11 Nov 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 10.0°C: A half-decent sunrise: mostly cloudy at medium/high with some lower patches. Very good visibility becoming good. Light westerly wind.

Sunrise: 07:26 GMT

* = a photo to be uploaded later: watch the blog for information.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:00 – 09:15

(244th visit of the year)

A typical busy Autumn morning overhead though it did not last long and the number of birds in the groups was mostly small.

Bird notes:
- two of the adult Mute Swans went for an extended fly-about before returning.
- *the Great (White) Egret was present again, flying off West of its own volition at 07:25.
- a group of ten Goosanders flew East at 07:45, splitting in to groups of eight and two. At least two were drakes. *Then a few minutes later two more brownheads flew low through, also going East.
- some of the Wood Pigeons not in the migrant parties were nevertheless singles flying unusually high. In the past I have noted that sometimes these are chasing to catch up with parties I had not previously noted. Not today: just lonesome individuals.
- the Wood Pigeons parties were all smaller than often at this date. Also they were flying to all points of the compass and not all southbound as is usual.
- only c.100 Black-headed Gulls arrived in dribs and drabs. Long after they had begun to disperse a group of 32 arrived high from the north-west: they may or may not have been new arrivals.
- I was apparently well-position to see the roost-departing Rooks and Jackdaws. I saw very few: I did hear one flock of Jackdaws but could not locate it.

Birds noted flying over:
- 3 Canada Geese: flew South together
- 3 Greylag Geese: inbound together
- *12 (2?♂) Goosanders: see notes
- 11 Stock Doves: two singles, two duos, a trio and two in with Wood Pigeons
- 251 Wood Pigeons: of these 196 flew over in 11 migrant parties
- 3 Herring Gulls
- 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 Jackdaws
- 6 Rooks
- 10 Starlings: three groups
- 17 Fieldfares: four groups
- 31 Redwings: two groups
- 1 Pied Wagtail
- 1 Siskin
- 8 finch sp., together. Too much road noise to hear their flight calls and identify them

Birds noted leaving roosts around the lake:
- c.35 Starlings: one group
- 2 Reed Buntings: together

Counts from the lake area:
- 25 Canada Geese: 23 present at dawn apparently stayed throughout; two more arrived together
- 22 + 2 Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall: departed? hid?
- 12 (8♂) Mallard
- 7 (5♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens
- 223 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- c.100 Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- 7 Herring Gulls
- 24 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron
- *1 Great (White) Egret: departed

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 Common Brindled Brown Agonopterix heracliana [was known s Common Flat-body]
- *2 Mottled Umber Erranis defoliaria

Flies:
- 2 plumed midges
- 2 male Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii
- *1 cranefly Tipula confusa
- 1 male cranefly Tipula pagana

Springtails:
- *1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius
- *1 small spider possibly Steatoda bipunctata
- *1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

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

Flies:
- 1 unknown fly-type
- 4 other small midges etc.

Barkflies:
- 16 Valenzuela flavidus

Slugs, snails etc.:.
- *1 small black slugs Arion sp.
- *1 probable Greenhouse Slug Ambigolimax valentianus

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 12 spiders of several species including
*1 male Neriene montana

Noted later on Teece Drive fence:

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

Worth getting up for. A sunrise! Well: the sun did not actually show itself for several hours but after the last ten days I'll take it.

Two brownhead Goosanders on low fly-by.

Record shot. The Great (White) Egret leaves pre-dawn.

A Common Brindled Brown moth Agonopterix heracliana. This species used to be called Common Flat-body. I recorded two of these back in March.

Male Mottled Umber moth Erranis defoliaria #1.

and #2. Females of this species are wingless, crawling up a tree trunk emitting pheromones to attract their mate.

I go several days without seeing any Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii and then several turn up on the same day. Both seen this morning were males with the dark wing-tips.

A cranefly Tipula confusa with added 'confusa' - dew droplets.

I am confused by this. It looks rather like the unidentified crane flies I have been seeing recently. This better photo reveals that the legs have spurs which rules out this group. It is not a caddis fly as the antennae are too short and the wings are not held 'tented'. The other main insect group with spurs are sawflies – the wrong time of year and it doesn't look like one anyway.

