26 May 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

9.0°C > 13.0°C: A mix of some clear spells a few showers. Another flat calm start with a moderate to fresh south-westerly wind developing. Very good visibility except in showers.

Sunrise: 04:58 BST

* = a species photographed today
$ = my first sighting of the species for this year

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:15 – 06:15 // 07:20 – 09:50

(130th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the Canada and Greylag goslings all still present and correct. Apart from the omnipresent trio of adult Canada Geese with the gosling there was an additional 16 birds present at 05:45, 14 of which flew off together. Later five more(?) were with the remaining five.
- a pair of Gadwall throughout.
- no Mallard ducklings seen
- the duck Pochard seen.
- a drake Tufted Duck 'appeared' and 'disappeared'. Could there be a nest somewhere?
- no change in the Great Crested Grebes juvenile situation. One in the water with its parents; and an undetermined number likely on the back of an adult from a different pair. The partner of this bird brought a small fish but then ate it itself!
- as one of the showers moved through a loose group of at least 30 House Martins flew West.
- one singing Garden Warbler: #2 singing throughout.
- c.25 Starlings noted on the small academy playing field visible from the footpaths.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Canada Geese: a pair outbound
- 2 Stock Doves: singles
- 10 Wood Pigeons
- 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 5 Jackdaws
- no Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- >19 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese: see notes
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 1 Mute Swan: the other resident assumed to be on the nest: see also notes
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 6 (4♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Pochard
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 31 + 19 (9 broods) Coots
- 7 + >1 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes: see notes
- 1 Cormorant: arrived

Hirundines etc. noted:
- c.15 Common Swifts
- c.30 House Martins

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- *17 (12) Chiffchaffs
- 12 (12) Reed Warblers
- 9 (8) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler still
- no Common Whitethroat again

On the West end street lamp poles around-dawn:
Nothing noted

Noted later:
Note: the wind and the showers did not help.

Butterflies:
none

Moths
Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana
*possible Dusky Marble Orthotaenia undulana [Woodland Marble]
Meadow Hook-wing Ancylis badiana [was Common Roller]
Silver-ground Carpet Xanthorhoe montanata

Bees, wasps etc.:
*Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum
*$ Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
*Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
*Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum
*Yellow-sided Clover Sawfly-type Tenthredo sp.

Hoverflies:
Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
Tooth-thighed Hoverfly Tropidia scita [Swamp Thickleg]

Dragon-/Damsel-flies:
*Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella [Azure Bluet]

Other flies:
*female phantom cranefly Ptychoptera contaminata
*Common Crane-fly Tipula oleracea
*Tachinid fly sp., perhaps Trixa conspersa
plus
*usual other boring and / or strange flies

Bugs:
Mirid bug Calocoris alpestris
Red-and-Black Froghopper Cercopis vulnerata
*$ instar of a Red-legged Shieldbug Pentatoma rufipes

Beetles:
Raspberry Beetle Byturus tomentosus
*False Blister Beetle Oedemera lurida or O. virescens

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
unidentified money spider Erigone sp.

New flowers for the year:
*Marsh Thistle Cirsium palustre
*Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii
*Southern Marsh Orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa form praetermissa

This was about as good as it got. Flat calm here.

One of the local Common Buzzards circles over.

Unusual behaviour photo. This was taken c.05:30 so bear with me! A lone Long-tail Tit perched atop one of the masts in the sailing club's compound.

This Chiffchaff was calling and flying to and fro across the West end path with presumably one or more juveniles waiting to be fed. It perched briefly on the fence of the sailing club's compound...

 ...and then indicated it was turning left.

A different Chiffchaff looking a bit careworn after a hectic breeding season and it may well have at least one more brood to go. After that it will undertake a complete feather moult and replacement and look smart and well-prepared for (whisper it) Winter.

Deserves another view.

I will get this moth checked by the Shropshire recorder. It looks to be my first Dusky Marble Orthotaenia undulana but there are several similar species.

A bumblebee primer. Starting with a Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum.

My first Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum and rather strange as it seemed moribund on the wooden fence alongside Teece Drive.

A Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum

Another showing just how long the tongue of this species is.

And lastly an Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum

This is a Yellow-sided Clover Sawfly-type Tenthredo sp. Note how its eyes seem to be the only part not covered in pollen.

Well-posed with the wings part open to allow all the abdomen markings to be seen clearly is a male Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella.

This is a female phantom cranefly Ptychoptera contaminata. The genus name means "folded wing" and you can see that clearly on the right wing.

 Only a Common Crane-fly Tipula oleracea but close-enough to allow...

...a close-up of the head and the unusual antennae.

I think this is a Tachinid fly, perhaps Trixa conspersa. Flies are amazing when you look closely.

No ID on this fly that seems to have been in the wars judging by its battered wings.

Another alarming-looking fly.

Another variation – and these are just the larger species that were not all-black that I noted this morning. The question arises: why do so many species have stripes on the thorax? What is the evolutionary advantage?

And now a small(er) fly that looks very distinctive with its very pale grey thorax and banded grey abdomen. Looks!

Too high in the vegetation to get a better angle. This is an instar of a Red-legged Shieldbug Pentatoma rufipes.

This is one of the False Blister Beetles, either Oedemera lurida or O. virescens. I cannot tell them apart.

About to open are the flowers of a Marsh Thistle Cirsium palustre. Recognise by the flowers in a tight cluster.

The first Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii about to open.

The first Southern Marsh Orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa of the year. Obsidentify noted it as of the form praetermissa though I am not sure what the other form(s) might be and how to tell them apart. I am very confused about the orchids here and at least some of them seem to be hybrids between these two species – orchids are known to hybridise freely.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
*$1 Common Pug Eupithecia vulgata

Flies
1 owl midge Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly, Moth Fly or Owl Fly] again
16 other midges of various species.

A Common Pug moth Eupithecia vulgata on the ceiling of the tunnel.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:20 – 07:15

(127th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- with the end of their breeding season the geese will soon be moulting. During about five weeks they drop and regrow all their flight feathers simultaneously, becoming flightless. We usually get an influx of birds at to go through the moult, the island being a welcome sanctuary. Numbers are starting to build already.
- a presumed pair of Great Crested Grebes with one on a nest by the island and the other in close attendance.
- the singing Reed Warbler for its third day.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Noted on / around the water:
- 39 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Geese
- 6 + 1 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 19 (17♂) Mallard
- still no Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens
- 24 + 2 (1 brood) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

Hirundines etc. noted:
- c.20 Swifts: perhaps the same group seen over the dam at the Balancing Lake earlier?

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 4 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Reed Warbler
- 4 (4) Blackcaps

Noted around the area:

Moths
1 Pale Tussock Calliteara pudibunda: this one for its third day.

Bees, wasps etc.:
1 Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris

Flies:
numerous different midges and flies

Beetles:
Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni

Not too sure what this Collared Dove was doing. It was shuffling around swaying from side to side with wings partially open. It seemed quite normal when it flew away.

An unidentified fly looking to get a feather in its cap?

Between the Balancing Lake and The Flash:
Nothing of note

(Ed Wilson)

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2009
Priorslee Lake
Oystercatcher
Common Sandpiper
2 Common Terns
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Common Tern
(Ed Wilson)