11 May 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 16.0°C: Some medium / high cloud again. Light easterly breeze. Good visibility: rather hazy.

Sunrise: 05:19 BST

* = a species photographed today
! = a new species for me here this year
!! = a new species for me in Shropshire

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:00 – 06:05 // 07:00 – 09:45

(103rd visit of the year)

One that I cannot add to the log: a Common Peafowl (Peacock) was calling from the University grounds at c.05:30. The first time I have heard one this year.

Bird notes:
- the resident Canada Geese still have six goslings.
- the resident Greylag Geese still have three goslings.
- no Lesser or Common Whitethroats were heard or seen.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 15 Canada Geese: a pair, a trio and a group of ten inbound
- 14 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. noted.

Once again none

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 11 (10) Chiffchaffs
- 8 (8) Reed Warblers
- 15 (14) Blackcaps
'nominal' warbler:
- 3 (3) Goldcrests

Counts from the lake area:
- 6 + 6 (1 brood) Canada Geese: one additional pair throughout and another pair flew in
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 2 Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Mallard
- 5 Moorhens
- 25 + 2 (1 new brood) Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Herring Gull: adult, briefly
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: adults, briefly

Seen on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Spiders:
- 3 Stout Sac Spiders Clubiona sp.

Noted later:

Butterflies:
- !*Green-veined White Pieris napi

Moths:
- *Plain Gold Micropterix calthella
- *Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana

Bees, wasps etc.
- *Chocolate Mining Bee Andrena scotica
- *Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis
- *German Wasp Vespula germanica
- !!*Small Yellow-girdled Tenthredo Tenthredo temula [a sawfly]

Hoverflies:
- *"Buttercup Blacklet": Cheilosia albitarsus or C. albitarsis
- Blotch-winged Hoverfly Leucozona lucorum [Blotch-winged Whitebelt]
- Short Melanostoma Melanostoma mellinum [Variable Duskyface]
- Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]

Dragon-/damsel-flies:
- *Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum
- Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans

Other flies:
- *Scorpion Fly Panorpa sp.
- *Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria
- Alder Fly Sialis lutaria
- Common Crane-fly Tipula oleracea

Bugs:
- Red-and-Black Froghopper Cercopis vulnerata

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
- Raspberry Beetle Byturus tomentosus
- *Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea
- !*Common or Red-headed Cardinal Beetle Pyrochroa serraticornis

Spiders:
- Nursery Web Spider Pisaura mirabilis
- Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- !*Zebra Spider Salticus scenicus

Flowers noted.

No new ones

Not a stunning sunrise.

My first Green-veined White Pieris napi of the year. Quite why anyone decided that the veins were green is beyond me. Even on this very fresh specimen with a hint of a yellow wash the veins are clearly black bordered.

In this view those fresh veins are showing through on the upper-wing surface. I cannot recall noticing this before.

Perhaps this a better photo of a Plain Gold moth Micropterix calthella? It does illustrate its small size: that is the very centre part of a buttercup and the base of one petal.

Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana is an attractive small moth with a distinctive erratic flight pattern.

One mostly visible, also tucking in to a buttercup. Last year I only noted two individuals of this species. This is the fourth day I have seen them this year and I saw at least six today.

This is a Chocolate Mining Bee Andrena scotica. It is about the most robust of the mining bees seen in Shropshire. Females of this group of bees are larger than the males.

Another slightly 'stout' and also hairy small bee: it is a Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis.

The slightly triangular shape to the yellow on the side of the thorax identifies this as a German Wasp Vespula germanica. Coming over here and taking all the wood off the Teece Drive fence for their nests....

 This sawfly was the find of the morning as it is a new species for me. It is a Small Yellow-girdled Tenthredo Tenthredo temula.

Another view of this striking-looking insect. Harmless to man.

"Buttercup Blacklet" is what Obsidentify calls this. It is either Cheilosia albitarsus or C. albitarsis. I can't tell the difference and neither can Obsidentify.

 I think this may be the other of the species pair though Obsidentify thought it something entirely different – which was wrong.

A male Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum.

"My life is hanging by a thread". Quite literally as this Scorpion Fly Panorpa sp. flew in to and is caught by a spider's web. I released it since it had flown in to the web to escape me.

Pretty::ugly. A Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria.

Lots of spots and white at the front means a Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis of the form succinea.

Another of the same form. The number and layout of the spots can vary significantly.

A Common or Red-headed Cardinal Beetle Pyrochroa serraticornis that I found on the sailing club HQ wall around dawn.

A very small jumping spider. It is a Zebra Spider Salticus scenicus. I have seen many zebra in Africa: none was marked like this. None jumped either.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies:
- many midges of several species

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:10 – 06:55

(104th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I cannot be sure how many cygnets there were: they were always too far away and then the pen took them back to the nest inside the island. At least two.
- Perhaps the brood of three Mallard ducklings were the same as I noted on Thursday?

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Jackdaw

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 7 (7) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Blackcaps
'nominal' warbler:
- 1 (1) Goldcrest
Why are the Blackcaps so quiet? Busy on nesting duty?

Noted on / around the water:
- 20 Canada Geese
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 7 + 3? (1 brood) Mute Swans: see notes
- 19 (14♂) + 3 (1 brood) Mallard
- no Tufted Duck
- 2 Moorhens
- 24 + 10 (4 broods) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes

Elsewhere around The Flash:

Nothing noted

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2012
Priorslee Lake
Common Scoter
(Andy Latham)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Ducks
(Ed Wilson)