A splendid unidentified male midge with 'bottle-brush' antennae.

Another unidentified creature. It may look like a midge but the head shape is more like the craneflies and the antennae of midges do not normally stick out sideways.

A springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type. A better photo than many with the hairs on the body clearly(?) visible. I am slightly handicapped in making accurate identifications today as the NatureSpot web site has been blocked (probably forgotten to pay the host). Let us hope it is back soon.

I found this Neriene montana spider around the Telford Sailing Club HQ. With 'boxing gloves' for palps it is a male.

This small spider is possibly Steatoda bipunctata.

A harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

 If I have this correct it is a Greenhouse Slug Ambigolimax valentianus.

Despite its colour I believe this to be a Black Slug (Arion ater).

Plane of the day: it is a Diamond Aircraft DA 40-TDI Diamond Star. Austrian designed and built is a not uncommon aircraft type used by flying schools. The 'D' in the 'TDI' type designation indicates it is diesel-powered: not common in general aviation. This one is owned by Tesla Solutions Ltd., of Solihull who lease their aircraft. Flight trackers tell me it was on a cross-country navigation exercise from the grandly-named London Oxford Airport. Kidlington in my book.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue Tunnel pre dawn:

Not visited this morning

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:

(247th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the cob Mute Swan was being aggressive towards his cygnets again.
- now three Common Teal, only one drake. Perhaps there always has been that number for a while.
- a Coot was seen frantically building its nest. Every time it dived and emerged with vegetation it was assailed by the Black-headed Gulls trying to steal the 'food'.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Starling
- 17 Redwings: together

Noted on / around the water:
The totals have to be treated with some caution: someone flew a drone over the water causing birds to scatter
- 1 Canada Goose
- 4 Greylag Geese
- 6 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 27 (16♂) Mallard
- 3 (1♂) Common Teal
- *29 (16♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (0♂) Goosander: arrived
- 16 Moorhens
- 131 Coots
- 1 Little Grebe: heard only
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 21 Black-headed Gulls
- *3 Herring Gulls: two adult; one second winter
- *2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: second winters
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

Noted around The Flash:

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 2 Common Wasps Paravespula vulgaris

Springtails:
- *1 globular springtail probably Dicrytoma fusca
- *1 other springtail just possibly Heteromurus major

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

A second winter Herring Gull. Note the paler inner primaries: only the trailing feathers of the secondaries are dark: and the tail-band is rather smudgy and blends in to the spotted upper-tail.

A classic second winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. The tail-band may be being moulted out but it is still a neat band with a pale area above it and on the rump of the bird.

The underwing pattern of the same bird. More heavily marked than on a Herring Gull.

Another upper surface view.

Five Tufted Ducks, at least three drakes. The back bird has a large growth on the side of his neck. It is presumably the same bird that I noted similarly affected late last winter.

This tiny globular springtail probably Dicrytoma fusca. Well it looks 'fuscus' anyway!

I think Obsidentify got this springtail confused. "Western Polecat" was its best suggestion. It is just possibly the springtail just possibly Heteromurus major which seems to the common species with white at the base of its antennae (the right antenna is missing on this specimen).

(Ed Wilson)

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2009
The Wrekin
Firecrest
(Andy Latham)

2008
Priorslee Lake
10 Great Crested Grebes
10 Cormorants
8 Pochard
107 Tufted Ducks
c.1600 Wood Pigeons
c.1700 Fieldfare
c.460 Redwings
359 Jackdaws
124 Rooks
105 Starlings
c.12 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
140 Lapwings
150+ Golden Plover
1 Snipe
1 Gadwall
1 Shoveler
15 Pochard
60 Tufted Ducks
2 Water Rails
6 Meadow Pipits
21 Redwings
20 Fieldfare over
3 Goldcrests
c.400 Starlings
1 Siskin
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
28 Pochard
58 Tufted Ducks
15 Lapwings
670+ Black-headed Gulls
2008+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1207 Wood Pigeons
88 Fieldfare
24 Redwings
254 Jackdaws
229 Rooks
795 Starlings
10 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)