21 Aug 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 17.0°C: Mostly clear with only thin high cloud. Later more lower cloud began to develop, staying with good sunny intervals. Moderate south-westerly wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:03 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:10 – 06:20 // 07:30 – 09:50

(180th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- no sound from any Cetti's Warbler. A Common Whitethroat was heard making its scolding call c.05:45 only

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 127 Canada Geese: 51 outbound in four groups; 76 inbound in six groups
- 8 Greylag Geese: 4 outbound together; 4 inbound as duos
- 4 Stock Doves: as duos
- 69 Wood Pigeons
- 36 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 82 Jackdaws
- 77 Rooks
- 3 Pied Wagtails

Hirundines etc. noted:
None

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

Counts from the lake area:
- 38 Canada Geese: arrived inbound in at least seven groups
- 2 Mute Swans
- 26 (?♂) Mallard
- 5 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- *91 adult and juvenile Coots
- 4 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 12 Black-headed Gulls on the lake c.05:45: none on the football field c.06:05
- 5 Herring Gulls
- *37 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- none

Flies:
- 1 plumed midge sp.

Other things:
- *1 springtail Entomobrya sp., perhaps E. nivalis

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

Noted later:
Despite much better conditions and a range of species the number of individuals remains low.

Butterflies:
- Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria
- *Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta

Moths:
- none

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
- Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris

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
- *Plain-faced Dronefly Eristalis arbustorum [Eurasian Drone Fly]
- *!Blotch-winged Dronefly Eristalis rupium
- *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
- *!Common Copperback Ferdinandea cuprea [Bronze Sap Hoverfly; Eurasian Copperback]
- Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]

Damsel-/dragon-flies:
- Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum: just two immature males noted

Other flies:
- *Grouse Wing caddis fly Mystacides longicornis
- *European Cranefly Tipula paludosa
- otherwise only unidentified flies noted

Bugs etc.:
- *Dock Bug Coreus marginatus
- *Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina

Beetles:
- none

Molluscs:
- (Great) Black Slug Arion agg.
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- none

It seems many months since I last managed a photo of an almost full moon. This month's full moon, called the Sturgeon Moon, was full at 19:26 BST on Monday (19th). Due to the closeness of the moon at the moment it was a supermoon, appearing then c.5% larger than usual.

From moon to sunrise.

The Coots almost all roost together inside one area of reeds. This does not seem to affect their fighting spirit. Two square up.

"Take that".

Talk about scruffy! An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull in moult ready to grow fresh feathers to last through the winter.

Just my second Red Admiral butterfly Vanessa atalanta of the year.

A Plain-faced Dronefly Eristalis arbustorum.

This may look like a Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax but the strength of the shading in the wing suggests to me that it is my first Blotch-winged Dronefly E. rupium of the year.

A Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax tucks in to a ripe blackberry.

Hard to access, deep in a Greater Bindweed flower Convolvulus sylvaticus, was another new hoverfly for the year. It is a Common Copperback Ferdinandea cuprea.

Equally buried in a Greater Bindweed flower was this Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus.

A Grouse Wing caddis fly Mystacides longicornis with its antennae askew.

A female European Cranefly Tipula paludosa. I had just flushed this insect and it crashed in to the vegetation with legs akimbo.

A different smaller springtail on one of the street lamp poles. This is one of the Entomobrya species, perhaps E. nivalis.

The unique shape of a Dock Bug Coreus marginatus.

Another lucky escape for us both as I noticed this instar Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina on the blackberries I was about to eat (apologies for the usual grubby finger nail)

The male Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata I found posing on one of the street lamp poles.

Don't panic! Planes of the day. These two aircraft are separated vertically by 2000' - a standard separation. On the left is an ITA Airways Airbus A330 900 series flying from San Francisco to Rome's Fiumicino airport. On the right is a Ryanair Boeing Next Gen 737 800 series on a flight from Dublin to Memmingen.

The FlightRadar24 date for the ITA Airways flight.

The FlightRadar24 data for the Ryanair flight with a ground speed just one knot (nautical mile (6006')) slower.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- *1 Yellow Shell Camptogramma bilineata

Other things:
- *12 White-legged Snake Millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders:
- *1 !Rabbit Hutch Spider Steatoda bipunctata

Probably the same Yellow Shell moth Camptogramma bilineata as I noted yesterday.

A White-legged Snake Millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger doesn't know whether it is coming or going.

This is a Rabbit Hutch Spider Steatoda bipunctata

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:25 – 07:25

(183rd visit of the year)

Bird Notes
Surprise today was at least one Swift in with the swirling mass of c.25 House Martins. Unusually late for this species.

Other bird notes:
- a group of 67 Greylag Geese flew in together. The single bird was again on the East side grass but without its usual Canada Goose companion.
- two extra sub-adult Mute Swans were being chased by the residents.
- a new brood of five Moorhens seen.
- the Coots by the island were even more of a challenge to count as the recently arrived Greylag Geese were mingling and obscuring clear views.
- a / the singing Willow Warbler was still here.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- *3 Ravens: together

Hirundines etc. noted:
- *1 Swift
- *c.25 House Martins

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 5 Canada Geese: four of these departed
- 68 Greylag Geese: see notes
- *4 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan: see notes
- 27 (?♂) Mallard
- 39 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 + 8 (4 broods) Moorhens
- 77 + 6 (5 broods) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 43 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- *2 Common Grass-moths Agriphila tristella [was Common Grass-veneer]

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

Visitors not welcomed. The local cob Mute Swan on the warpath.

A record shot of this morning's Swift.

One of the 25 or so swirling House Martins high overhead.

Two of the three Ravens fly over. The most obvious feature from this angle is the diamond-shaped tail.

One of the two Common Grass-moths Agriphila tristella here today. Note the well-defined edging to the white stripe and the way this stripe splits in to four pale 'fingers'.

Do any harvestmen ever have eight legs? This female harvestman Leiobunum rotundum has lost two, at least in balance with one on each side.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2012
Nedge Hill
2 Redstart
7 Ravens
(John Isherwood)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Shag
3 Kingfishers
(Ed Wilson)