Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:00 – 09:15
The Flash: 09:20 – 10:409.0°C > 11.0°C: The gloomy weather continues, especially early when there was light drizzle again. Light southerly wind. Poor to moderate visibility.
Sunrise: 07:17 GMT
* = a photo to be uploaded later: watch the blog for information.
Priorslee Balancing Lake:
(239th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- some Mute Swans may have been seen leaving the last two mornings but there were even more present this morning: 25 adults and 3 first years.
- a frustrating glimpse of a tight group of c.20 fast-flying ducks emerging from the mist and almost instantly flying behind trees and away to the West at 07:05. From the glimpse I had they were too large for e.g. Tufted Duck: they seemed too bulky for Goosanders. Beyond that I cannot say.
- the Black-headed Gulls arrived in three tranches of c.350, c.250 and then c.50. Thereafter they were too mobile to tell whether there were any further arrivals/
- perhaps the most unusual sighting of the morning was a female Common Kestrel flying East.
Birds noted flying over: in very misty conditions
- c.20 unidentified ducks
- 14 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Common Kestrel
- 13 Jackdaws
- 2 Rooks
- 2 Pied Wagtails
No birds noted leaving roosts around the lake:
Counts from the lake area:
- no Canada Geese today
- *25 + 5 Mute Swans:
- 4 (3♂) Mallard
- 5 (1♂?) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- >190 Coots: too murky for accurate total
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- c.650 Black-headed Gulls
- 19 Herring Gulls
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull
- 30 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant: arrived
- 1 Grey Heron
Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:
Moths:
- 1 Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla
- *4 November Moth-types Epirrita dilutata agg.
- *1 male Feathered Thorn Colotois pennaria: moth species #90 for me here this year; same 'first day' as in 2023
- 1 male Mottled Umber Erranis defoliaria: for its fourth day
Larvae:
- *1 larva, just perhaps a caterpillar of a Goat Moth Cossus cossus
Flies:
- 2 female plumed midges Chironomus plumosus
- 1 male cranefly Tipula pagana
*2 unidentified craneflies, probably Tipula sp.
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera regelationis
Barkflies:
- 1 Valenzuela flavidus
Springtails:
- *2 globular springtail sp., probably Dicyrtomina saundersi
- *1 smaller sp.
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
- 1 male harvestman Leiobunum rotundum
Around the outside of the Telford Sailing Club HQ pre-dawn:
Lacewings:
- *1 brown lacewing probably Micromus angulatus
Aphid:
- *1 Aphis sp.
Barkflies:
- 1 Ectopsocus briggsi agg.
- *19 Valenzuela flavidus
Flies:
- *1 female cranefly Tipula pagana
Slugs, snails etc.:
- 3 'black slugs' Arion sp.
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
not counted: concentrated on the flies etc.
Nothing noted later:
In the Priorslee Avenue Tunnel pre dawn:
not visited this morning
The Flash:
(242nd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- just the one drake Common Teal noted.
- more Tufted Duck have departed. Where too I wonder?
- a Little Grebe was out in the open for a change today.
- a charm of c.30 Goldfinches were feeding in trees on the island.
Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Jackdaws
Noted on / around the water:
- 7 Canada Geese
- 22 Greylag Geese: arrived together
- 6 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *39 (26♂) Mallard
- 1 (?♂♀) 'feral-type' Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Common Teal
- 16 (9?♂) Tufted Duck
- 18 Moorhens
- 144 Coots
- *1 Little Grebe
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- *21 Black-headed Gulls
- *1 Herring Gull: adult
- *1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: second winter
- 1 Cormorant
- *1 Grey Heron
Noted around The Flash:
Moths:
- 1 November Moth-types Epirrita dilutata agg.
Bees, wasps etc.:
- *1 Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris
- *1 female ichneumon sp., perhaps of the family Xorides.
Springtails:
- *2 globular springtail sp., probably Dicyrtomina saundersi
Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- *1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Metellina sp., probably M. segmentata
- 2 male harvestmen Leiobunum blackwalli
(Ed Wilson)
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Note:
As you can see, Ed's sightings are still unformatted and without photos.
My break away is taking longer than was expected, so it will be quite awhile I before I can get things back to normal.
(Martin Adlam)