24 May 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

9.0°C > 12.0°C: Overcast. Very light rain early. Light south-westerly breeze. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 05:00 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 – 06:15 // 07:20 – 10:05

(111th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- one Canada Goose gosling lost since Tuesday.
- five Stock Doves again on the football field c.06:05. Another flew over
- Great Spotted Woodpecker juvenile(s) heard begging from nest.
- at least 150 hirundines etc. over the water c.05:30 and most of them stayed around (or were replaced by others moving through).
- at least 40 Starlings were on the football field c.06:05 with other family groups flying around. A few adults were seen ferrying food, presumably to nests yet to fledge the juveniles.
- against the general declines in the amount of song I noted ten Song Thrushes singing this morning: back to early Spring numbers.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 4 Canada Geese: a pair outbound; a pair inbound
- 2 Greylag Geese: a pair outbound
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 1 Stock Dove
- 7 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc. noted:

See notes
- >40 Swifts
- >5 Sand Martins
- >*20 Barn Swallows
- c.*100 House Martins

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

Counts from the lake area:
- 4 + 5 (1 brood) Canada Geese: an additional pair throughout
- 2 + 1 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 3 (3♂) Mallard
- 3 Moorhens
- *22 + 5 (3 broods) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes

Seen on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 Common Pug Eupithecia vulgata

Flies:
- *1 cranefly Nephrotoma quadrifaria
- many small plumed midges

Noted later:

Moths:
- *Silver-ground Carpet Xanthorhoe montanata

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum
- !!*ichneumon Diplazon laetatorius
- *unidentified ichneumon

Hoverflies:
- Buttercup Blacklet Cheilosia albitarsus [Late Buttercup Cheilosia]
- *Blotch-winged Hoverfly Leucozona lucorum [Blotch-winged Whitebelt]
- !*Humming Syrphus Syrphus ribesii [Common Flower Fly]

Damsel-/dragon-flies:
- none

Other flies:
- !!*probable long-legged fly Argyra diaphana
- !*probable Common Orange Legionnaire Beris vallata
- *Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus: male and female
- *cranefly Epiphragma ocellare
- *greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- !*cranefly, possibly Ormosia lineata
- *Muscid fly Phaonia tuguriorum
- *Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria
- *Tachinid fly Thelaira nigripes
- many other unidentified species

Bugs etc.:
- *Mirid bug Calocoris alpestris
- Red-and-Black Froghopper Cercopis vulnerata
- !!*planthopper Cixius nervosus

Springtails:
- *springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis

Beetles:
- *Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
!*Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. conspicua
- Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea
- *Common Malachite Beetle Malachius bipustulatus
- False blister Beetle Oedemera lurida/virescens
- *Nettle Weevil Phyllobius pomaceus

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis
- !!*Chestnut Slug Deroceras invadens
- Girdled Snail Hygromia cinctella

Spiders:
- *Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- *unidentified spider with prey.

Plants photographed:
- Bittersweet Solanum dulcamara [Woody Nightshade]
- !*Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii
- *Southern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa form junialis

Do the Coots ever stop fighting? Do they ever get their claws interlinked?

I managed a few reasonably sharp photos of the many hirundines flying around. Many empty frames and blurred images are 'in the bin'. From the length of the tail streamers this Barn Swallow is a male.

An underwing view.

The red on the face is just about visible here.

One of the very many House Martins passes by.

Singing away is a male Reed Bunting. Note that by this date the head and throat have lost all the white flecks that were still present last month.

On one of the street lamps before dawn was this Common Pug moth Eupithecia vulgata.

One of three Silver-ground Carpet moths Xanthorhoe montanata I saw this morning.

An Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum takes a rest on the fence alongside Teece Drive.

This ichneumon is apparently Diplazon laetatorius identified by the white band on its legs.

Another ichneumon. Obsidentify did not help here which is confusing as it also has white on its legs.

A splendid hoverfly. Here is a Blotch-winged Hoverfly Leucozona lucorum.

