2 May 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

9.0°C > 11.0°C: Low overcast and misty after last evening's deluge. Moderate northerly breeze, dropped away somewhat. Moderate visibility at best.

Sunrise: 05:35 BST

* = a species photographed today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:15 – 06:15 // 07:20 – 09:45

(97th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the resident Canada Geese still have seven goslings.
- the resident Greylag Geese still have six goslings.
- I did not see any Coot with juveniles though I did hear begging.
- the Lesser Whitethroat was singing up and down the Ricoh hedge until 08:45 after which it was not heard.
- the long-term Common Whitethroat at the West end was singing very intermittently and also seen gleaning insects. I have yet to see a female here. Another male was along the South side this morning making numerous dancing song flights. Perhaps a new arrival though I have heard (passing?) birds occasionally from the same area.
- certainly two Garden Warblers. I was photographing one looking puzzled while another was singing. They may both have been singing at various times. There are usually three or four pairs nesting. As a species it tends to arrive later than most other migrant warblers.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 7 Canada Geese: a single outbound and three pairs inbound
- 4 Greylag Geese: two pairs together outbound
- 1 Stock Dove
- 9 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 6 Sand Martins
- *7 Barn Swallows
- 1 House Martin

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- *1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 13 (12) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Sedge Warblers
- 10 (10) Reed Warblers
- 12 (10) Blackcaps
- *2 (1) Garden Warblers
- 1 (1) Lesser Whitethroat
- 2 (2) Common Whitethroats
'nominal' warbler:
- 3 (3) Goldcrests

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 7 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 2 Mute Swans
- 6 (5♂) Mallard: also 1 (1♂) on the lower pool
- no Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 22 + ? (1 brood heard only) Coots
- *6 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: on the football field 06:10

Seen on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:
- 1 female plumed midge Chironomus plumosus

Noted later:

Other flies:
- *smaller female plumed midges
- *Empid dagger fly, species not determined
- *Dance fly Hilara sp.

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni: these were everywhere today
- *Raspberry Beetle Byturus tomentosus
- *Soldier beetle Cantharis decipiens
- *unidentified beetle

Spiders:
- *Walnut Orb Weaver Nuctenea umbratica

Not again! Another sighting of a Great Crested Grebe with breakfast. No red on the fish's gills so not a Perch Perca fluviatilis.

Note how the tip of the grebe's body is tilted up, presumably to act as a counterweight.

This gives the best view of the fish which is a Tench Tinca tinca.

At last I have managed a photo of the very noisy Cetti's Warbler even if he is lurking amongst the twigs.

At least the mouth is in focus as he belts out his song for the entire lake to hear.

"Was that me making all that noise?"

A Garden Warbler. This one was looking quizzically toward another singing nearby. The sexes of this species have identical plumage.

 In good light – and this morning wasn't – there is a hint of a grey shawl on the nape of this species. It is not evident here.

Compare and contrast. Sitting on one of jetties are a female Pied Wagtail and a resting Barn Swallow. I did not want to get closer as I would have disturbed the geese families. If the young take to the water then the cob Mute Swan is inclined to drown them.

A female non-biting (I hope) midge. Species unknown.

This is one of the Empid dagger flies. I cannot match the thorax pattern (one pale line and two fainter lines) so it remains unidentified.

A fly in the same Empid family but one of the Hilara species with swollen front tarsus. H. maura is the most common of a group of at least 50 species.

 Most odd. This seems to be a Soldier beetle Cantharis decipiens perhaps just emerged from the larval stage and yet to "dry out". I would never have had a clue at to what this was without the Obsidentify suggestion. The head and thorax are spot-on and the elytra look to be developing to cover the abdomen, as they do in all beetles.

I must have looked at many hundred buttercup flowers this morning and this was the only one with a Raspberry Beetle Byturus tomentosus inside.

At the time I thought this was a second getting in early before the flower was properly open. When I checked the photo I can see that the elytra of this beetle are slightly green it is more elongated. One for the Shropshire recorder I fear.

A spider from the underside. The white crescent markings identify this as a Walnut Orb Weaver Nuctenea umbratica.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Nothing of note

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:20 – 07:15

(99th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- most unusually no Tufted Duck were present. Usually a few stay all summer and occasionally they breed here.
- it is tempting to suggest that the two Lesser Black-backed Gulls that dropped in were the two that had been noted on the football field near the Balancing Lake.
- the Willow Warbler remains in good voice: all the other 'stray' warblers have moved on.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 1 (1) Willow Warbler
- 6 (6) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (3) Blackcaps
'nominal' warbler:
- 1 (1) Goldcrest

Noted on / around the water:
- 20 Canada Geese
- 1 Greylag Goose
- *5 Mute Swans
- *21 (17♂) + 2 (1 brood) Mallard
- 5 Moorhens
- 19 + >1 (2 broods) Coots: one brood with a single juvenile; another brood heard begging
- 2 Great Crested Grebes: mating at the nest site.
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: adults, briefly

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni: many fewer today

This Mute Swan caused me to pause. Brown in the wings means an immature but the bill is no longer mainly dark. Is that normal?

Seems it is. One of the other juveniles from last year looks much the same.

A duck Mallard with just two ducklings. When I first spotted the adult showing white in the wing I thought the Gadwall had nested. Not so: the bird is too large, the bill colour wrong and the white (whatever it is) is in the wrong place.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2013
Wrekin
6 Tree Pipits
1 Wheatear
5 Pied Flycatchers
2 Common Redstarts
3 Wood Warblers
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
Whimbrel
Grasshopper
5 Common Sandpiper
Wheatear
(John Isherwood)

Wrekin
1 Wood Warbler
1 Common Redstart
3 Tree Pipit
2 Pied Flycatcher
(J Reeves)

2006
Priorslee Lake
3 Common Sandpipers
2 Ruddy Ducks
(Ed Wilson)