24 Jul 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 18.0°C: Mostly cloudy. A few sunny spells. Also a very light shower c.09:30. Calm start. Light south-westerly breeze developing. Very good visibility. Feeling humid

Sunrise: 05:17 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 // 07:05 – 09:50

(159th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- all four Mute Swans remain.
- a party of c.65 Feral Pigeons flew West c.07:15.
- many Wood Pigeons overhead, including a very loose group of 73 birds flying West.
- all the Jackdaws I noted flew past in a single group, also c.65 birds.
- a single Starling seemed to leave its roost in the West end reeds.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 49 Canada Geese: outbound in nine groups
- 4 Greylag Geese: single and duo outbound; single inbound
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- c.65 Racing Pigeons: together
- 1 Stock Dove
- 252 Wood Pigeons
- 28 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: together
- >65 Jackdaws
- 9 Rooks
- 2 Greenfinches

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 3 Swifts high over 09:00
- 4 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 11 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 11 (6) Reed Warblers
- 5 (1) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat
'nominal' warbler:
- no Goldcrests

Counts from the lake area:
- 26 Canada Geese: arrived together
- 4 Mute Swans
- 22 (?♂) Mallard
- 7 Moorhens: juveniles no longer all easily separable
- 21 Coots: juveniles no longer all easily separable
- 5 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 38 Black-headed Gulls at the lake briefly before 107 (1 juvenile) were seen on the football field at 05:55
- no Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the lake: two on the football field at 05:55
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Spiders etc.:
- 1 Walnut Orb Weaver Nuctenea umbratica
- *1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

Noted later:

Butterflies:
- Green-veined White Pieris napi
- Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria
- Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus
- Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus
- *Comma Polygonia c-album

Moths:
- Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner Cameraria ohridella
- *!Marbled Piercer Cydia splendana
- *!Straw Grass-moth Agriphila straminella [was Straw Grass-veneer]
- *Shaded Broad-bar Scotopteryx chenopodiata

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- *Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum
- Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- *Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- Common / German Wasp Vespula sp.

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.
- Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
- Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
- Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
- Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
- *Dead-head Hoverfly Myathropa florea [Common Batman Fly]
- *Twin-spot Boxer Platycheirus rosarum [Fourspot Sedgesitter Pyrophaena rosarum]
- Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens [Pied Plumehorn]

Damsel-/dragon-flies:
- Brown Hawker Aeshna grandis
- Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum: only two noted

Other flies:
- Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria
otherwise only unidentified flies noted

Bugs etc.:
- none

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni: adult
- *possible Green Dock Beetle Gastrophysa viridula

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

Spiders etc.:
- harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
- *unidentified mite

New flowers noted:
- *Water Mint Mentha aquatica

Not an exciting sunrise.

I noted this unusual cloud formation.

A Comma butterfly Polygonia c-album showing the white mark on the underwing that gives the species its name. One of just two butterflies, both this species, I noted on the Butterfly-bush Buddleja davidii.

The colour looks different with the light shining down on the open wings.

I am fairly confident this is a specimen of the dark form of Marbled Piercer moth Cydia splendana. Compare its size with the grass seeds it is resting on.

There were at least five of these Straw Grass-moths Agriphila straminella (and probably more unidentified) all hiding in the grass. This species lacks the cross band or white areas on the grass moths I have seen previously this year. The identification is clinched by the pale streak splitting in to (four) fingers.

 Last week I saw some very worn and pale Shaded Broad-bar moths Scotopteryx chenopodiata and assumed they were near the end of their flight season. Apparently not.

A Honey Bee Apis mellifera tucks in to Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra.

Meanwhile a Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris tucks in to a thistle flower. Note the neater appearance of this species with bands that are less yellow and more orange.

A Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum at rest. Not the rather scruffy appearance of this species.

A Dead-head Hoverfly Myathropa florea.

This hoverfly is a Twin-spot Boxer Platycheirus rosarum. With wings closed the identification is from the general size and shape, separated from similar species by the pattern of pale areas on the legs.

A two-fer on the rail of the boxing ring. The beetle might be a Green Dock Beetle Gastrophysa viridula even though with the light at this angle it does not look green. With it is a mite, a relative of spiders.

One of the easiest harvestmen to recognise - or at least it would if it hadn't been recently discovered that there was a species pair involved, inseparable from photos. So it is recorded as the harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus. Note the long and forked pedipalps and the long legs, especially pairs two and four.

This is Water Mint Mentha aquatica in flower. The plant has been around for weeks, seemingly refusing to flower.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- 1 Common Shiny Woodlouse Oniscus asellus
- 8 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:15 – 07:00

(162nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 6 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Blackcap
'nominal' warbler:
- no Goldcrests

Noted on / around the water:
- 88 Canada Geese
- 23 Greylag Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 14 (?♂) Mallard
- 21 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 + 5 (3 broods) Moorhens
- 47 + 5 (5 broods) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- *!Swallow Prominent Pheosia tremula

Flies:
- *!mayfly, perhaps Pond Olive Cloeon dipterum

Beetles:
- *Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni: larva

New flowers:
- *Purple Loosestrife Lythrum salicaria

A Swallow Prominent moth Pheosia tremula. I see this species every year on one or other (or both) of the street lamp poles in the wooded area at top left. It is double-brooded with the first brood appearing in late May. So this is a second brood individual.

A side-on view of the same moth. The 'prominent' derives from the point where the wing-tips meet. There is a very similar moth - Lesser Swallow Prominent P. gnoma separated by the detail of the wing-edge markings - it shows a small white wedge rather than the streaky wedge shown here.

A mayfly, perhaps Pond Olive Cloeon dipterum. I do not own any literature about this group of flies and the internet is none too helpful. This seems to be the most likely species to occur.

I am used to seeing Alder Leaf Beetles Agelastica alni climbing street lamp poles. Not so usual is to see one of the larva doing the same.

Now abundant around the water's edge is Purple Loosestrife Lythrum salicaria. Strangely it does not appear at the Balancing Lake.

(Ed Wilson)