29 Sep 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 15.0°C: Mainly clear with very thin high cloud, more haze than cloud. Light / moderate westerly breeze later. Very Good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:07 BST

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

Highlight today was a *Little Grebe new in at the Balancing Lake.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:35 – 09:20

(199th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- At least 7 Canada Geese on the lake arriving in ones and twos. Five of them departed with three (more?) arriving
- Two Tawny Owls were calling from near the Priorslee Avenue tunnel c.05:40.
- Three Skylarks flew North together 08:10. Bird(s) heard twice overhead later while I was busy doing other things.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 14 Greylag Geese: inbound together
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Feral Pigeons: together
- 1 Stock Dove
- 54 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Herring Gull
- 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 27 Jackdaws
- 74 Rooks
- 5 Skylarks at least: see notes
- 5 Pied Wagtails
- 1 Siskin

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

Hirundines etc., noted:

None

Counts from the lake area:
- up to 10 Canada Geese at various times: see notes
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 5 (3♂) Mallard
- 2 (0♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens
- 124 Coots
- *1 Little Grebe
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- c.75 Black-headed Gulls: 52 counted on the football field c.07:20. At least 22 more on the lake at that time.
- *10 Herring Gulls
- *68 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

On or around the street lamp poles at dawn:

Moths:
- *1 The Sallow (Cirrhia icteritia)

Other things:
- 3 flies Dryomyza anilis
- 2 Spotted-winged Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii)
- 1 wood gnat, perhaps Sylvicola fenestralis
- 1 unknown caddis fly
- 5 springtails Pogonognathellus longicornis-type
- *1 White-legged Snake Millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger)
- *1 spider sp., probably Amaurobius sp.
- *2 Common House Spiders (Eratigena atrica): dead?
- *1 spider sp., perhaps Furrow Orb-weaver (Larinioides cornutus)
- 3 Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
- 1 male harvestman Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis
- *1 Tawny Soil Slug (Arion owenii)
- *1 Brown-lipped Snail (Cepaea nemoralis)

Noted later:

Butterflies:
- Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

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

Hoverflies:
- *Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)

Dragonflies:
- *Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)

Other Flies etc.:
- *Muscid fly Phaonia rufiventris
- *Tachinid fly Tachina fera
- many unidentified flies on Ivy.

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)

Bugs:
- Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina)

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

The moon sets through scattered thin high cloud

The sun is soon to rise...

...struggling to shine through those thin high clouds.

A new arrival is this Little Grebe.

A well-illuminated first winter Herring Gull.

Whose buoy is it anyway? Two first winter Lesser Black-backed Gulls dispute ownership

Stop hiding. A Chiffchaff being camera shy.

That's better.

Not to be outdone a Dunnock poses in the sun.

Me too!

The moth called The Sallow (Cirrhia icteritia) on the overhang of a street lamp pre-dawn. My third of the year here.

A male, and therefore a tapered Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax).

A Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum). I am not sure of the sex of this individual. Females are brown. Adult males are red but immatures orange-red. This appears to be neither.

This seems to be a Muscid fly Phaonia rufiventris. The 'ventris' is indeed 'rufi'!

Almost grotesque but wonderful. The Tachinid fly Tachina fera.

My app suggested this was one of the Amaurobius species of spider.

While it suggested this spider is a Furrow Orb-weaver (Larinioides cornutus). The patterns on the abdomen of many spiders is very variable.

I showed these two Common House Spiders (Eratigena atrica) a few days ago when I thought they were mating. A deadly embrace?

The line along the side of the body identifies this as a Tawny Soil Slug (Arion owenii).

A Brown-lipped Snail (Cepaea nemoralis) and a White-legged Snake Millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger).

Fresh vegetation at the end of September. Yes. This a rather late-growing Wild Angelica (Angelica sylvestris). Most have more or less finished flowering.

Plane of the day: a 900-series Boeing 787 Dreamliner of the UK arm of the low-cost carrier Norsk. A 2019-build aircraft originally operated by Norwegian Air UK, a subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle that failed to make money on low-cost Transatlantic flights.

As usual the flight information from FlightRadar24.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:25 – 10:25

(185th visit of the year)

Bird notes:

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- *2 Common Buzzards

Warblers noted:
- 3 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (0) Blackcap

Hirundines etc., noted:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 14 Canada Geese: of these five arrived together.
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 22 (15♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- 44 (>19♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 brownhead Goosander
- 10 Moorhens
- 55 Coots
- *4 + *2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 15 Black-headed Gulls
- *1 Cormorant
- 1 Grey Heron

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

Nothing noted

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Butterflies:
- *Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

Bees / wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- presumed Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Hoverflies:
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)

Dragonflies:
- presumed Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum): seen in flight only

Flies:
- several unidentified flies

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)

Bugs:
- *Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus)

Spiders:
- Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus)

Fungus:
- *Not Arcyria slime moulds

One of two immature Great Crested Grebes. Immatures because it shows stripes on the face. Both birds seemed to be the same age and likely from the same brood. None was begging to be fed by any of the adults today.

An adult Great Crested Grebe looking supercilious.

A Cormorant takes a bath.

Rather a 'grab shot. All the Wood Pigeons suddenly wing-clattered as they took to the air causing me to look up for the cause: this passing Common Buzzard.

Very few of the Ivy flowers are open as yet. This Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) has found one to stick its long tongue in to.

One of two Dock Bugs (Coreus marginatus) I found.

I got closer to the fungus today. I also suspect the fungus had 'grown' since yesterday. There is no way these are any of the slime mould fungus as I had thought they might be.

They seem quite distinctive but I cannot make an identification.

One more photo. One helpfully showing the gill structure that ought to help. Ought.

(Ed Wilson)

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Noted in the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- *Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

Other things:
- 8 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)
- 1 Walnut Orb Weaver (Nuctenea umbratica)
- usual array of other, unidentified, spiders

Yet another Silver Y moth (Autographa gamma). It was on the roof of the tunnel. I have inverted the image for easier viewing!

(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

2010
Priorslee Lake
3 Pochard
2 Sparrowhawks
24 Swallows
Peregrine Falcon
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Redwing
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
Siskin
105 Greenfinches
Swallow
House Martin
3 Chiffchaffs
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)