29 Mar 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

3.0°C > 11.0°C: Another mixed morning. Broken medium cloud early. Very low cloud and drizzle after 06:30. Began to lift and break after 08:30 with latterly some sunny spells. Light south-easterly wind. Very good visibility but poor in drizzle.

Sunrise: 05:50 GMT

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 04:50 – 06:25 // 07:15 – 10:00

(67th visit of the year)

Between Christmas and the New Year I filled in a council report form about a failed street lamp along the West end path. On Wednesday a replacement lamp pole was fitted. The only problem is that it wasn't the one that had failed. It is possible that I quoted the wrong lamp serial number when I reported it (the serial number was not included in the council's acknowledgment email). It still means that whoever replaced the pole failed to check whether it was working!

Bird notes:
- a pair of Gadwall again.
- one pair of Great Crested Grebes was seen mating: not something I can recall seeing before. They were almost inside the reeds and the male (I presume) was on the female's back, standing vertically with his bill straight up – in a moment's panic I thought I was looking at a Bittern!
- were there really 22 singing Chiffchaffs? There did seem to be. A record count for me. Also five calling birds that did not seem to be songsters having a quiet moment.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 12 Canada Geese: three pairs and a quartet outbound; pair inbound
- 2 Greylag Geese: pair outbound
- 21 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 3 Cormorants: together
- 6 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 1 (1) Willow Warbler
- *27 (22) Chiffchaffs: seems improbable!
- *4 (4) Blackcaps

Counts from the lake area:
- 4 Canada Geese: pair throughout; another pair briefly
- 2 Mute Swans
- 2 (1) Gadwall: seen asleep on the south-west grass after 08:30 but not previously
- 3 (3♂) Mallard: also 2 (2♂) on the lower pool toward The Flash
- 38 (28♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 Moorhens
- 35 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 1 Grey Heron: arrived 05:15; not seen after 06:00

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Flies:
- *1 midge sp.

Springtails:
- 1 springtail Orchesella cincta
- 4 springtails Tomocerus type

Noted later:

Bees etc.:
- *Honey Bee Apis mellifera

Hoverflies:
- *Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax

Other flies:
- *many 'greenbottles'
- *unidentified Muscid fly
- *Root-maggot fly Botanophila fugax

Beetles:
- 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata

*Also a PS from Wednesday. I now think that the larva I thought be from the Light Emerald moth Campaea margaritaria is more likely to be a 'leather jacket' - the larva of a Tipula cranefly.

Pre-dawn looked promising. Within the hour there was low cloud and drizzle.

A Chiffchaff caught at a strange angle on a bad-feather day. The point here is that you should not believe bird guides that tell you Chiffchaff legs are black. Most are: but it is not a completely reliable feature.

A male Blackcap. My best – so far.

A very unusual Wren. It has both its mouth closed and its tail lowered.

Again.

A Honey Bee Apis mellifera. For some reason the long antennae that distinguish bees from hoverflies are not evident in this view.

'Two for the price of one': a Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax with one of the many species of 'greenbottles'.

Here is the dronefly again. It is a female (the eyes do not meet) so it is not especially 'tapered'. It can be separated from Common Dronefly E. tenax by the extensively pale legs. I do wish they would not sun themselves on the shiny Cherry Laurel leaves: it makes them hard to photograph.

An unusual midge. The antennae are not really 'plumed' as they would be for a male of most species. Yet most females have vestigial plumes.

What I believe to be a Muscid fly. Not identified to species.

A combination of the Obsidentify app. and the Naturespot web site gives the identity of this as a Root-maggot fly Botanophila fugax.

From Wednesday the larva that I thought at the time might of a the Light Emerald moth Campaea margaritaria but which I now believe to be a 'leather jacket' - the larva of a Tipula cranefly.

(Ed Wilson)

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

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- 1 cranefly Dicranomyia chorea.

(Ed Wilson)

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

The Flash: 06:30 – 07:10

(69th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the four immature Mute Swans went for their traditional daily flight around. However today they made at least five circuits and gained enough height to fly over all the trees around the water.
- both Willow Warblers seemed to be passing through, moving northward through the vegetation.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 2 (2) Willow Warblers
- 7 (7) Chiffchaffs
- 7 (7) Blackcaps

Noted on / around the water:
- 18 Canada Geese: of these three pairs flew in
- 7 Greylag Geese: of these a pair flew off
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 20 (17♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- 34 (20♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 31 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe

Elsewhere.

Nothing of note 

(Ed Wilson)

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

Sightings from previous years

2014
Priorslee Lake
2 Little Grebes
3 Great Crested Grebes
4 Cormorants
1 Grey Heron
31 Tufted Duck
3 Redwings
5 Sand Martins
7 Chiffchaffs
1 Willow Warbler
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
2 Great Crested Grebes
1 Cackling Goose
2 Common Teal
49 Tufted Ducks
3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers
4 Chiffchaffs
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock Pool
3 Great Crested Grebes
17 Tufted Ducks
1 Blackcap
2 Chiffchaffs
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Middle Pool
3 Tufted Duck
3 Chiffchaffs
(Ed Wilson)

2013
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
7 Wigeon
Iceland Gull
(John Isherwood and et al)

The Flash
1 Shoveler
2 Pochard
(John Isherwood)

Horsehay Pool
2 Mandarin Ducks
(Paul Spear)

2012
Priorslee Lake
3 Great Crested Grebes
16 Tufted Duck
2 Blackcaps
12 Chiffchaffs
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
4 Great Crested Grebes
47 Tufted Duck
1 Blackcap
5 Chiffchaffs
(Ed Wilson)

Nedge Hill
2 Red-legged Partridges
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Oystercatcher
Blackcap
5 Chiffchaffs
Sand Martins
7 Gadwall
(Ed Wilson, John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill
2 Wheatear
6 Skylarks
1 Fieldfare
3 Redwings
Lapwing
Green Woodpecker
14 Linnets.
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Barn Owl
25 Sand Martins
3 Chiffchaffs
1 Willow Warbler
47 Redwings
4 Meadow Pipits
12 Tufted Duck
4 Jays
433 Wood Pigeons
(Ed Wilson)