28 Jun 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

13.0°C: Started mainly overcast. A few breaks developed before patchy light drizzle after c.08:15. Fresh south-westerly breeze. Excellent visibility except during drizzle.

Sunrise: 04:49 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 – 06:10 // 07:20 – 09:50

(140th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- A duck Mallard was seen with four very new ducklings at 05:20. Neither the duck nor the ducklings were seen later hopefully hiding away safely.
- A Common Tern was fishing at the West end when I returned from The Flash c.07:35. It soon flew off West.
- A Little Egret flew off from the East end at 05:20.
- A Garden Warbler sang from the south-west copse c.05:30 only.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 2 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 Stock Dove
- 35 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Herring Gulls
- 22 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Kestrel: flew East at 05:05 from Ricoh area
- 21 Jackdaws
- *10 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- *>35 Swifts
- 4 Barn Swallows
- >12 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 14 (11) Chiffchaffs
- 6 (5) Reed Warblers
- 12 (9) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler: at c.05:30 only
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat
'nominal' warbler:
- no Goldcrests

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- *6 (5♂) + 4 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 18 + 9 (5 broods) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Black-headed Gull
- 1 Herring Gull
- *8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *1 Common Tern: c.07:30 at least
- 1 Grey Heron: departed 05:45
- *!1 Little Egret: departed 05:20: bird species #95 for me here this year

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Spiders:
- *1 Stout Sac Spider Clubiona sp.

Noted later:
Too damp and windy for many insects to be about

Butterflies:
- Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus
- Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina
NB: 'brown' butterflies are about the only species of butterfly on the wing in cloudy conditions. The temperature needs to be above 12°C.

Moths:
- Common Marble Celypha lacunana

Bees, wasps etc.:
- wasp sp. either Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris or German Wasp Vespula germanica

Hoverflies

The first name is that used by Stephen Falk. The name in square brackets is that given by Obsidentify or other sources if different. Scientific names are normally common. The species are presented in alphabetic order of those scientific names.
- Bumblebee Blacklet Cheilosia illustrata [Bumblebee Blacklet]
- *Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
- *Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
- *Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
- Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens [Pied Plumehorn]

Damsel-/dragon-flies:
- *Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans

Other flies:
- Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- *!Little Snipe Fly Chrysopilus asiliformis
- *semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus
- **yet more unidentified flies

Bugs etc.:
- none

Beetles:
- *Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni : adult and !larva

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

Spiders:
- none

New flowers noted
- *Butterfly-bush Buddleja davidii
- Meadow Vetchling Lathyrus pratensis

The duck Mallard with her four new ducklings. From the photo I could almost convince myself there were five. I only saw four.

Two Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The lower one is an adult. The upper a moulting first year bird with a few new inner primaries. Some of the secondary coverts have been shed such that the white bases to the outer secondaries are showing as a white patch in the centre of the wing.

The Common Tern showing its diagnostic features: an orange bill with a dark tip; and a dark wedge on the outer part of the wing. The similar Arctic Tern has a wholly blood-red bill; a clean-looking wing; and longer trail-streamers.

Never likely to be a great quality photo at 05:15 as the Little Egret departs. An out-of-focus gull passes behind.

The Swift display duo prepare to perform. The chilly and fresh wind brought the Swift back to hunt hatching insects being swept off the water and up over the trees alongside Castle Farm Way.

Did I mention that birds are moulting? It is hard to see how this Rook can still fly in a straight line.

A male Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus. This species often sits with its wings held open. Not when it is raining it doesn't.

Also a male: a Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax. Only the males have the obvious tapered abdomen.

Yet another male hoverfly: a Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare. It is the male that has the rectangular yellow marks. On the female these marks are triangular.

Before the rain arrived I noted just one damselfly: this male Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans.

I think the most attractive of the snipe flies. It is a Little Snipe Fly Chrysopilus asiliformis with a banded abdomen and green eyes. The black wing stigmata show a pale inner edge.

A semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus 'semaphoring' - flashing his white wing tips to impress an, invisible to me, female.

What do flies eat? Flies apparently.

 Unidentified fly species #1. Very small.

#2. A compact fly with short wings.

 #3 with its tongue out.

#4. Another very small one alongside rain drops. The question arises as to how flies survive being hit by rain. If anything the equivalent size hit me I think it would hurt.

#5. An all-black fly. That is quite enough unknowns for one day.

An unusual view of one of the many green midges that I cannot identify.

A mystery. What is this on the Common Ragwort Jacobaea vulgaris flower? Is it a insect with very long legs trailing behind it? Or is it a seed that just happens to be where it is? When I tried to investigate it dropped in to the vegetation never to be seen again. That perhaps supports the "seed" hypothesis.

This is an Alder Leaf Beetle larva Agelastica alni. Note the circular marks where it has chewed the leaf. The small black marks are frass – the polite word for insect excrement.

The street lamp poles at the West end of the lake have been remarkably devoid of creatures recently. Nothing yesterday: just this Stout Sac Spider Clubiona sp. today.

There is a Butterfly-bush Buddleja davidii alongside Teece Drive. It is 'wild', so it is never pruned and almost all the flowers are very high making it difficult to see, let alone photograph, any insects feeding there.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Nothing found

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:15 – 07:15

(143rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a significant increase in Mallard numbers as breeding concludes and they, like the geese, congregate to moult when they become more or less flightless for a while.
- I noted 17 Coots standing together on the edge of the island. I am sure some of these must be full-grown juveniles. By now only a slightly smaller white shield and paler breast would separate these from adults. At the range I was viewing them I could not confirm any such individuals.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 6 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 6 House Martins

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 227 Canada Geese: goslings not identified
- 56 Greylag Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 3 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 31 Mallard: no ducklings seen: sexes not determined
- 9 (7♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 27 + 3 (2 brood) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: briefly

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- *4 'grey' moths, probably all Common Grey Scoparia ambigualis

Flowers:
- *!Meadow Vetchling Lathyrus pratensis

One of the street lamp poles seems to attract moths more than all the others, perhaps because it is closest to the Wesley Brook. Today there were four of the confusing 'grey' moths. The pole has a liberal growth of lichen and the moths are not always easy to see. Here is one.

Another.

The third.

And a not well-focussed fourth. Looking at the literature and several internet sites I think they are all Common Greys Scoparia ambigualis

This is Meadow Vetchling Lathyrus pratensis. Also seen for the first time this year at the Balancing Lake. My photo from there has an annoying and intrusive grass stem.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2009
Priorslee Lake
Yellow Wagtail
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Common Tern
(Ed Wilson)