10 Oct 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

7.0°C > 9.0°C: Early broken medium-level cloud cleared away from the north-west giving good sunny intervals. Light north-westerly wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:28 BST

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:50 – 09:30

(213th visit of the year)

The weed-cutting boat seems to have finished its work.

Bird Notes
Otherwise it was all change today. Apart from a few Mallard all yesterday's ducks had moved out. The gulls were much later arriving – the first Lesser Black-backed Gulls at 06:55 with the first Black-headed Gull not until 07:20. There were the first Wood Pigeon migration flocks with at least 735 noted moving South, some five days earlier than my first significant count last year,

Other bird notes:
- the 17 visiting Mute Swans still present. Five went for a fly-around and they are no longer always corralled in the south-east area.
- a Great (White) Egret was present some of the time, flying off South at 08:00. The same bird?
- this morning's report of the Tawny Owl suggested it was likely to be on the hill next to squirrel alley at The Flash.
- the passing Jackdaws had a tailwind on their roost dispersal and were flying very high as a result. They were hard to find. That does not entirely explain why I noted so few Rooks: as larger birds they should have been more obvious.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 3 Canada Geese; who knows where they were going – they didn't seem to
- 29 Greylag Geese: two groups inbound
- 887 Wood Pigeons: of these 735 were noted in migrant flocks heading South
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls!
- 2 Cormorants together
- 296 Jackdaws
- 12 Rooks only
- 1 Skylark again
- 4 Pied Wagtails again
- 4 Chaffinches: together

Birds seen leaving roost around the lake:
- 1 Starling!

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

Counts from the lake area:
- 10 Canada Goose: stayed
- 19 Mute Swans
- 8 (7♂) Mallard
- 6 Moorhens
- 163 Coots again
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 88 Black-headed Gulls
- 6 Herring Gulls
- 147 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Great (White) Egret

Football Field

I did not visit the football field early

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Flies:
- 1 male Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii
- *1 Muscid fly probably a Hebecnema sp.
- *2 craneflies Tipula confusa
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.

Slugs, snails etc.;
- *1 Wrinkled Snail Xeroplexa intersecta probable Strawberry Snail Trochulus striolatus

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- *1 Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius
- *1 (part of a) running crab spider Philodromus sp.
- 1 male harvestmen Leiobunum blackwalli
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Sailing Club

Around the outside of the Telford Sailing Club HQ pre-dawn:

Flies:
- 1 cranefly Tipula confusa
- 5 winter gnats

Slugs, snails etc.:
- 1 White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- many spiders: none specifically identified

Noted later:

Just:
- *fungus just possibly a Poisonpie Hebeloma sp.

This stout-bodied fly with brown-tinged wings is most likely a Muscid fly of the Hebecnema group. These are not separable from photos.

One of two craneflies Tipula confusa on different street lamp poles pre-dawn.

A winter cranefly Trichocera sp.

I have a lot to learn about craneflies. This insect is much too large to me a midge yet it does not have the usual 'separated head' of most craneflies. I have no suggestion.

A different of view to what I now think is more likely a Wrinkled Snail Xeroplexa intersecta and not a probable Strawberry Snail Trochulus striolatus as thought yesterday. It was in the same place on the same street lamp pole.

This is what I believe to be a Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius as does Obsidentify.

Obsidentify thinks is is also a Bridge Orb-web Spider. But the cephalothorax is a different colour and the abdomen pattern is much less distinct. So?

A puzzle. This seems to be a running crab spider Philodromus sp. but the entire abdomen seems to be missing just the cephalothorax with the legs attached. Most odd.

I found these fruiting bodies of a fungus in the south-east wooded area.

This is the right hand one as seen from below. Obsidentify wasn't very confident and neither am I. It is possibly a Poisonpie Hebeloma sp.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- *1 Red-green Carpet Chloroclysta siterata

Flies:
- 1 plumed midge

Arthropods:
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- 7 spiders not specifically identified

A Red-green Carpet moth Chloroclysta siterata. The colours always fade quickly on this species. You can get the idea here.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:35

(216th visit of the year)

Bird notes:

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Skylark
- 1 Jackdaw

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 5 (1) Chiffchaffs

Noted on / around the water:
- 14 Canada Geese
- 11 Greylag Geese at least: possibly more inside the island
- 6 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swans: one cygnet not located
- 39 (26♂) Mallard
- 1 (1) hybrid Mallard [the bird I photographed Monday]
- 132 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 16 Moorhens
- 130 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes: probably a fifth
- 11 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull: immature very briefly
- 3 Cormorants
- no Grey Heron

Noted around The Flash:

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *5 Common Wasps Paravespula vulgaris

Bugs:
- *5 Nettle Groundbugs Heterogaster urticae
- 1 Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina: instar

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

Fungus:
- Dark Honey Fungus Armillaria ostoyae
- *Candlesnuff Fungus Xylaria hypoxylon

Some of the drake Tufted Duck are now becoming easily separable. From the right #1 clearly is a drake with the white flanks. #2,4 and 5 probably are moulting to be drakes; so may be #10. Only #6 is showing white at the base of the bill suggesting it is a duck. I am not sure about any of the others.

You can even see one foot of the swimming Great Crested Grebe.

It must be a trick of the light – the flanks look very pale here...

 ...less so here.

A Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris pretending to be a bee collecting pollen. It is more likely after the nectar.

One of the two harvestmen Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus needs to plug two more legs back in.

Two Nettle Groundbugs Heterogaster urticae.

Not a very good photo. The white things sticking out of the moss are Candlesnuff Fungus Xylaria hypoxylon. [Does anyone know what candle-snuffers are these days?]. I probably should have tried to identify the moss as well. Showing Obsidentify the photo (rather than the real thing) gave me the suggestion that it was likely a Polypody fern – which it clearly isn't.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2011
Priorslee Lake
29 Redwing
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
1 Curlew
1 Goldeneye
1 Goosander
1 Shoveler
4 Wigeon
1 Teal
1 Common Gull
(John Isherwood)

2009
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
3 Lapwing
25+ Redwing
1 Siskin
(John Isherwood)

2008
Priorslee Lake
130 Tufted Ducks
4 Buzzards
Kingfisher
Chiffchaff
Meadow Pipits
Sky Larks
Redwings
Redpoll
Siskin
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
1 Ruddy Duck
50 Robins
1 Redwing
4 Chiffchaffs
11 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
37 Meadow Pipits
36 Pied Wagtails
1 Redwing
55 Tufted Ducks
2 Willow Tits
(Ed Wilson)