3 Aug 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

16.0°C > 19.0°C: Began to drizzle as I arrived. Heavy drizzle and moderate rain for a while. Lifting and breaking after 08:15. Moderate north-westerly breeze. Poor visibility in drizzle: very good after clearance.

Sunrise: 05:33 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 – 06:00 // 06:55 – 09:40

(169th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- *a Mute Swan was noted sitting in the academy car park. The academy was in use for football training later. I was unable to find anyone to ask whether the swan had been reported.
- the visibility was too poor at the time to have any chance of seeing any Jackdaws or Rooks on their roost dispersal flights.
- 11 Pied Wagtails were on the academy's own sports field at 07:00.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 44 Canada Geese: 37 outbound in eight groups; seven inbound in two groups
- 14 Greylag Geese: outbound in two groups
- 2 Feral Pigeons: together
- 7 Stock Doves: three singles and two duos
- 206 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 House Martin: other(s) heard?

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

Counts from the lake area:
- 4 Canada Geese: arrived as tow duos
- *3 Mute Swans: see notes
- 19 (?♂) Mallard
- 8 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 60 adult and juvenile Coots
- 5 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Black-headed Gulls (one juvenile) on the lake c.07:20: 143 (2 juveniles) on the football field at 05:45
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: *also three on the football field at 05:45
- 1 Grey Heron arrived
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- none

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

Noted later:

Butterflies:
- none

Moths:
- Straw Grass-moth Agriphila straminella [was Straw Grass-veneer]: at least 20

Bees, wasps etc.:
- none

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
- Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
- Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]

Damsel-/dragon-flies:
- none

Other flies:
- *!!probable root-maggot fly Eustalomyia festiva
- *a long-legged fly Dolichopus sp. without swollen mid-tarsi
- *a Muscid fly Helina sp.
- *!!possible blow-fly Dark-palped Melinda Melinda viridicyanea
- *!the Muscid fly Phaonia tuguriorum
- *!a cluster fly, perhaps Narrow-cheeked Clusterfly Pollenia angustigena
- *another cluster fly, species not determined
- other unidentified flies noted

Bugs etc.:
- *!possible instar of a Brassica Shieldbug Eurydema oleracea

Beetles:
- none

Molluscs:
- *White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- none

New flowers:
- *Upright Hedge-parsley Torilis japonica

A Mute Swan alone and disconsolate in the locked car park of the academy.

A slight gull puzzle with this bird on the football field in the drizzle and gloom at 05:45. The feathering on the back and the all-dark bill suggest an immature Lesser Black-backed Gull. For one of such age the head is unusually cleanly pale. I cannot suggest an alternative.

There were not many insects around in the dull and damp conditions. Here a photos of some of the flies I found. Warning: all the following should be regarded as "provisionally identified". I have used the suggestions from Obsidentify and the photos on the NatureSpot web site to make an (educated) best guess at their identity. I am probably at least in the right ball-park. This striking individual is (possibly) one of the easiest and seems to be the root-maggot fly Eustalomyia festiva.

An unusual find on one of the street lamp poles pre-dawn (and in the drizzle) was this long-legged fly Dolichopus sp., a species without swollen mid-tarsi though that may indicate it is a female rather than be a species feature.

Possibly a Muscid fly in Helina species group.

I am frustrated in not being able to identify this fly with amazingly bright red eyes. It may be the blow-fly Dark-palped Melinda Melinda viridicyanea though none of the photos I can find show the eyes being other than dull red.

With slightly different markings on the thorax this Muscid fly seems to be Phaonia tuguriorum.

This is a cluster fly and perhaps Narrow-cheeked Clusterfly Pollenia angustigena.

The brown hairs on the thorax identify this as another cluster fly, but without seeing the abdomen pattern the species cannot be determined.

And to close a species that I cannot have misidentified because I have no identity for it.

I think this tiny creature is an early instar of a Brassica Shieldbug Eurydema oleracea.

Despite the very plain appearance of its shell this would seem to be a White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis.

My best attempt to show the diagnostic parallel sided dark area along the saddle of this harvestman identifying it as a female Leiobunum rotundum.

I have been trying for some days to get either a decent photo or a positive ID of this umbellifer which has recently come in to flower in the darkest recesses of the North side. The contrast is too much for the camera and the photo-editor to handle and the white flowers remain a bit of a blur. The form of the umbels and especially the leaves confirm this is Upright Hedge-parsley Torilis japonica and not Rough Chervil Chaerophyllum temulum as I called it on 30 July when I completely messed up trying to get a photo.

(Ed Wilson)

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

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- none

Flies:
- 2 craneflies Limonia nubeculosa
- *1 other cranefly, probably a Limonia sp.

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

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

This cranefly is probably a Limonia sp. It lacks the patterning in the wing of L. nubeculosa. I cannot identify it though.

A Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata.

(Ed Wilson)

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

The Flash: 06:05 – 06:50

(172nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- visibility was too poor to age the Moorhens: there were no small juveniles seen.
- likewise the poor visibility prevented my seeing many of the birds presumed to be sitting, as usual, on the edge of the island.
- on 26 July I noted that a pair of Coots (alongside one of the bridges) had apparently lost their very recent brood and "were frantically building another nest". Today what I assume that pair were with two very recently hatched juveniles, back on the original nest. They could not possible laid and hatched another brood in nine days could they?

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 House Martin

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 3 (1) Chiffchaffs
'nominal' warbler:
- 1 (0) Goldcrest

Noted on / around the water:
- 10 Canada Geese
- 4 Greylag Geese
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 30 (?♂) Mallard
- 28 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 43 + 6 (4 broods) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Black-headed Gull: briefly

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- 1 Single-dotted Wave Idaea dimidiata
- *1 Swallow Prominent Pheosia tremula

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni larva

Not an inspiring morning. The mist rising from the water prevented an accurate count of the Coots along the edge of the island.

Another Swallow Prominent moth Pheosia tremula, this one close to where I usually see them though on a street lamp pole where I have not seen one previously.

(Ed Wilson)

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

Sightings from previous years

2012
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Immature Common Tern
(Ed Wilson)

Nedge Hill
1 (imm/fem) Common Redstart
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
4 Shoveler (all females/immatures)
(John Isherwood)