 From head-on with its tongue sticking out to get nectar from the Cow Parsley Anthriscus sylvestris.

Most unusually I can identify this Syrphus hoverfly as a Humming Syrphus Syrphus ribesii because it is a female and the hind femur (the top of the leg) is visible and yellow. This only works for females. Obsidentify calls this species Common Flower Fly.

As I read things this fly is probably one of the group of long-legged flies and most likely Argyra diaphana.

I think this is a Common Orange Legionnaire Beris vallata though it is hard to be certain as the abdomen colour is affected by the light reflected from the buttercup petals.

 I noted I would try for a better photo of a Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus. Here is a male, one of dozens I noted today.

Females look very different. A broader body with pale bands.

Yet another cranefly Epiphragma ocellare. The scientific name 'ocellare' references the eye-like markings in the wings.

I see greenbottles Lucilia sp. most days. This seemed a particularly bright example. Not identifiable to species from photos.

Also on a street map pole before dawn was this cranefly Nephrotoma quadrifaria. The marks on the thorax combined with the wing marks identify this species.

This cranefly is possibly Ormosia lineata.

The orange at the top of the legs identify this as the Muscid fly Phaonia tuguriorum.

Splendid! A Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria.

I am not sure why they are called dung flies. This one seems to have captured a smaller fly.

Another splendidly ugly fly. It is the Tachinid fly Thelaira nigripes .

Almost certainly a Mirid bug Calocoris alpestris. There are similar species but this one shows the dark mark on its neck.

For me the find of the morning. It is a planthopper Cixius nervosus. What amazing wing markings.

I have not seen many springtails Pogonognathellus longicornis in daylight. This shows something that none of my 'flash' photos taken earlier this year: the thorax is very hairy.

This is not an Alder leaf but it IS an Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni.

This is a Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis of the form conspicua. The white on the face, just about visible here, eliminates confusion species with two red spots on their elytra.

 A Common Malachite Beetle Malachius bipustulatus. I have never noted how hairy the elytra are.

A Nettle Weevil Phyllobius pomaceus showing how the green scales are beginning to wear off on its back. They can go almost black.

As far as I can tell from my logs I have not identified a Chestnut Slug Deroceras invadens here previously.

A Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp. Not so much a 'stretch spider' more a 'sprawling spider'.

It may be a tiny spider (species unknown) but it has managed to demolish a few flies larger than itself.

A Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii.

This is beginning to explain why I am confused about orchids here. Obsidentify says it is a Southern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa form junialis. This form is one of the many hybrids between marsh orchids and spotted orchids. Note the spots on the leaves of this erstwhile marsh orchid.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies:
- just the usual midges of several species

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:20 – 07:15

(114th visit of the year)

New Bird Species
*Highlight of the morning was the arrival of two (Common) Shelduck at 07:00. It is probably my first record of this species here: certainly I have no post-2014 records on my computer. It is also a strange date as most individuals will be on their breeding grounds by now. Perhaps first year non-breeding birds. They bring my bird species total for the year here to 70..

Other bird notes:
- a pair of Tufted Duck were on the water and another pair flew in.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Swift
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 3 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 5 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (3) Blackcaps
'nominal' warbler:
- 2 (2) Goldcrests

Noted on / around the water:
- 22 Canada Geese
- 2 Greylag Geese
- 9 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *2 (Common) Shelduck
- 14 (9♂) Mallard
- 4 (2♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens
- 27 + 10 (7 broods) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- 1 Common Pug Eupithecia vulgata

Beetles:
- many Alder Leaf Beetles Agelastica alni
- *1 soldier beetle Cantharis nigricans

Spiders:
- 1 money spider

Still dull and they settled some way away. Here are the two (Common) Shelducks, my first ever here.

I found this soldier beetle Cantharis nigricans on a street lamp pole.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2007
Priorslee Lake
Cuckoo
(Ed Wilson)