17 Sep 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 13.0°C: Fine and clear with a few wisps of high cloud. Almost calm. Very good visibility other than mist over the water early.

Sunrise: 06:48 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:20 – 09:15

(201st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- counting / estimating the number of large gulls was even harder than usual. The mist over the water obscured them as they arrived. Then they were spooked several times with some leaving and others circling to return. Whatever there was a steady stream of both arrivals and a smaller number flying directly over. Then at c.08:50 at least 50 more(?) seemed to be spooked leaving from somewhere inside the Ricoh grounds. Very few of them appeared to be Herring Gulls.
- *the Great (White) Egret still here.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 27 Wood Pigeons
- 5 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- >120 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: see notes
- 198 Jackdaws
- 155 Rooks
- 5 Pied Wagtails
**surprisingly I have not logged any migrant Meadow Pipits over. The Belvide watchers have logged many for several days. Have the new houses caused them to avoid overflying this area?

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

**NB: House Martins were still around their Newport breeding sites on Sunday. There were plenty high over yesterday: these could just as easily been birds on migration.

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

Counts from the lake area:
- 1 Canada Goose: departed
- 2 Mute Swans
- 10 (7♂) Mallard
- 7 Moorhens
- 124 Coots
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 18 Black-headed Gulls: 148 on the football field c.06:50
- *17 Herring Gulls: one on the football field c.06:50
- >550 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: one on the football field c.06:50: see notes
- 1 Grey Heron
- *1 Great (White) Egret

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:
**chilly and wet with dew

Moths:
- None

"Flies":
- *1 Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperla carnea
- 1 male Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii

Centipedes & Millipedes:
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- 2 Bridge Orb-web Spiders Larinioides sclopetarius
- *1 unknown small spider

Sailing Club

Around the outside of the sailing club HQ pre-dawn:

Centipedes & Millipedes:
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Slugs, snails etc.:
- *1 probable !Large Red Slug Arion rufus

Spiders:
- 27 spiders: most species not determined apart from:
- Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius

Noted later:
**still too cold for much activity

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- *!Large Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus trivittatus [Lemon Marsh Fly]

Other flies:
- *greenbottle probably Lucilia caesar
- European Cranefly Tipula paludosa

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni: adult

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

Mist beginning to form over the lake ahead of the sunrise.

A detail of the most colourful part.

It was an aircraft-spotter's delight with trails everywhere. The atmospherics gradually changed and after 09:00 the trails were few and short-lived.

The Great (White) Egret still around and occasionally in view.

With droplets falling from its feet it is about to touch down again.

A first winter Black-headed Gull practices its aerobatics.

I suspect it will be a long while before I get as good an image of a first winter Herring Gull.

There were two Grey Wagtails chasing up and down the dam-face. Here is one.

This may or may it be the other. I lost track not least because...

... a family party of Dunnocks decided to gate-crash the area.

I have set this puzzle before. The bill shape and warm patches on the breast side are clues to it being...

...a juvenile Goldfinch. Easier when you can see the yellow wing flash.

I thought this looked rather paler than usual. It is in fact a Large Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus trivittatus also known as a Lemon Marsh Fly.

A Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperla carnea. This species over-winters as an adult and these become brown for the duration.

A greenbottle, almost certainly of the Lucilia genus and likely L. caesar.

As far as I can tell today's slug on the wall of the sailing club's HQ was a Large Red Slug Arion rufus. This may seem obvious but the identification of Arion slugs is uncertain and all species seem able to be black, grey or rufous.

A spider I cannot identify. It is small – it is sitting on a plastic that was used to attach a notice to the street lamp pole.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- *1 Green Carpet Colostygia pectinataria

Flies:
- 4 plumed midges

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

Spiders:
- 2 spiders not specifically identified

A not-very-green Green Carpet moth Colostygia pectinataria. When freshly emerged the marking are bright green but this quickly fades. With feathered antennae this is a male. At this date it is a second generation individual.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:20 – 10:25

(204th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- all three Mute Swan cygnets were present and correct.
- many of the Mallard had disappeared / hidden again.
- a pair of Gadwall and duck Common Teal new in – or visible with fewer geese around the edge of the island.
- bumper number of Tufted Duck I did one count with 93 as the result, trying to note all the birds continually diving. Then a council contractor arrived to noisily empty the bins causing all the birds to surface and move away giving me a total of 138.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 2 Jackdaws: together

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 67 Canada Geese
- 2 Greylag Geese
- 4 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- *2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 12 (7♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Common Teal
- 138 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 (0♂) Goosander
- 7 + 7 (4 broods) Moorhens
- 133 + 5 (2 dependent broods) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Black-headed Gulls only
- 3 Cormorants
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Butterflies:
- 1 Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 5 Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- 1 Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- 2 Common Wasps Paravespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- *1 Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax

Flies:
only unidentified flies

Springtails:
- springtail Tomocerus vulgaris

Beetles:
- many Alder Leaf Beetles Agelastica alni: adults
- *1 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata

Bugs:
- *1 Dock Bug Coreus marginatus
- *>6 Nettle Groundbugs Heterogaster urticae
- *7 Common Green Shieldbugs Palomena prasina: various instars and adults

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

Lurking under overhanging vegetation was this pair of Gadwall. The drake is on the left with a black stern. You can also see the white patch in the wing as he preens. The duck on the right can be recognised by the orange side to her bill.

A Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax. It does not look very tapered because it is a female (the eyes are well-separated) and females are not so tapered as the males.

A 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata.

At the top an adult Dock Bug Coreus marginatus with three instar Common Green Shieldbugs Palomena prasina.

Two Nettle Groundbugs Heterogaster urticae, both adults.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2013
Priorslee Lake
2 Ravens
(John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill
2 Wheatear
6 Raven
(John Isherwood)

2008
Priorslee Lake
1 Snipe
3 Common Sandpipers
149 Greenfinch roost
89 Pied Wagtails
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
Pintail
(Ed Wilson)