11 Jun 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 10.0°C: Broken cloud and passing showers. Light / moderate north-westerly wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:46 BST

* = a photo in today's blog.
! = a new species for me here this year
!! = a new species for me in Shropshire

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:00 – 06:25 // 07:25 – 09:55

(125th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I am seeing many broods of Coots though most broods are small (1s and 2s) and many do not last. A poor year for them so far.
- when I arrived there were many fewer Swifts around – no more than about eight. As the showers started many more arrived with at least 50 again.
- a Common Whitethroat was heard giving a quiet alarm call and then seen diving for cover in the brambles behind the sailing club shelter.
- three Mistle Thrushes were seen together in flight around the football field suggesting successful breeding here.
- a juvenile Pied Wagtail was feeding by itself along the dam face. I usually see a family party here when the adults bring their newly-fledged brood here: not so this year.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 5 Canada Geese: outbound together
- 10 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 3 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. noted:
- *>50 Swifts
- *2 Barn Swallows
- *8 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 11 (9) Chiffchaffs
- 7 (7) Reed Warblers
- 8 (7) Blackcaps
- 1 (0) Common Whitethroat
'nominal' warbler:
- 3 (3) Goldcrest

Counts from the lake area:
- 3 Canada Geese: 1 throughout; a pair arrived
- 2 Mute Swans
- 6 (4♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Moorhens
- 28 + 10 (7 broods) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 White Ermine Spilosoma lubricipeda : same as two days ago

Flies:
- 1 caddisfly Tinodes waeneri

Noted later:
More mainly dull and cool conditions

Butterflies:
- none

Moths:
- Common Marble Celypha lacunana

Bees, wasps etc.:
- none

Hoverflies:
- *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
- Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]

Damsel-/dragon-flies:
- *Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella
- *Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum
- *Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans

Other flies:
- Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus: males only noted
- *long-legged fly Dolichopus wahlbergi or similar with swollen mid-tarsi
- *Scorpion Fly Panorpa sp.
- *cluster fly Pollenia sp.
- other midges and flies, species unknown

Bugs etc.:
- none

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
- *!soldier beetle Cantharis rustica

Molluscs:
- *White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

New plants noted
None

There was not enough light to get 'crisp' photos though had it been brighter I doubt the hirundines etc. would have been down low over the water. As previously noted Swift are not, in reality, as all-black as they appear.

One with tail spread. At this angle the long and narrow wings show well.

A different individual, this one holding its tail tightly closed.

 This one also showing its forked tail. Note the swollen throat. I suspect it has been flying round hoovering-up insects ready to take them back to the nest to feed the young. During poor weather Swift will fly hundreds of miles from their nests to gather food, leaving the nestlings for many hours, even days. During this time the juveniles become torpid to conserve energy.

And one Barn Swallow.

Another.

And another.

The best I could do with a House Martin.

I have not seen too many of the Common Droneflies Eristalis tenax to date.

Once again a brief shaft of sunlight brought out a few damselflies - about five individuals of three species! This, identified by the 'U' mark on the first visible body segment, is an Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella . I don't record too many of them, probably because I don't check very many of the 100s usually flying. To my eyes these are not distinctively a different colour from Common Blue Damselflies Enallagma cyathigerum, especially as they take several days to acquire the adult colouration.

An attempt to highlight the mouth-parts of a Common Blue Damselfly – the last thing many a fly will see.

This is a Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans with the two-tone pterostigma.

One of the long-legged flies Dolichopus wahlbergi or similar with swollen mid-tarsi on the male.

A male Scorpion Fly Panorpa sp.

One of the cluster flies Pollenia sp. There are eight species in this group, impossible to separate from a photo.

This looked to be a fly with a humped and shiny abdomen. Only when I looked closely at the photo did I realise it was a bundle of three flies.

This is the soldier beetle Cantharis rustica. There are several similar species though this can be positively identified by the dark mark on the pronotum (the area behind the head); and by both the mid- and hind-tarsi being black (the red area is the side of the abdomen sticking out under the elytra (wing-cases).

White-lipped Snails Cepaea hortensis live in very smart houses.

I threatened to get a better photo of Broad-leaved Willowherb Epilobium montanum. I am not too sure this qualifies. Wait another week.

Plane(?) of the day. I think I did this some while ago but the brave pilot deserves another view. It is a Raj Hamsa X'Air 582, an Indian design and home-built from a kit. Before you smirk it is 22 years old: how many cars that old are still active? It was flying from the small grass strip near Shifnal. The owner lives in Telford.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Only a single midge seen

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:35 – 07:25

(128th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- one of the 'white' Mute Swans not seen.
- no Mallard ducklings seen: indeed many fewer Mallard seen today. I was told that the Mallard with ducklings on Sunday that I only saw from a distance had six or seven (I noted "at least two").

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
None

Hirundines etc. noted:
None

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 4 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Blackcap
'nominal' warbler:
- 2 (2) Goldcrest

Noted on / around the water:
- 133 + 3 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 3 Greylag Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 8 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 11 (9♂) Mallard
- 5 (3♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Moorhen
- 15+ 4 (2 broods) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- *!Clouded Border Lomaspilis marginata

Beetles:
- many Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni

In dull conditions and against the light. Thank goodness for photo editors. A Long-tailed Tit. With the large area around the face it is a juvenile.

Another bird in the gang that was moving through the vegetation.

A very smart moth. It is a Clouded Border Lomaspilis marginata, a common species I see most years.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2013
Candles Landfill Site
4 Yellow-legged Gulls
c500 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
6 Herring Gulls
(Tom Lowe)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Common Tern
(Martin Adlam)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)