29 Aug 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 15.0°C: A clear start. A large area of high and then medium-level cloud spread from the West after 07:30 with blue skies only returning after I left. Almost calm start with light / moderate westerly breeze developing. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:16 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:105 – 06:40 // 07:50 – 09:45

(188th visit of the year)

Bird Notes
Highlights today was a Redshank present until 08:00 at least. Not new for the year here – one was seen on 11 July.

Other bird notes:
- there were no Black-headed Gulls again on the football field at c.06:25 and only six noted altogether: where are they all? Four of these were juveniles / first winters.
- I did not note the juvenile Great Crested Grebe.
- counts of the roost-dispersing Jackdaws and Rooks were incomplete while I snuck up on, what at the time was, the not positively identified Redshank.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 68 Canada Geese: 59 outbound in nine groups; nine inbound together
- 40 Greylag Geese: all outbound in three groups
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 19 Racing Pigeons: together
- 3 Stock Doves: single and duo
- 89 Wood Pigeons
- 27 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 71 Jackdaws: see notes
- 49 Rooks: see notes

Hirundines etc. noted:
- House Martins heard only

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 10 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (0) Reed Warbler
- 3 (1) Blackcaps
- 1 (0) Common Whitethroat
''nominal' warbler:
- no Goldcrests

Counts from the lake area:
- 69 Canada Geese: arrived in at least nine groups
- 2 Mute Swans
- 15 (?♂) Mallard
- 8 Moorhens
- 99 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- *1 Redshank
- 6 Black-headed Gulls
- *7 Herring Gulls
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull
- *61 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron: arrived and departed
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

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

Springtails:
- 2 springtails Pogonognathellus longicornis-type

Beetles:
- 1 Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea: dead? - same place for four days

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

Sailing Club HQ

I again prowled around the outside of the sailing club HQ pre-dawn:

Molluscs:
- *1 Tawny Soil Slug Arion owenii

Spiders:
- 13 spiders: including but not exhaustively
- *Bridge Orb-web Spiders Larinioides sclopetarius
- Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

Noted later:
Not much in cloudy conditions.

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- 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.
- *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax

Other flies:
- *long-legged fly Dolichopus ungulatus or similar
- *European Crane-fly Tipula paludosa
- other unidentified flies

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

Fruits:
- *Snowberry Symphoricarpos sp. probably S. albus

Mammals:
- Brown Rat Rattus norvegicus

A clear start. As so often this 'summer' it did not stay that way.

While trying to get a better angle on the Lesser Black-backed Gull (see below) I nearly trod on this Redshank which jumped in to the water to bathe.

Despite looking in to what light there was at 05:45 I eventually managed a couple of decent shots. Here is one.

And the other. The pale edging to the feathers indicate this is a juvenile. Perhaps why I was able to get so close. Juvenile waders are often raised on remote and desolate tundra and have never seen humans to become fearful of them.

The first bird that greeted me when I reached the lake at 05:20. It was standing at the bottom of the concrete slipway, silhouetted against the water. The size of the bird and the decurved bill, kinking downwards point to Whimbrel which would be a new species for me at the lake. But somehow it did not look right.

I crept up on the bird and using 'spot metering' against the dawn light achieved this result. A Lesser Black-backed Gull with an odd looking bill. Is the bill deformed or has it swallowed, say, fishing tackle which is stuck in its mouth?

This shows that it is a deformed bill. What looks to be adult would normally be moulting at this date and looking rather scruffy. This seems particularly so, likely because it is in poor condition due to extreme difficulty in feeding. That said it is an adult and the deformity is unlikely to be recent.

From head-on it is clear that the deformed and extended mandibles also do not meet properly.

Much later I noted an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull walking around the grass on top of the dam – unusual behaviour. So was it the same bird? Clearly not! Slightly less scruffy.

While with Lesser Black-backed Gulls here is a first winter. At this age shows two rows of dark-centred feathers along the trailing edge of the wing. The underside of the spread left wing does show some pale but only on the inner webs of the feathers. On a Herring Gull the inner primaries would be paler overall.

Three gulls having a dispute. The lack of strong underwing markings on the flying bird makes it an immature Herring Gull. The other birds are rather obscured but I think they are pale-enough to also be immature Herring Gulls.

This Common Buzzard was moving from street lamp to street lamp around the football field, harried by a group of Magpies. Probably the same bird that has recently been sitting on the railings atop the academy building on some mornings.

A Honey Bee Apis mellifera visiting Greater Bindweed Convolvulus sylvaticus and getting covered in pollen as a result.

Going back for more. Note the pollen load on the bee's pollen sacs. Seems it has visited a good few bindweed flowers.

Just before the sun went it I found my only hoverfly of the day: a female Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax.

It is some weeks since I last noted one of these long-legged flies, Dolichopus ungulatus or similar.

Not many other insects flying so I photographed another European Crane-fly Tipula paludosa.

What I think to be a Tawny Soil Slug Arion owenii on one wall of the sailing club HQ. Slugs are very difficult to positively identify as 'black' species can be red and 'red' species can be black and markings are variable.

Sorry: another Bridge Orb-web Spiders Larinioides sclopetarius. Yesterday I commented on an individual with a reddish triangular area at the base of the cephalothorax. On this individual that area loos to be bordered white.

Don't even think about eating these Snowberries Symphoricarpos sp. probably S. albus. Probably won't kill you but will make you unwell.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- *1 !White-shouldered House Moth Endrosis sarcitrella

Centipedes & Millipedes:
- 6 White-legged Snake Millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger

My first White-shouldered House Moth Endrosis sarcitrella was here today.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:45 – 07:45

(191st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a Grey Heron was sitting on one of the footbridge handrails daring anyone to walk by.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Jackdaws
- 1 Grey Wagtail

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 3 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 7 (2) Chiffchaffs
'nominal' warbler:
- no Goldcrests

Noted on / around the water:
- 5 Canada Geese: of these two singles flew in
- *39 Greylag Goose: of these 34 flew in together with...
- *1 Greylag x Canada Goose
- 4 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 28 (?♂) Mallard
- 53 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 + 4 (4 broods) Moorhens
- 87 + 8 (4 dependent brood) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 24 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron: departed? hid?
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- *1 Flame Carpet Xanthorhoe designata

Flies:
- 1 owl midge Psychodidae sp.
- *1 possible aphid sp.

Beetles:
- 1 Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni: adult

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

The hybrid goose in the foreground flew in with Greylag Geese, as it had done yesterday. It is not the same as the bird that was here during the time all the geese were moulting: that had an orange, Greylag-type bill. This one looks to be 90% Canada.

This strikes me as unusual. A Flame Carpet moth Xanthorhoe designata sitting in full sun at the very top of a street lamp pole.

I have no idea what this tiny insect is. Here on a lichen-covered street lamp pole. I suspect a species of aphid.

This is a male harvestman Leiobunum blackwalli. It is too 'round' to be a female and to be able to use the saddle markings to separate it from the similar L. rotundum. The separation feature of males is the ocular ring – white for L. blackwalli and black for L. rotundum. I'll pass on the other feature - the genitalia.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2013
Priorslee Lake
Whinchat
(John Isherwood)

2011
Nedge Hill
Peregrine
(John Isherwood)