4 Sep 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 14.0°C: Mainly cloudy with a few sunny periods, mainly later. Calm early with light / moderate north-westerly breeze developing. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:26 BST

On winter regime now. I can no longer complete a lap of the Balancing Lake and walk to and from and around The Flash without getting embroiled in the school run so I stay at the lake until it all quietens down and then complete The Flash. The daily totals will be somewhat changed by the re-timing.

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:15 – 09:05

(190th visit of the year)

Bird Notes
Highlights today were warblers in the Ricoh hedge, likely mainly passage birds. As well as the expected Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps a Lesser Whitethroat was a welcome addition. I noted the Hawthorn bushes here (and later at The Flash) have very few berries. I can't believe the Grey Squirrels have eaten them all so soon: there will be none remaining for the Redwings when they arrive. There was plenty of blossom. Perhaps the paucity of insects prevented much in the way of pollination?

Frustration of the day was what appeared to be a tern flying in from the East at 06:10 when it was still quite dark. The buoyant flight seemed to rule out any gull species yet it seemed too large for, say, a Common Tern. I did not hear any calls. A few minutes later a Lesser Black-backed Gull was noted sitting on a buoy at the far end. It could not have been the possible tern. I saw nothing more.

Other bird notes:
- very few geese today.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 13 Canada Geese: see flying South to the East
- 48 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 112 Jackdaws
- 107 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
More like Spring for variety if not song!
- 10 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (0) Reed Warbler
- *3 (0) Blackcaps
- *1 (0) Lesser Whitethroat
- 1 (0) Common Whitethroat
''nominal' warbler:
- 1 (1) Goldcrest

Counts from the lake area:
- 9 Canada Geese: arrived together
- 2 Mute Swans
- 11 (?♂) Mallard
- 8 Moorhens
- 82 Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 11 Black-headed Gulls: also 49 on the football field 06:45
- 16 Herring Gulls
- 55 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron: arrived
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana
- *2 Square-spot Rustics Xestia xanthographa

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *1 Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- *1 Short Melanostoma Melanostoma mellinum [Variable Duskyface]

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

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

Flies
- 1 plumed midge

Spiders:
- 16 spiders: including but not exhaustively
*Walnut Orb Weaver Nuctenea umbratica
Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

Noted later:
With my earlier departure and a later sunrise I will be recording many fewer insects here from now on.

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax

Other flies:
- *a flesh fly, possibly Brachicoma devia

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

A male Blackcap looking pensive.

This seems to be a young male Blackcap. Some of the dark on the crown maybe shadow from a twig. There is enough dark to show the juvenile brown cap of both sexes is being moulted out as this male acquires its first adult plumage.

Another "wont win prizes". It shows the overall tones of Lesser Whitethroat with a grey head, slightly darker than the back and a darker area around and beneath the eye.

By the time I had persuaded the camera to focus on the bird it was headed for cover. Note the blue-grey legs and dark eye.

Streaky and still fluffy. A juvenile Greenfinch.

Too much cloud for a decent sunrise. This later view will have to do.

This is a Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana taken with a combination of camera flash and LED torch pre-dawn.

And I think the same moth beginning to wake up and move, taken by natural light. The banded antennae showed better in the previous view.

One of two moths from the Noctuid group that were on street lamp poles pre-dawn. I am not 100% sure of the identity of this one. I am 100% sure that it is not a Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba as suggested by Obsidentify: that is a longer moth and always shows a dark mark on the outer edge of the wing toward the tip. I am inclined to think it is a worn Square-spot Rustic Xestia xanthographa sitting amongst all the debris from the spiders' meals.

I am sure this IS a Square-spot Rustic moth. A very variably-toned species not always 'rustic'.

One of the best ways to see a Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris - strung up in spider's web. I am rather surprised by this as normally wasps (and bees) are strong-enough fliers to break out of webs unless they are bitten by the spider. Also of course we must love wasps for the good things they do pollinating plants and killing pests. They rarely sting unless provoked.

The only hoverfly I noted "out and about" was this Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax.

Asleep on a street lamp pole was this Short Melanostoma Melanostoma mellinum.

For all their dramatic appearance flesh flies are difficult identify. This one most closely resembles the photo of Brachicoma devia on the NatureSpot web site. It comes with the general warning that specific identification requires a microscope and an identification key. I have neither! It is a stunning insect though.

A good view of a Walnut Orb Weaver spider Nuctenea umbratica on the wall of the sailing club HQ.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- *1 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata

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

Spiders:
- 2 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

I found this Common Marbled Carpet moth Chloroclysta truncata on the ceiling of the tunnel. This species of moth has two generations per year in our area: this is one from the second generation. It is a species that is very variable in colour and tone: the paler central area and the lozenge marks toward the rear of the wing are consistent features in all but the most faded specimens.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:10 – 10:10

(193rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I did not locate the Mute Swan cygnets. I presume they were resting inside the island, perhaps along with all the missing Mallard.
- bumper total of Coots: probably my highest total here. Perhaps some from the Balancing Lake. More likely because by the time of my visit they had all dispersed from their roost along the edge of the island I was able to see birds that had previously been hidden in the second and third rows of the throng.
- *a drake Shoveler was new.
- *also new were two Little Grebes sitting in the open water until several Black-headed Gulls started checking whether they had any food they could steal. As far as I can tell this is my first record from here of more than one bird.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 6 House Martins

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 5 Canada Geese
- 5 Greylag Geese
- 4 Mute Swan: see notes
- *1 (1♂) Shoveler
- 20 (?♂) Mallard: see notes
- 75 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens
- 119 Coots
- *2 Little Grebes
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- *66 Black-headed Gulls
- *1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: immature/first winter
- 4 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- none

Bees, wasps etc.
- 1 Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- *1 Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Flies:
- 1 owl midge Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly, Moth Fly or Owl Fly]

Beetles:
- 1 Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni: adult

Bugs:
- *1 Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina

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

I struggled. This drake Shoveler, not yet moulted in to breeding plumage, was a some distance and as usual feeding with its head underwater for 90% of the time as it used its bill to filter food. The bill shape and pattern of the feathering along the flanks are both just about visible.

Another long-range shot: the two Little Grebes. I suspect a juvenile on the left with the paler neck though both seem warm-toned along the flanks suggesting adults. So..?

A bit of a kerfuffle between two Black-headed Gulls and an immature / first winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. I have no idea what the Black-headed Gull has found: it doesn't seem to be a fish and I doubt it is edible.

You should probably not mess with an angry Lesser Black-backed Gull though in truth it is probably more noise than action.

I am not saying butter wouldn't melt in its mouth. A fine study.

Common Wasps Paravespula vulgaris seem suddenly to be around in some number.

 This late-instar Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina has chosen the leaf to sit on well – just the right shade to avoid being seen.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2012
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson/ John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill
2 Hobby's chasing Swallows and martins
1 Common Redstart
2 Meadow Pipits - first autumn birds
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Teal
14 Cormorants
(John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill
Hobby chasing Swallows
1 Wheatear
2 Raven
(John Isherwood)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Little Egret
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
2 Swifts
1 Meadow Pipit - first autumn bird
(Ed Wilson)