11 Aug 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

12.0°C > 19.0°C: Another winner for the weathermen. Not the wall-to-wall sunshine forecast. Areas of medium-level cloud throughout with a few sunny spells. Light and variable breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:46 BST

* = a species photographed today
! = a new species for me here this year
!! = a new species for me in Shropshire

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:05 – 06:15 // 07:25 – 10:00

(173rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- one of the fishermen reported an extra Mute Swan present for a short while. Seems likely to have been the same as the one I noted at The Flash (q.v.)
- as yesterday there were no gulls on the football field at c.05:55.
- an amazing at least 550 large gulls flew East between c.05:20 and c.05:40 with c.50 of them stopping off for a quick wash / drink. All those I checked were Lesser Black-backed Gulls.
- the pair of Great Crested Grebes that were seen with a single juvenile in the water yesterday are still keeping very close. There was no sign of any juveniles today.
- there were three Pied Wagtails on the academy's sports field and eight on the football field at 07:30.
- four Linnets were on the fence around the football field at 07:30.
Also
- one of the dog-walkers told me that recently and the first time for several years she has seen a Green Woodpecker in her garden nearby.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 45 Canada Geese: eight outbound together; 37 inbound in three groups
- 35 Greylag Geese: 32 outbound together; three together
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 101 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Herring Gull
- 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- c.550 large gulls: see notes
- 131 Jackdaws
- 40 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 3 House Martins

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

Counts from the lake area:
- 98 Canada Geese: arrived in multiple small groups
- 1 Greylag Goose: arrived with Canada Geese
- 2 Mute Swans: but see notes
- 20 (>8?♂) Mallard
- 5 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 65 adult and juvenile Coots; One new brood with just a single juvenile
- 6 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 6 Black-headed Gulls on the lake c.05:45: none on the football field at 05:55: five at most later
- c.50 large gulls: see notes
- 2 Grey Herons: the second quickly chased away
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 micro-moth Anacampsis sp. either Birch Roller A. blattariella [was Birch Sober] or Poplar Roller A. populella [was Poplar Sober]
*1 Mother of Pearl Patania ruralis

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- 1 harvestmen Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
- 1 female harvestman Leiobunum rotundum
- *1 male harvestman Leiobunum rotundum

Noted later:

Butterflies:
- *Green-veined White Pieris napi

Moths:
- *Straw Grass-moth Agriphila straminella [was Straw Grass-veneer]: at least 13
- *Pale Straw Pearl Udea lutealis

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
- Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- *!!spider-hunting wasp Auplopus carbonarius

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
- *!Stripe-winged Dronefly Eristalis horticola [Stripe-winged Drone Fly]

Damsel-/dragon-flies:
- Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum
- *!Black-tailed Skimmer Orthetrum cancellatum

Other flies:
- cluster fly Pollenia sp.
- *unidentified Sciomyzidae Marsh fly known as snail-killers
- *Grass Fly or Yellow Swarming Fly Thaumatomyia notata
- European Cranefly Tipula paludosa
- unidentified flies noted

Bugs etc.:
- *2 Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina: instars

Beetles:
- none

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis
- *!!Oxyloma snail, perhaps Pfeiffer's Amber Snail O. elegans

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- *unidentified spider with prey

New flowers:
- none

A couple of sunrise shots: here is one showing some colour to the North.

Not exactly the "wall to wall" of the forecast and this was about as good as it got until much, much later in the day.

A very fresh Green-veined White butterfly Pieris napi. The veins are not and never have been green.

A micro-moth Anacampsis sp.: either Birch Roller A. blattariella [was Birch Sober] or Poplar Roller A. populella [was Poplar Sober]. The species can only be positively identified by genitalia examination.

Easier to identify is this Mother of Pearl moth Patania ruralis.

One of 13 Straw Grass-moths Agriphila straminella I managed to identify. Many more disappeared in to the far distance once disturbed from the grass. Most were as worn as this one.

Almost as worn is this Pale Straw Pearl moth Udea lutealis.

A double-take. Looks like a drone fly but as it has long antennae it cannot be. It is an unusually-marked Honey Bee Apis mellifera.

A more usual Honey Bee that has clearly visited many other Greater Bindweed flowers Convolvulus sylvaticus.

A new insect for me. A spider-hunting wasp Auplopus carbonarius.

A tricky drone fly. The shape looks like a Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax. The white marks between the tergites might suggest a Stripe-faced Dronefly E. nemorum. The wing markings identify it as a Stripe-winged Dronefly E. horticola.

