16 Nov 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

9.0°C > 11.0°C: Mostly cloudy with a few blue bits but no real sun. Calm early with light south-westerly breeze later. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:35 GMT

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:05 – 09:20

(249th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- two recent adult Mute Swans 'missing'.
- three sightings of Great Spotted Woodpeckers. Two at the same time in different parts of the wooded areas. The third seen bounding high South over the M54 and away much earlier.
- no Redwings were roosting in their traditional north-east area.
- three Reed Buntings heard calling around dawn: two on the South side and one on the North side. I did not see any of these leave suggesting they were at a roost site. None was heard in the traditional West end roost area.

Birds noted flying over:
- 1 Stock Dove: in with Wood Pigeons
- 197 Wood Pigeons: of these 170 heading north-west in four groups)
- 3 Herring Gulls
- 36 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
- 129 Jackdaws
- 7 Rooks
- 1 Pied Wagtail
- 1 Siskin

Birds noted leaving roosts around the lake:

None

Counts from the lake area:
- 15 Canada Geese: 12 throughout; a trio flew in
- 21 + 2 Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 1 (1♂) Eurasian Wigeon
- 7 (6♂) Mallard
- 15 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens
- 223 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- c.200 Black-headed Gulls
- 14 Herring Gulls
- 125 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *3 Cormorants: arrived together; two of them soon departed

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:
Pressed for time to research things I cannot immediately identify: just summary information for these.

Flies:
- *4 flies of different species
- 8 winter craneflies
- 3 other craneflies

Springtails:
- 3 unidentified springtails of different species

Bugs:
- *1 Mirid bug of the Lygus group

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 2 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- *1 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]
- 2 harvestmen Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
- 4 male harvestman Leiobunum rotundum
- 2 harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis

Note

A note on the street lamps along footpath at West side. Well over a year ago one of the lamps failed. Some weeks after that I reported it on the Telford & Wrekin web site. It was weeks after that before a different street lamp, one that was working OK, was completely replaced, pole and all. That too failed several moths ago. This morning both were working with new LED arrays on the existing poles. A bit late to attract many more moths this year but hey ho! And thanks to whomever was more successful than I was in getting any action.

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

Flies:
- 1 Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii
- *1 midge Psectrotanypus varius
- 2 other male small midges
- 3 other unidentified flies

Springtails:
- 2 unidentified springtails

Barkflies:
- 19 Valenzuela flavidus

Bugs:
- *1 instar(?), perhaps of the leafhopper Issus coleoptratus

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 9 spiders of several species not identified
- *1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Noted later:

Springtails:
- *1 springtail Orchesella cincta

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 3 harvestmen Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

One of three Cormorants that arrived together. The other two had flown off. This one decided to reposition to...

 ...a buoy but slipped off and fell in the water.

A trio of different unidentified flies at the top of one of the street lamp poles pre-dawn. The top one, despite being slightly out of focus, has legs with spurs and multiple hairs. Apologies for lack of information about some of these insects. My usual source, NatureSpot, is still off the air. I am also challenged for time today.

A stout-bodied fly with brown-tinged wings. It also has hairy legs (among other parts of its body).

 I think a Muscid fly.

A new species for me: this is the non-biting midge Psectrotanypus varius.

The combination of a white area at the base of the antennae and the prominent white band across the abdomen suggest this is the springtail Orchesella cincta . My references are far from comprehensive so there are possibly other species that meet these criteria.

I think this is the leafhopper Issus coleoptratus. The 'wings' look short and perhaps it is an instar.

A Mirid bug of the Lygus group.

A Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata.

This harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis at eye-level on the Telford Sailing Club HQ was ideally placed for a photo.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:25 – 10:45

(252nd visit of the year)

The large broken tree in squirrel alley has been chopped down.

Bird notes:
- the four non-resident adult Mute Swans went for a short flight together and returned.
- now at least three drake and two duck Shoveler. One of the drakes a first winter bird.
- seeing ducks against the island was a challenge with 50+ geese in the way.
- Coot numbers seem to be slowly declining.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 1 Redwing
- 1 Pied Wagtail
- 1 Lesser Redpoll

Noted on / around the water:
- 63 (gulp) Canada Geese
- 2 Greylag Geese
- *6 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 1 (0♂) Gadwall
- 5 (3♂) Shoveler
- 41 (26♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Common Teal
- 59 (29♂) Tufted Duck
- 18 Moorhens
- 108 Coots
- 56 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls: two adults; a second winter arrived
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted around The Flash:
If the forecast of cold weather is correct then this may be the last we see of the hoverflies this year.

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

Hoverflies:
- *2 Marmalade Hoverflies Episyrphus balteatus

Other flies:
*1 Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly, Moth Fly or Owl Fly]
- *1 probable Muscid fly

Springtails:
- *1 springtail Dicyrtomina saundersi
- 2 other unidentified springtails

Bugs:
- *1 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata

Beetles
- 1 Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni

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

The four 'non-resident' adult Mute Swans took off together for a fly-about, soon returning.

This Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus is one of the 'orange marmalade' form. Some are lemon-yellow. There are even black specimens though I have never seen one.

One of the 99 Psychodidae species. known colloquially as Drain Flies, Moth Flies or Owl Flies.

An unidentified fly with a neat pattern on its abdomen. The pattern seems to be shared by several species.

 My clearest photo so far of one of the 1mm long "globular springtails". I think Dicyrtomina saundersi.

Well it is a 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata but should its head be at that angle?

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
1 Wigeon
5 Gadwall
2 Teal
69 Tufted Duck
215 Coots
19 Lapwings
c.400 Black-headed Gulls
c.220 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
21 Herring Gulls
74 Starlings
8 Fieldfare
38 Redwings
93 Jackdaws
19 Rooks
3 Ravens
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
12 Greylag Geese
3 Wigeon
1 Shoveler
3 Pochard
11 Tufted Ducks
Snipe
c.35 Redwings
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
2 Caspian Gulls
8 Yellow-legged Gulls
1,600 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
30+ Herring Gulls
4 Great Black-backed Gulls
Hybrid Lesser Black-backed x Herring Gull
(Tom Lowe)

2007
Priorslee Lake
140 Golden Plover
1 Gadwall
2 Wigeon
(John Isherwood)

2006
Priorslee Lake
4 Cormorants
29 Pochard
54 Tufted Ducks
>675 Black-headed Gulls
2571 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
3 Herring Gulls
272 Wood Pigeons
32 Robins
26 Blackbirds
212 Fieldfares
5 Song Thrushes
50 Redwings
7 Mistle Thrushes
5 Goldcrests
563 Jackdaws
144 Rooks
33 Starlings
1 Redpoll
6 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)