10 Aug 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

15.0°C > 18.0°C: Broken cloud to the East: cloud spreading and lowering from the West with drizzle intermittently after 08:30. Light southerly breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:44 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 // 07:15 – 09:30

(172nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- another of the pairs of Great Crested Grebes has young. A single juvenile was briefly in the water. There could have been more on the parent's back but they were too far away to see.
- as Thursday there were no gulls on the football field at c.05:55
- a single Barn Swallow flew determinedly South at 09:15.
- there were eight Pied Wagtails on the academy's sports field at 05:00. There were nine (the same?) on the football field at 09:15.
- *at least nine Linnets were on the fence around the football field at 09:15.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 110 Canada Geese: 45 outbound in eight groups; 65 inbound in eight groups
- 38 Greylag Geese: 6 outbound together; 29 inbound in seven groups
- 4 (?♂) Mallard
- 67 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Herring Gull
- 34 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 171 Jackdaws
- 129 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 7 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 10 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 5 (0) Reed Warblers
- 2 (0) Blackcaps
- 1 (0 Common Whitethroat
'nominal' warbler:
- 4 (1) Goldcrests

Counts from the lake area:
- 95 Canada Geese: arrived in at least 18 small groups
- 3 Greylag Geese: arrived as part of two groups of Canada Geese
- 2 Mute Swans
- 19 (?♂) Mallard
- 6 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 59 adult and juvenile Coots
- 5 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Common Sandpiper
- 8 Black-headed Gulls on the lake c.05:45: none on the football field at 05:55: five at most later
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull: juvenile / first winter
- 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *!1 Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella [was Common Grass-veneer]

Flies:
- *!!2 dance flies Tachydromia umbrarum
- 1 plumed midge
- *1 owl midge Psychodidae sp.

Bugs etc.:
- *1 Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius

Beetles:
- !!*1 ground beetle possibly Paradromius linearis

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- 1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- 7 harvestmen Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
- *1 harvestman Leiobunum rotundum

Noted later:

Butterflies:
- none

Moths:
- Straw Grass-moth Agriphila straminella [was Straw Grass-veneer]

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum

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.
- *Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
- Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]

Damsel-/dragon-flies:
- none

Other flies:
- *fly from the group Opomyzidae, probably Opomyza florum
- other unidentified flies noted

Bugs etc.:
- none

Beetles:
- none

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- none

New flowers:
- none

A bunch of Coots photo-bomb the early sunrise. Cloud already mostly across the sky from the West.

 The turn of Mallard to photo-bomb the later more colourful dawn.

An adult Black-headed Gull in wing-moult. Note too that the head is rapidly losing its breeding tones.

The same bird from above. Note the white area in the outer middle part of the wing. This is because the new secondary coverts are still growing and have yet to cover the white bases of the secondaries.

It has found some food.

A juvenile / first-winter Yellow-legged Gull. The inner primaries are slightly paler but too pale for a Lesser Black-backed Gull and too dark for a Herring. An other separation from a Lesser Black-backed Gull is that the tips of the secondary feathers are much darker than the coverts. Another separation from the same age Herring Gull is the wide and well-defined tail band.

The same bird showing the underwing. A Lesser Black-backed Gull would show stronger demarcations between the sets of feathers.

This Common Buzzard feather was in the middle of Teece Drive.

Two of the small flock of Linnets that briefly settled on the fence around the football field. These are both females or juveniles. Note the distinctive bill shape of this species.

Four here with the middle two being moulting (or scruffy) males. In breeding condition these have grey heads and red patches on the sides of their breasts.

A Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella. Separated from the Straw Grass-moth A. straminella by the more clearly delineated pale area that splits in to four clear 'fingers'.

I saw just two bumblebees this morning. Both, like this, they were Common Carder Bees Bombus pascuorum . This one has found a late Bramble Rubus fruticosus agg. flowers. The taxonomy of Brambles is almost as complex as that of Dandelions Taraxacum sp. and well beyond me.

The only hoverfly I had multiple sightings of this dull morning was Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus.

A new species of fly for me. This small reddish fly with dark markings in its wings is one from the group Opomyzidae, probably Opomyza florum.

The owl midge Psychodidae sp. on a street lamp pole pre-dawn.

Another new species of fly for me: one of the dance flies Tachydromia umbrarum. There were two of these on a street lamp pole pre-dawn.

I assume this is one of the long-legged group of flies. No further information.

The background to this pre-dawn Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius is the yellow street lamp identification label.

This ground beetle, possibly Paradromius linearis, was another resident on a street lamp pole pre-dawn.

A female harvestman Leiobunum rotundum. So far this year I have only seen females with their parallel-sided dark mark on their saddle.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- none

Other things:
- 24 White-legged Snake Millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- *1 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

 Less easy to see than I would have liked as I could not get level with this Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata. As a consequence there is off-set shadow from the camera flash.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:20 – 07:10

(175th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- *a surprise was to find two late Swifts wheeling around among at least 15 House Martins high overhead.
- also somewhat unusual was my first returning Willow Warbler, briefly singing. Always easier to identify when singing: their calls are harder to separate from those of Chiffchaffs. Willow Warbler is an earlier migrant as most go as far as sun-Saharan Africa. As a result they are slightly larger and longer winged than Chiffchaff.
- a strange call had my Merlin app suggesting Oystercatcher and then Song Thrush before the bird changed its tune and revealed itself as a Nuthatch.
- Treecreepers were heard in four separate locations.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Hirundines etc. noted:
- *2 Swifts
- 15 House Martins

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 4 Canada Geese
- 2 Greylag Geese
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 41 (?♂) Mallard
- 32 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 + 2 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 72 + 5 (4 broods) Coots: one new and previously unseen brood
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 41 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- 1 Garden Grey Eudonia mercurella [was Small Grey]
- *1 Single-dotted Wave Idaea dimidiata
- *1 Swallow Prominent Pheosia tremula

Beetles:
- 1 Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni larva

Molluscs:
- *!brown slug Arion rufus/vulgaris

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- *1 money spider sp.
- 4 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

One of two Swifts I noted. Most of these birds left at the end of July. The question arises: were these passing through or are they birds from the nesting area in St. Georges with a late brood?

One of those pesky 'grey' moths and a long way up a tall street lamp pole. It is a Garden Grey Eudonia mercurella.

Today's Single-dotted Wave moth Idaea dimidiata with a very different base colour to the almost white individual I photographed yesterday.

My third Swallow Prominent moth Pheosia tremula of the year, each of them on a different street lamp pole.

Yesterday it was black slugs crossing stones on top of the Balancing Lake dam. Today a brown slug Arion rufus/vulgaris crossing a path here. I have no idea why it is carrying its own camouflage with it.

There is almost zero chance of getting a specific identity on this small 'money spider' I found on one of the street lamp poles.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2012
Priorslee Lake
6 Little Egrets
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Egret
(Ed Wilson)

Nedge Hill
Location
Redstart
(John Isherwood)

2005
Priorslee Lake
5 Arctic Terns
(Ed Wilson)