11 Nov 23

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

6.0°C > 8.0°C: A light shower soon after I arrived was the last after many overnight. Cleared away to leave a fine and mainly sunny morning. Light north-westerly breeze. Very goo visibility.

Sunrise: 07:25 GMT

+ = 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: 05:50 – 09:10

(235th visit of the year)

A small early movement of Fieldfare and a continued light passage of Wood Pigeons.

Bird notes:
- Black-headed Gulls remain in much lower numbers than usual. For some days a group of between five and eight birds have arrived well ahead of any of the other birds.
- In addition to the small number of Starlings flying over I logged c.200 birds leaving reed-bed roosts in 11 groups from various places around the water. Three groups left at least 10 minutes ahead of the rest.
- A Mistle Thrush was heard singing
- A group of five birds, about Starling-size but flying differently in both orientation and speed flew West to the North. They were too far away to hear any calls or see any plumage details. I can't get the idea they might have been Waxwings out of my brain!

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 12 Canada Geese: quintet outbound; septet inbound
- 20 Greylag Geese: single and trio outbound; duo, two quartets and a sextet inbound
- 2 (0♂) Goosander
- 1 Stock Dove
- 635 Wood Pigeons: of these 605 noted flying South in 24 groups
- 95 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *4 Cormorants: singles
- 67 Jackdaws
- 4 Rooks
- 41 Starlings: four groups
- 139 Fieldfare: seven groups
- 18 Redwings: four groups
- 2 Pied Wagtails
- 1 Siskin
- 1 Lesser Redpoll: calling as it circled overhead pre-dawn
- 5 mystery birds: see notes

Counts from the lake area:
- 1 Canada Goose: a very noisy bird eventually departed
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 10 (7♂) Mallard
- 28 (16♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 Moorhens
- 132 Coots
- 1 Little Grebe
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- c.75 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Herring Gulls
- 62 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *3 Cormorants: arrived singly; one departed
- *1 Grey Heron

The (semi) nocturnal community on or around the street lamp poles at dawn:
Not much after a wet night.

Moths:
- none

Otherwise:
- *1 springtail Dicyrtomina sp. possibly D. ornata
- 1 springtail Orchesella sp.
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis
- *1 spider Amaurobius fenestralis
- 2 spiders Clubiona sp.
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis
- *1 harvestman Phalangium opilio

Noted later on the Teece Drive fence:
- 2 harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis

New Fungus found:

None

 Brooding shower clouds moving away before sunrise.

The cloud beginning to break.

Later the low morning sun contrasting with some remnant cloud lit up the Autumn colours. Here.

And here.

And also here.

One of the three Cormorants arrives. I puzzled over the two vertical orangey marks. Close inspection reveals these are the curled outer primary feathers of the left wing catching the sun.

Not exactly smart plumage.

A first-winter with speckled belly flies over.

I can see you. A Grey Heron doing its best to hide.

Breaking cover.

All wings and legs!

My camera struggles to get a decent image of the tiny globular springtails, less than a tenth of an inch (2mm – 3mm) long. To specifically identify some requires examining the segments of the antenna. Good luck with that! This is certainly a Dicyrtomina sp. possibly D. ornata.

A male spider, probably Amaurobius fenestralis. There is another species A similis: that species tends to be around buildings whereas A. fenestralis favours wooded areas, as here.

Not a very good photo but I do not see this harvestman Phalangium opilio very often. Note the long, thin and forked pedipalps indicating this is a male.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:15 – 10:20

(219th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the Goosanders do seem to have gone, at least for the moment. Many fishermen around today.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *1 Sparrowhawk

Noted on / around the water:
- 9 Canada Geese
- 4 Greylag Geese
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 39 (24♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- 32 (18♂) Tufted Duck
- 13 Moorhens
- 45 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 13 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls: all third winters
- 2 Grey Herons
- *1 Kingfisher

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

Moths:
- 1 Sprawler (Asteroscopus sphinx): still in the same place for five days

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

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

Hoverflies:
- *Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- *Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- *Dead-head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea) [Common Batman Hoverfly]
- *Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)

Flies:
- nothing unusual found among dozens of the usual suspects

New groups of fungus found:

None

A Sparrowhawk very high overhead. The rufous tones on the throat and at the base of the wings indicate this is a male.

One day: one day. The Kingfisher shot across the water and briefly perched in these bushes overhanging the water. And was gone.

A male Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)

A Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)

There does not look room-enough in the head to accommodate the tongue when retracted.

A Dead-head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea). I would have thought an unusually late date for this species.

I still don't see why is has either the 'Dead-head' or 'Batman' vernacular names. From this angle there seems to be a depression in the abdomen. Odd.

I need to have strong words with the camera. This Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis) is not quite in focus.

Plane(?) of the day. It is a Raj Hamsa X'Air 582. The current (and 11th) intrepid owner lives in St Georges and probably flies out of the small airstrip near Shifnal. He has had this 2002 build aircraft, assembled from a kit produced by the Indian Raj Hamsa Company for five months.

I am not sure it looks any less 'exciting' from this angle.

(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

2009
The Wrekin
Firecrest
(Andy Latham)

2008
Priorslee Lake
10 Great Crested Grebes
10 Cormorants
8 Pochard
107 Tufted Ducks
c.1600 Wood Pigeons
c.1700 Fieldfare
c.460 Redwings
359 Jackdaws
124 Rooks
105 Starlings
c.12 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
140 Lapwings
150+ Golden Plover
1 Snipe
1 Gadwall
1 Shoveler
15 Pochard
60 Tufted Ducks
2 Water Rails
6 Meadow Pipits
21 Redwings
20 Fieldfare over
3 Goldcrests
c.400 Starlings
1 Siskin
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
28 Pochard
58 Tufted Ducks
15 Lapwings
670+ Black-headed Gulls
2008+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1207 Wood Pigeons
88 Fieldfare
24 Redwings
254 Jackdaws
229 Rooks
795 Starlings
10 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)