27 Sep 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 14.0°C: Early mainly high overcast with a few breaks. Cloud increased and lowered after 08:30. Light / moderate south-easterly breeze. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:04 BST

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

No real highlights today. One piece of news from one of the fishermen: a Common Sandpiper was present briefly on Tuesday 19th. This species does over-winter in small numbers, mainly in the South West. Here it is usually only a pre- and post-breeding migrant with the being last seen in early August.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:30 – 09:15

(197th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Of the 117 Lesser Black-backed Gulls noted on the water 82 of these were present early – the later arrival of the gulls enabled me to specifically identify all the first-arriving birds. Some of the later arrivals may have been these early birds returning.
- A Tawny Owl was calling beside the Priorslee Avenue tunnel at 05:40.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 1 Canada Goose: North 06:55
- 1 Greylag Goose: south-east 08:25
- 4 Stock Dove: trio and single
- 107 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Herring Gull
- 17 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 96 Jackdaws
- 194 Rooks
- 3 Meadow Pipits
- 1 Pied Wagtail

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 7 (0) Chiffchaffs

Hirundines etc., noted:

None

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese: arrived together
- *2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 5 (3♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens
- 118 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 48 Black-headed Gulls: these flushed off the football field c.07:15. No more than 18 seen at the lake.
- *10 Herring Gulls: one third winter; nine first winters
- *1 Yellow-legged Gull: third winter?
- *117 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: see notes

On or around the street lamp poles at dawn:

Moths:
- +Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata)

Other things:
- 1 fly Dryomyza anilis
- *3 Spotted-winged Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii)
- 1 cranefly Limonia nubeculosa
- 1 wood gnat, perhaps Sylvicola fenestralis
- *1 unknown green aphid
- *1 Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea)
- *3 springtails Pogonognathellus longicornis
- *1 other Pogonognathellus-like springtail
- 1 ground beetle Nebria brevicolis or N. salina.
- 1 spider Clubiona sp.
- *2 Common House Spiders (Eratigena atrica)
- *4 Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
- 2 male harvestmen Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli
- *1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Noted later in poor weather.

Bees / wasps etc.:
- presumed Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Flies:
- 2 unidentified flies

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)

Spider:
- *money spider, just perhaps Tenuiphantes tenuis

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

Fungus:
- probable Common Bonnet (Mycena galericulata) as yesterday

Not an exciting sunrise. The resident two adult Mute Swans and their two cygnets on their favourite resting place on the concrete ramp.

It is always difficult to render the tone of gulls accurately. The left-hand bird is an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. The right-hand bird looks too dark to be a Herring Gull and too pale for a Lesser Black-backed Gull suggesting it is a Yellow-legged Gull.

The two birds on the left may be these same two birds. The left-most bird is an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. The middle bird, an immature gull with almost no contrast on the inner primaries is a Yellow-legged Gull. The right-most bird is an immature Herring Gull.

A juvenile Goldfinch amongst the rapidly-ripening Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) berries.

A Common Marbled Carpet moth (Chloroclysta truncata). It is late in the flight season for this species. My first of the year here.

I think this is a female Spotted-winged Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii). The females lack the dark mark on the wing tips.

A small big-eyed fly I found on the 'boxing ring', No idea as to its identity.

An unusual sighting: a fly that has apparently died of natural causes rather than being eaten by something. I picked it up and was surprised to find...

... this! It does appear to be a Muscid fly though I cannot begin to say which.

A Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea) alongside a springtail, possibly Pogonognathellus longicornis. This springtail seems to have particularly long antennae.

A 'typical' springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis.

And one with one damaged antennae. A not uncommon occurrence.

A Pogonognathellus-type springtail with rather short and curved antennae.

I suspect that these two Common House Spiders (Eratigena atrica) are mating. Males of some species have to find a way to hold the jaws of the female open to avoid getting a fatal bite.

Not all spiders of any one species are the same size. Here are two Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius).

Again on the 'boxing ring' is probably the same money spider, just perhaps Tenuiphantes tenuis, as I noted two days ago.

The pale central line down the abdomen identifies this harvestman as a Paroligolophus agrestis.

I do not often see harvestmen in daytime. Perhaps this is why with this Paroligolophus agrestis hiding away inside the leaf of a Spindle-tree (Euonymus europaea).

The plane of the day. This is an Aérospatiale AS.355F1 Twin Squirrel of PLM Dollar Group ("PDG" on the door). This company has a hangar at Wolverhampton's Halfpenny Green Aerodrome, among other locations. The 'electricity' logo indicates its primary use in supporting the maintenance of the National Grid.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:20 – 10:15

(183rd visit of the year)

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Meadow Pipit
- 1 Siskin

Warblers noted:
- 3 (1) Chiffchaffs

Hirundines etc., noted:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 49 Canada Geese: of these 43 arrived together.
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- *3 (1♂) Gadwall
- 27 (19♂) + 4 Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- 1 (0♂) Common Teal
- *46 (>15♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (0♂) Goosander
- 12 Moorhens
- 54 Coots
- 5 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 14 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Cormorants
- 3 Grey Herons

Noted on / beside the street lamp poles etc. around the water etc.:
- *unidentified cranefly

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Bees / wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Flies:
- *soldier fly-type
- European Cranefly (Tipula paludosa)

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)

Molluscs:
- *White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

A pair of Gadwall was out in the open today: here is the drake.

 And here is one of the two duck Gadwall present.

It is becoming slightly easier to sex at least some of the Tufted Ducks as they moult in to their breeding plumage. One obvious drake but what about the one in the front. It seems to have a few flecks of white breaking through the typical brown flanks of ducks.

Here is another puzzle. More white in the flanks. It also shows vestigial white around the base of the bill, typical of both ducks and immatures of both sexes.

The same bird side-one. It shows white under-tail, also typical of both ducks and immatures of both sexes. The size of the tuft almost certainly identifies this as an immature drake.

An interesting fly. It looks superficially like a female semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus which I would not expect to be flying at this date.

 Something else I did not expect was the banded abdomen visible here.

A female crane fly. An unusual species holding plain wings over its back at rest. The NatureSpot web site is not available at the moment so I cannot go further at the moment.

Would you believe a White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)?

(Ed Wilson)

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Noted in the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- none

Other things:
- *1 male plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- 1 Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber)
- 13 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)
- 1 Walnut Orb Weaver spider (Nuctenea umbratica)
- several, all unidentified, spiders

A 'classic' male plumed midge Chironomus plumosus.

(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
1 Teal
3 Wigeon
1 Kingfisher
(John Isherwood)

2011
Priorslee Lake
13 Meadow Pipits
3 Redpoll
Siskin
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Juvenile Common Scoter
3 Little Grebes
Drake Pintail x Mallard
(Ed Wilson/Andy Latham)