating them visually. This one appears to have dark around the eyes and is therefore a Leiobunum rotundum harvestman.

This small snail was on the wall of the sailing club HQ. It is possibly a Strawberry Snail (Trochulus striolatus). All snail shells tend to have variable patterning.

An unidentified slug. Despite its apparent slow progress it disappeared off the street lamp pole as soon as the light went out.

Whereas this one was found unexpectedly inside a Field Bindweed flower (Convolvulus arvensis)

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:15 – 10:30

(174th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- An amazing count of geese. I am surprised the island didn't sink under their weight.
- The four Mallard ducklings still doing well.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Meadow Pipits

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

Hirundines etc., noted:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- *324 Canada Geese
- *56 Greylag Goose
I noted just 1 Greylag and 3 Canada Geese before mass arrival of the rest. Count 'best effort'!
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 34 (21♂) + *4 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- *65 (>23♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhens
- 59 Coots
- 5 + *3 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants
- 2 Grey Herons

Noted on / beside the street lamp poles etc. around the water etc.:

Moths:
- none

Other things
- *1 Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes)

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Bees / wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- *Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Fly
- *a fly, perhaps Coenosia tigrina
- *several other, unidentified, flies

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni); adults

Bugs:
- *7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- *Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina): early instar

Spiders:
- Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus)

Already full of Canada Geese with six more arriving.

Always looking more poised a quartet of Greylag Geese arrive.

Another 'record shot'. Behind the sleeping Canada Goose is a duck with a dark rear-end: a drake Gadwall.

With all the geese arriving the Tufted Ducks are off to the top end to keep out of the way.

This is the oldest of the three juvenile Great Crested Grebes here.

This is one of two juveniles that were still begging the adults for food.

A Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris).

According to Obsidentify this small fly could be Coenosia tigrina. Checking with the NatureSpot web site the long legs with thick 'thighs' and the dotted abdomen fit. I am sure there are 'many similar species'.

I can't offer any identification for this fly. I often notice flies rubbing their front legs together.

A 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata).

An early instar of a Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina).

A Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes) on one of the street lamp poles.

(Ed Wilson)

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Noted in the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- *Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

Other things:
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis
- 3 craneflies Tipula lateralis including a mating pair
- 18 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)
- 5 Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber)
- *2 Walnut Orb Weaver spiders (Nuctenea umbratica)
- several unidentified spiders

On the ceiling of the tunnel was this Silver Y moth (Autographa gamma). 2023 has been my best year for this species in Shropshire. All individuals are likely migrants from the Continent though in recent years it is thought a few over-winter in south-west England and could breed.

A mating pair of Tipula lateralis craneflies. It is hard to tell which is which sex. I think the lower one is the female with her ovipositor inserted in the male.

The underside of a Walnut Orb Weaver spider (Nuctenea umbratica).

This topside view of a different specimen was taken at the sailing club HQ.

(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
Green Sandpiper
9 Ravens
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Mallard x Pintail
Raven
2 Sand Martin
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
100+ hirundines
31 Pied Wagtails
Redwing
14 Chiffchaffs
7 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)