15 Oct 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

9.0°C > 10.0°C: Another murky morning with low overcast / mist and occasional light drizzle. Light easterly wind. Moderate, often poor, visibility.

Sunrise: 07:37 BST

* = a species photographed today.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:00 – 09:15

(216th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a party of 23 Feral Pigeons flew East across the football field c.09:05. They seemed to be flying with intent rather than the local birds which I do not enter in this log unless they are doing something unusual.
- most of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls again arrived from the South / south-west where they will silhouetted against very bright light pollution from the town or Stafford Park. My count is therefore more accurate than it necessarily is on other days.
- by contrast after the first 50 or so Black-headed Gulls arrived a group of c.200 skimmed in across the M54 and were less amenable to providing an accurate count.
- it seem to be a feature that nearly all the early large gulls are Lesser Black-backs with Herring Gulls arriving in small groups later.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 23 Feral Pigeons: together – see notes
- 28 Wood Pigeons: no migrant flocks
- 20 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 211 Jackdaws
- 45 Rooks
- 11 Redwings: together
- 4 Pied Wagtails

Birds seen leaving roost around the lake:
- 1 Starling (again)
One or more Redwings were heard calling from the hedge between the lake and the M54 pre-dawn but were not seen,

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 1 Chiffchaff

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Goose: departed
- 19 Mute Swans
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 10 (4♂+) Tufted Duck
- 9 Moorhens
- >150 Coots
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- c.250 Black-headed Gulls
- 27 Herring Gulls
- *1 Yellow-legged Gull
- *c.275 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron: departed 08:20

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths
- 2 November Moth-types Epirrita dilutata agg.

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *1 unidentified ichneumon

Flies:
- 2 Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii
- *1 fly Dryomyza anilis
- 1 wood gnat Sylvicola sp.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- 2 Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius
- 2 male harvestmen Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli
- *2 harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis

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

Flies:
- *1 cranefly Limonia nubeculosa
- *1 cranefly Tipula luteipennis
- *1 cranefly Tipula sp.
- *1 unidentified winter cranefly
- 5 midges of several species

Slugs, snails etc.:
- 1 White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis
- *2 Hairy Snails Trochulus hispidus

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- 28 spiders of several species

Noted later:
- *1 Muscid fly Helina abdominalis on the boxing ring
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus on the Teece Drive fence

The gull on the left is a Yellow-legged Gull. The back is darker than any Herring Gull. Obsidentify gave me Caspian Gull as the preferred species (42% against 35% for Yellow-legged and the balance for Herring Gull). I dismissed Caspian Gull as the back of that is only slightly darker than Herring Gull. Also the Caspian Gull's the head is less rounded and it has a longer, narrower bill than this bird. The gull on the right is an adult winter plumage Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Note too the typical clean white head with almost none of the dark head streaking that most large gulls show in winter.

This unidentified ichneumon was moving around too quickly for me to get a better photo.

This fly is Dryomyza anilis. To quote NatureSpot (with due credit) "A striking orange fly with large red eyes, infuscated cross-veins on the wings and dark orange 'tramlines' on the thorax". Exactly.

This fly I noted on the boxing ting on top of the dam. The grey thorax and orange body suggests it is the Muscid fly Helina abdominalis.

Many craneflies this morning with a confusing array of species. This one with patterned wings and abdomen is Limonia nubeculosa. It was on the wall of the Telford Sailing Club HQ pre-dawn.

This cranefly also on the wall of the Telford Sailing Club HQ looks to be Tipula luteipennis. As is so often with craneflies a leg is missing – and another is at a rather strange angle.

Another five-legged cranefly. On size it is probably one of the Tipula species but which I could not say.

Another cranefly I cannot identify. Smaller than many, with apparently dark and unmarked wings. It also has longer antennae than many species. Google Lens suggested Trichocera annulata, one of the winter craneflies. I can see why: the general shape is a good match but images of this species elsewhere show clear wings. Unidentified in the log.

One of two harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis. This angle shows the diagnostic feature: the legs are much thicker in the half nearest the body.

Another find on the wall of the Telford Sailing Club HQ was what seems to be a Hairy Snail Trochulus hispidus.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies:
- *1 wood gnat, perhaps Sylvicola fenestralis
- *10 other midges / gnats of various species

Arthropods:
- 2 White-legged Snake Millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
2 unidentified spiders

Among a number of gnats and midges (what exactly separates these groups?) was this specimen with patterned wings. It seems most likely to be a wood gnat Sylvicola fenestralis. Other members of this genus have wings with only venation.

"Unidentified non-biting midge" was all I could divine about this long-legged insect.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:20 – 10:15

(221st visit of the year)

Numbers of Tufted Duck and Coot are 'best effort'. The visibility did not allow a count from any one location so there is always scope for double-counting and / or missing some.

Bird notes:
- I could not find yesterday's duck Shoveler or Little Grebe. The latter could well have been sheltering under overhanging vegetation and the former sitting inside the island. The two drake (Common) Teal were just about identifiable through the murk.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 9 Jackdaws: together

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 1 Canada Goose
- 6 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 45 (30♂) Mallard
- 2 (2♂) (Common) Teal
- 103 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 19 Moorhens
- 144 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 6 Black-headed Gulls

Noted around The Flash:

Moths
- *1 November Moth-type Epirrita dilutata agg.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.
- 1 female harvestmen Leiobunum blackwalli

Just one of the November Moth-types remained. This well-marked example may be the one that was present Sunday and which had been joined by a less well-marked individual yesterday.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2013
Nedge Hill
2 Fieldfare
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
2 Common Gulls
Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
12 Pochard
87 Tufted Ducks
1 Kingfisher
23 Pied Wagtails
32 Robins
12 Blackbirds
8 Song Thrushes
11 Redwings
c.130 Starlings
(Ed Wilson)