16 Mar 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

2.0°C > 9.0°C: Clear early with light frost. High cloud spread from the West, cutting off the sun c.09:15 light south-easterly wind. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 06:21 GMT

* = a species photographed today.

Note:

The technical limitations that prevented the inclusion of photos to accompany the blog on 7, 8 and 9 March have been resolved and thanks as ever to Martin Adlam have now been incorporated in to the blog for the relevant dates. Should you wish you can scroll down through the blog to find these days at your leisure.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:30 – 08:50

(55th visit of the year)

New Bird Species
Two additions to my 2024 bird list from here:
- a male Pheasant was calling from the West end after 06:00. There have been one or two birds most years with a report of successful nesting a few years ago - I did not see any juveniles myself.
- a Great (White) Egret flew high West at 08:00
These birds bring my 2024 species count here to 68.

Other bird notes:
- the duck Goosander was very elusive. emerging just once from the reeds.
- now six Great Crested Grebes.
- just a single Black-headed Gull appeared briefly at 05:45.
- a Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard calling at the West end: the first time I have heard one here for many weeks. No drumming heard yet.
- two Redwings were seen leaving a roost. A few may make it in to April before they head off toward for the breeding season.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 3 Greylag Geese: single and pair outbound
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 55 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron
- *1 Great (White) Egret
- 54 Jackdaws
- 15 Rooks

Warblers noted (figure in brackets is singing birds):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- *12 (11) Chiffchaffs

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese: pair arrived
- 2 Mute Swans
- 3 (2♂) Mallard
- 25 (15♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (0♂) Goosander
- 10 Moorhens
- 43 Coots
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Black-headed Gull
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 2 Cormorants: arrived separately

Noted on the street lamp poles pre-dawn.

Moths:
- *1 Alder Stilt Caloptilia elongella: a new moth for me

Flies:
- *1 fly, probably not Hydrellia sp.
- 1 female plumed midge

Springtails
- 1 springtail Tomocerus type

Spiders:
- 1 Stout Sac Spider Clubiona sp.

Noted later:

Flies:
- *1 Common Drone Fly Eristalis tenax.
- *many unidentified flies sunning on the street lamp pole

Beetles:
- 1 Alder Leaf Beetle on the Teece Drive fence.

The clear dawn showing the fence being erected around the area used by the sailing club. I was told by one of the locals that it is Severn Trent that is doing the work. I will try and confirm and find out why.

Mist appeared briefly. Another part of the fence is seen here.

A Moorhen in flight, silhouetted against the reflected sunrise.

The yellow bill and dark feet identify this as a Great (White) Egret. About the size of a Grey Heron.

A Chiffchaff in mid 'chiff'...

...or 'chaff'. Note the pink base to the lower mandible that the similar Willow Warbler lacks. No confusion when the bird is singing anyway.

Unhelpful lighting on this female Bullfinch. A shy species, difficult to get a photo of.

This slightly dew-covered moth seems to be Alder Stilt Caloptilia elongella. It is a new moth for me. The two-tone legs with a thicker basal half help to identify this. There are plenty of Alder trees, the food plant of the larvae, in the area.

Belatedly my first hoverfly of the year. A Common Drone Fly Eristalis tenax. Last year I saw this species in both January and February.

This fly is probably not, as Obsidentify suggested, one of the Hydrellia sp.: these flies are essentially shore-living and associated with seaweeds. I have no better suggestion.

Just two of the very many flies that were sunny on the street lamp poles. No idea as to the species involved.

Plane of the day: over seven and half miles overhead is a Boeing 787-800 series Dreamliner of Royal Jordanian Airlines flying from Chicago to Amman. From below the livery looks uninspiring.

The FR24 data incorporates a photo of the aircraft which looks more colourful. But... my photo shows dark running under the tail which the FR24 photo does not show. The aircraft has been repainted in their new livery.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flash: 08:55– 10:00

(57th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a Great Spotted Woodpecker was calling from the south-east wood very frequently.
- I noted a Magpie with a stick across its bill ready to be transported for nest-building. When it saw me it panicked and flew off only for the stick to be too long to get through its chosen gap between branches. Magpie and stick tumbled to the ground. Oh for a video!

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Sparrowhawk

Warblers noted (figure in brackets is singing birds):
- 3 (3) Chiffchaffs

Noted on / around the water:
- 22 Canada Geese
- *3 Greylag Geese: of these one arrived and the other two departed together
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 30 (22♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- 26 (13♂) Tufted Duck
- 10 Moorhens
- 39 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 1 Herring Gull: third year, departed

Noted elsewhere
- *1 Dark-bordered Bee-fly Bombilius major on the Ivy bank.
- *1 a 'greenbottle' fly, probably Eudasyphora cyanella also on the Ivy bank.
- 3 Alder Leaf Beetles Agelastica alni on the wooden handrail along the West side.

One of the pair of Greylag Geese that flew off. Note the feather damage to its right wing.

A Collared Dove posed for me.

While leaves are still not intruding too much here is a sequence of Long-tailed Tit photos.

Two birds were active around what I believe to be their nest site.

 Cute.

Perky.

I have run out of adjectives. I knew they had black legs. They look longer than I expected.

Alert?

"Yes: you"

Cute again.

Last one.

This was a surprise on the Ivy bank. By the time I got there the sun had gone behind cloud and there was a slight breeze blowing. It is a Dark-bordered Bee-fly Bombilius major, a species I do not expect to see until early-April. It is a fly and not a bee and it cannot sting – the proboscis is for obtaining nectar from deep within flowers.

A 'greenbottle' fly. It is almost certainly Eudasyphora cyanella, one of the Muscid house fly group. It is unusual amongst many green-bodied flies in having both dark lines and areas of grey at the front of the thorax. A species that over-winters as an adult and can be seen both late- and early- in the year.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sightings from previous years

2013
Little Wenlock, Candles Landfill Site
1 Iceland Gull
1 Yellow-legged Gull.
(Tom Lowe)

2012
Priorslee Lake
1 Kittiwake
2 adult Little Gulls
(J Reeves / Jim Almond / Andy Latham)

2011
Priorslee Lake
13 Pochard
18 Tufted Duck
5 Great Crested Grebe
12+ Sand Martin
3 Chiffchaff
17 Pied Wagtails
23 Linnets
11 Greenfinches
(Mike Cooper, (Martin Grant, Ed Wilson)

Priorslee Flash
2 Great Crested Grebe
c.12 Tufted Duck
4 Teal
2 Chiffchaff singing
1 Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock
30 Tufted Duck
6 Sand Martins
3 Chiffchaffs
1 Willow Warbler
( Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
7 Great Crested Grebe
1 Heron
6 Gadwall
19 Tufted Duck
2 Reed Buntings
( Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
4 Great Crested Grebe
15 Tufted Duck
1 Ruddy Duck
3 Buzzard
1 Kestrel
46 Golden Plover
4 Stock Dove
281 Wood Pigeon
27 Wren
38 Robin
21 Blackbird
1 Redwing
4 Chiffchaff singing
3 Jay
35 Magpie
159 Jackdaw
3 Reed Bunting
( Ed Wilson)