This dragonfly is a male Black-tailed Skimmer Orthetrum cancellatum, my first of the year. Females are olive.

It let me get very close. Here are the working bits in detail. Who designed this?

A new fly for me. One of the Sciomyzidae Marsh flies known as snail-killers. I cannot match the wing markings with any illustrated on the internet.

Are you sure that this how it is done? Two Grass or Yellow Swarming Flies Thaumatomyia notata on a petal of a Greater Bindweed Convolvulus sylvaticus.

A puzzle. I took the photo and at the time dismissed it as the remains of a fly, the victim of a spider. Looking at the photo on the PC it seems to a drone fly all wrapped up but is being attacked by a male ichneumon. So it wasn't the ichneumon that speared the fly.

 A later instar of a Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina. At this stage it has lost it dark bars.

Not sure about this. Obsidentify was sure it was an Oxyloma snail. NatureSpot only gives details for Pfeiffer's Amber Snail O. elegans which it notes is found close to water - which this was.

An unidentified spider with its unidentified prey.

My first male harvestman Leiobunum rotundum of the year. It is the black ocularium (the eye surround) that separates this from male L. blackwalli.

Plane of the day; A Boeing 747 Jumbo Freighter. There have not been too many clear sky mornings and many of them have been too hazy to see aircraft high overhead.

The FlightRadar24 data for the flight. RFD is Chicago's Rockford International Airport (well it is 68 miles close!). The 2000-build Jumbo was built as a freighter and spent the 22 years of its life with Taiwan's China Airlines. Since Air Atlanta Icelandic acquired it has been operated for several small operators that do not have the resources to support the aircraft. Magma Aviation is a UK operator nominally based at Gatwick.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- *1 Single-dotted Wave Idaea dimidiata

Flies:
- 1 cranefly Limonia nubeculosa
- 1 cranefly Tipula lateralis

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

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

Do we all know what Single-dotted Wave moths Idaea dimidiata look like? It would be good to know why they are "single-dotted".

One of two Missing Sector Orb-web Spiders Zygiella x-notata. It is easy to see why it has the alternative name of Silver-sided Sector Spider.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flash: 06:20 – 07:20

(176th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a third Mute Swan arrived and was soon chased away. Probably the bird noted by one of the fishermen at the Balancing Lake around this time.
- a low count of Mallard perhaps due to the large number of fishermen.
- a calling Blackcap was my first for a while here.
- a Pied Wagtail heard: only my fourth record this year

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 House Martins

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 8 Canada Geese
- 2 Greylag Geese
- 3 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan: see notes
- 13 (?♂) Mallard
- 29 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 + 2 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 56 + 8 (4 broods) Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 16 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- *2 Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella [was Common Grass-veneer] 3749
- 1 unidentifiable grass moth
- 1 Single-dotted Wave Idaea dimidiata
- *1 Riband Wave Idaea aversata
- 1 Swallow Prominent Pheosia tremula
- *1 Straw Dot Rivula sericealis

Hoverflies:
- *1 Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens [Pied Plumehorn]

Beetles:
- 2 Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni larvae

Bugs:
- *1 Red-legged Shieldbug Pentatoma rufipes

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- 2 harvestmen Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

The visiting Mute Swan departs.

A thick pale stripe splitting in to four fingers identifies this grass moth as a Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella.

Possibly the same species. With a wing folded over and hiding the end markings of the wing nearest the camera it is impossible to be certain.

A Riband Wave moth Idaea aversata. Like all the others I have seen this year it is of the form remutata without the solid coloured area between the outer two cross lines – the 'riband' of the species' name.

A Straw Dot moth Rivula sericealis in a typical head-down attitude. This is a specimen from the less-often seen second brood.

A Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens sunning itself on a street lamp pole in the early lights. The other markings are shadows of leaves.

At the top of a street lamp pole in the gloom of squirrel alley is a Red-legged Shieldbug Pentatoma rufipes.

Not sure what has happened to this harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus. It has lost a leg and the others not being held bunched at right angles to the abdomen as they usually are.

A distant hot air balloon. Balloons do not typically use transponders so I can add little information beyond it being a Cameron balloon operated by AirXcite Ltd., trading as Virgin Balloon Flights and no doubt paying "beardie" a handsome royalty to do so. There have been very few morning suitable for balloons this year.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sightings from previous years

2011
Priorslee Lake
Green Sandpiper
Tree Pipit
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Wheatear
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Possible Wood Sandpiper
A female Peregrine
(Ed Wilson)