Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:00 – 09:05
The Flash: 09:10 – 10:358.0°C > 10.0°C: Sunshine - eventually: for a short while! Early the usual very low cloud with mist and drizzle. A clearance after 08:45 with some sunny intervals and blue skies. Poor visibility becoming good. Light southerly wind.
Sunrise: 07:24 GMT
* = a photo to be uploaded later: watch the blog for information.
Most of yesterday's less usual ducks had gone, probably scared away by last night's fireworks. At the Balancing Lake there was evidence of a private display being held on the dam-top ("you brought them here: take the remains home rather then leave it for muggins to clear away").
Priorslee Balancing Lake:
(243rd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- one fewer adult Mute Swan noted.
- I accidentally flushed the hitherto unseen Great (White) Egret. I did not see it again. The same bird? Who knows.
Birds noted flying over: in very misty conditions
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- c.175 Wood Pigeons: of these c.160 flew over in four migrant parties
- 1 Herring Gull
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 41 Jackdaws
- 6 Rooks
- 4 Fieldfares
- 1 Redwing
- 1 Pied Wagtail
- 1 Lesser Redpoll
- 3 Siskins
No birds noted leaving roosts around the lake:
Counts from the lake area:
- 61 Canada Geese: arrived together
- 22 + 2 Mute Swans
- 11 (7♂) Mallard
- 8 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 Moorhens
- no meaningful count of Coots possible
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- *c.350 Black-headed Gulls
- 7 Herring Gulls
- 64 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Great White Egret: departed?
Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:
Moths:
- *1 Feathered Thorn Colotois pennaria: for its fifth day
Bees, moths etc.:
- *1 ichneumon Netelia virgata
Flies:
- *2 plumed midges
- 2 possible Scoliocentra villosa
- 2 wood gnats, perhaps Sylvicola fenestralis
Barkflies:
- 1 barkfly Ectopsocus briggsi agg.
Springtails:
- 1 springtail Tomocerus vulgaris
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- *1 Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius
- 1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- 2 harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis
Fungus:
- *2 Shaggy Inkcaps or Lawyer's Wig Coprinus comatus
Around the outside of the Telford Sailing Club HQ pre-dawn:
Flies:
- 2 small plumed midges
Barkflies:
- 2 barkfly Ectopsocus briggsi agg.
- 31(!) Valenzuela flavidus
Beetles:
- *1 Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
spiders of several species, not counted or determined
Noted later:
Barkflies:
- *1 Graphopsocus cruciatus
Springtails:
- *1 possible springtail Entomobrya intermedia
Beetles:
- 1 Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
In the Priorslee Avenue Tunnel pre dawn:
not visited this morning
The Flash:
(246th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- as noted in today's heading all the unusual ducks had gone. A drake Common Teal was noted again.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 91 Wood Pigeons in four migrant groups
- 1 Herring Gull
- *1 Common Buzzard
- 3 Jackdaws
- 4 Sky Larks
- 1 Lesser Redpoll
Noted on / around the water:
- 5 Canada Geese
- 21 Greylag Geese
- 6 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 25 (15♂) Mallard
- 1 (?♂♀) 'feral-type' Mallard
- *1 (1♂) Common Teal
- 27 (15♂) Tufted Duck
- 19 Moorhens
- 126 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 30 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull: adult
Noted around The Flash:
Bees, wasps etc.:
- 4 Common Wasps Paravespula vulgaris
a few more in warmer and almost sunny conditions
Hoverflies:
- *2 Marmalade Hoverflies Episyrphus balteatus
- *1 possible Twin-spot Boxer Platycheirus rosarum [Fourspot Sedgesitter Pyrophaena rosarum]
Springtails:
- 1 unidentified globular springtail
Bugs:
- *1 Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- *1 'money spider' sp.
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
- 1 male harvestmen Leiobunum blackwalli
Fungus:
- *Glistening Inkcap Coprinellus micaceus
(Ed Wilson)