14 Dec 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

5.0°C > 6.0°C: Intermittent rain early, soon clearing with some good breaks. Light / moderate westerly wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 08:15 GMT

* = a species photographed today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:40 – 09:30

(271st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the resident cob Mute Swan was giving the two cygnets/first winters a hard time.
- an elusive duck Common Teal seen intermittently.
- now five pairs of Pochard.
- the Great (White) Egret again. It and the Grey Heron are usually well apart. Not sure who is avoiding who.
- for the first time this Winter period I noted Redwings leaving their traditional roost in the north-east wooded area – just three but it is a start!

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 3 Canada Geese: inbound together
- 18 Greylag Geese: outbound together
- 47 Wood Pigeons: of these 33 flew North together
- 3 Herring Gulls
- 43 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 76 Jackdaws
- 11 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 11 Canada Geese
- *16 + 2 Mute Swans
- 3 (1♂) Gadwall
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Common Teal
- 10 (5♂) Pochard
- 17 (8♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Water Rail: heard only
- 8 Moorhens
- 270 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- >200 Black-headed Gulls
- *11 Herring Gulls
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull
- 62 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Great (White) Egret

Birds noted leaving roosts around the lake:
- 3 Redwings

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- 5 male Winter Moths Operophtera brumata
- *1 male Mottled Umber Erranis defoliaria

Flies:
- 3 winter craneflies Trichocera sp.

Springtails:
- *1 globular springtail from the genus Dicyrtomina group.

Bugs:
- *1 Orange Ladybird Halyzia sedecimguttata

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- *1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.

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

Barkflies:
- *2 barkflies Ectopsocus briggsi agg.
- 5 barkflies Valenzuela flavidus

Springtails:
- 2 globular springtails from the genus Dicyrtomina group.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 2 spiders, species not determined

Later:

Nothing of note

Makes a change from all the recent low cloud and murk even if it was raining as I took the pre-sunrise shot.

Some of the recent visiting Mute Swans have already moved on. Several of the others were flying around this morning though they did not depart. These two have different coloured bills: the upper bird is likely a second winter bird; the other a (near?) adult.

This morning's gull puzzle. To my eyes the upper wing tone suggested this could be an adult Yellow-legged Gull. However that species would normally show a very clean white head at all times of the year, never with any streaking as shown by this bird. Checking the arrangement of the black markings and white 'mirrors' on the outer primaries leads me to conclude it is 'just' a Herring Gull. In fact it has even less black on the wing tips than typical for even a Herring Gull.

A very different-looking male Mottled Umber moth Erranis defoliaria. from the one I photographed yesterday

This is likely a female and looks to be a different species with a broader abdomen and particularly long front legs held out at right angles to the body.

On the left one of the barkflies from the Ectopsocus briggsi aggregate. But what is that on the right? At the time I thought a globular springtail though I am not sure now I can see its pointed abdomen. I have no better suggestion.

Most odd: an Orange Ladybird Halyzia sedecimguttata amidst the debris at the top of one of the street lamp poles just where it was three days ago. When I particularly looked yesterday I did not see it.

A Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp. Perhaps it is contemplating the (out of focus – oops) globular springtail from the genus Dicyrtomina group as breakfast.

The underside of a spider of the genus Zygiella on a wall of the Telford Sailing Club's HQ.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel pre-dawn:

Flies etc.:
- *42+(!!) midges of several species.

There were at least 42 midges on one wall of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel. Quite why so many I have no idea. Here is a male.

Also noted here was a Song Thrush singing lustily from around the lower pool en route to The Flash. My first real songster of this species this season,

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:50

(273rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- apart from all the Greylag Geese in and around it was an uneventful visit.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Noted on / around the water:
- 8 Canada Geese
- >54 Greylag Geese: others uncounted inside the island
- 6 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 35 (22♂) Mallard
- 2 (2♂) Pochard
- 70 (47♂) Tufted Duck
- 15 Moorhens
- 96 Coots
- 1 Little Grebe
- *53 Black-headed Gulls
- *3 Herring Gulls: all immatures
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult, briefly

Also noted:

Moths:
- 2 male Winter Moths Operophtera brumata: the two at the top-end where they were yesterday.

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *3 Common Wasps Paravespula vulgaris

Flies:
- *>10 flies of several unidentified species on the Ivy. No hoverflies found.

How do they do that? An adult winter Black-headed Gull apparently practising a barrel-roll.

Meanwhile a first winter dives down to collect food.

A first winter Herring Gull. Note the very smudgy dark tail band and the barring on the upper-tail. At this age Lesser Black-backed Gulls show and neat tail band and an almost unmarked upper-tail.

A same-aged bird (possibly the same individual) from underneath.

Mrs. Blackbird looking at me suspiciously over her shoulder.

I am not sure whether this Robin was trying to remember its Green Cross Code or just waiting on the kerb for an Uber.

One of three Common Wasps Paravespula vulgaris attacking the remains of an Ivy flower.

One of about ten flies tempted out by the sun even though the ambient temperature was well below 10°C.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
>550 Wood Pigeons
41 Magpies
1 Siskin
4 Gadwall
2 Teal
4 Pochard
64 Tufted Ducks
228 Coots
127 Black-headed Gulls
34 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
12 Herring Gulls
12 Great Black-backed Gull
10 Fieldfare
19 Redwings
78 Jackdaws
7 Rooks
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

The Flash
1st winter female Scaup
167 Tufted Ducks
(Ed Wilson/John Isherwood)

Horsehay Pool
A leucistic large species gull, probably Lesser Black-backed Gull
4 Yellow-legged Gulls
(Jim Almond)

2012
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
9 Pochard
27 Tufted Ducks
c.155 Coots
265 Black-headed Gulls
244 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
42 Herring Gulls
3 Greater Black-backed Gulls
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Curlew
Mallard x Pintail
>25 Herring Gulls
>500 Wood Pigeons
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Black-necked Grebe
Little Grebe
2 Gadwall
Goosander
c.50 Siskins
1 Redpoll
4 Great Crested Grebes
21 Swans
31 Pochard
92 Tufted Ducks
291 Coots
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
22 Pochard
48 Tufted Ducks
3 Buzzards
69 Coots
>1300 Black-headed Gulls
>2600 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
23 Herring Gulls
1 Yellow-legged Gull
5 Great Black-backed Gulls
25 Robins
16 Blackbirds
c.60 Fieldfare
c.162 Redwings
32 Magpies
230 Jackdaws
96 Rooks
22 Starlings
14 Greenfinches
1 Reed Bunting
(Ed Wilson/Kevin Pryce)

2005
Priorslee Lake
3 Ruddy Ducks
Water Rail
1500 Black-headed Gulls
700 Lesser Blacked Gulls
2 Little Grebes
6 Great Crested Grebes
29 Pochard
54 Tufted Duck
234 Coot
Sparrowhawk
176 Jackdaws
179 Rooks
11 Siskins
15 Pied Wagtails
2 Grey Wagtails
3 Redwings
1 Fieldfare seen.
164 Wood Pigeon
5 Reed Buntings
10 Greenfinches
(Ed Wilson)