5 May 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

2.0°C > 9.0°C: A clear start with cloud soon rolling in from the East. Thereafter a few sunny spells. A keen moderate, even fresh, northerly wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:30 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:05 – 06:15 // 07:20 – 09:45

(113th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- *a pair of Canada Geese with a single goslings
- *the pair of Greylag Geese still with goslings: she was brooding them against the wind so the number not determined.
- *the former resident pen Mute Swan '7JSS' visited on her own.
- no Gadwall seen: perhaps the pair seen at The Flash?
- the duck Pochard still present.
- a Common Kestrel was seen hovering to the East at 05:25 and what was likely the same bird briefly hovered over the south-west grass at 05:40 before heading across the M54 only to be seen at the top end of Teece Drive c.06:10.
- no Lesser Whitethroat seen or heard.
- a Mistle Thrush was in full song alongside Teece Drive: the first song I have heard since 11 April. Busy with parenting between times?

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Canada Geese: a pair outbound
- 6 Wood Pigeons
- 10 Herring Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Common Kestrel
- 4 Jackdaws
- 2 Rooks again
- 2 Starlings

Counts from the lake area:
- *4 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese: see notes
- *2 + ? (1 brood) Greylag Geese: see notes
- *3 Mute Swans: see notes
- no Gadwall: see notes
- 3 (3♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Pochard
- no Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens
- 26 + 14 (4 broods) Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 12 Swifts
- 2 Sand Martins
- 8 Barn Swallows
- 4 House Martins

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 18 (16) Chiffchaffs
- 10 (10) Reed Warblers
- 14 (13) Blackcaps
- 2 (2) Garden Warblers again
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat

Noted on the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn:

Spiders, Harvestmen etc.:
- *$1 harvestman Rilaena triangularis (also known as Platybunus triangularis )

Noted later:

Butterflies:
none

Moths:
*$ Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana: moth species #11 for me here this year

Bees, wasps etc.:
*Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum
Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
*unidentified bumblebee, possibly a Cuckoo Bee species.
*unidentified sawfly

Hoverflies:
*Cheilosia albitarsus agg. either C. ranunculi [Early Buttercup Cheilosia] or C. albitarsis [Late Buttercup Cheilosia]
Spring Epistrophe Epistrophe eligans [Spring Smoothtail]
Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
Migrant Field Syrph Eupeodes corollae [Migrant Hoverfly; Migrant Aphideater]
Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
*Dead-head Hoverfly Myathropa florea [Common Batman Fly]
Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis

Alder Flies:
Alder Fly Sialis lutaria

Other flies
*many unidentified flies

Dragon-/Damsel-flies:
none

Bugs:
*Mirid bug Harpocera thoracica

Beetles:
Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
*$ Nettle Weevil Phyllobius pomaceus

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
none

New flowers for the year:
none

Ten minutes before I took this photo of the sunrise the sky was wall-to-wall clear.

Just one Canada Goose gosling. I have no idea where the nest was and more than I did with the Greylag Geese.

Meanwhile mother goose (I assume) was sheltering her goslings from the keen wind blowing across the water. I never did determine whether all four were still extant.

The previous pen Mute Swan being pursued by the new resident cob. You can just about make out she has a blue Darvic ring on her left leg. A Barn Swallow photo-bombed the extreme bottom right.

This Long-tailed Tit is showing some wear and tear from family duties.

It also seems to be better at finding caterpillars than I am but then it needs to to survive and raise a family. I have Aldi to do the work for me.

There is always a twig in the way! An out of focus foreground twig is partially obscuring the legs and tail.

A Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum about to be attacked by an alien. Actually a seed fallen from a tree but it looks convincing.

Bees seem to be going for the Ramsons at the moment. No sign of the hoped for Ramson Hoverfly.

I have two bumblebees I have been unable to identify. This mainly dark individual with a white tail and a thin faint orange midriff band.

This view shows the white tail more clearly. I can only think it is the dark form of a Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris.

This the other unidentified bumblebee type – or perhaps a Cuckoo Bee. The lack of a midriff band is puzzling.

This is a sawfly from the shape of the head and the battered-looking thorax. Species? No idea – there are many to choose from even if the abdomen pattern were visible.

A Common Nettle-tap moth Anthophila fabriciana

One of the Buttercup Cheilosia species of hoverfly. Note that at first glance the hairs on the side of its abdomen make it look as if it has a pale stripe down its side.

This male Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax is well-lit.

A Dead-head Hoverfly Myathropa florea. From this angle and with a good imagination you can see why it is sometimes called Common Batman Fly.

One of the legionnaire-type flies that I have included as it is cleaning one eye with it leg (a trick I can't manage) and the way the head is twisted show how hairy the eyes are.

Along with an unidentified fly is a Mirid bug Harpocera thoracica.

This fly seems to be dead but what it was a how it died is unclear.

"Why do I feel a rush of blood to my head?"

"That's better". A Nettle Weevil Phyllobius pomaceus.

On a street lamp pole pre-dawn was this harvestman Rilaena triangularis (also known as Platybunus triangularis ). A vernacular name is Spring harvestman. Perhaps I have been misidentifying the other harvestmen I have seen recently.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies
3 midges only.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:20 – 07:15

(110th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- *a pair of Gadwall noted – refugees from the Balancing Lake?
-* a duck Mallard with at least three ducklings – tucked up against the island again.
- no Great Crested Grebes seen.
- a group of 10 House Martins appeared overhead and were, as quickly, gone again.

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 9 Canada Geese only
- 2 Greylag Geese again
- 1 Mute Swan: the other resident presumed to be on the island.
- *2 (1♂) Gadwall
- *18 (14♂) + 3? (1 brood) Mallard
- 6 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens
- 20 Coots
- no Great Crested Grebes

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 10 House Martins, briefly

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

Noted around the area:

Flies:
*an even smaller midge sp.

Bees, wasps etc.:
Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum

Beetles:
Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni

New flowers:
*Common Sorrel Rumex acetosa

The pair of Gadwall with the cob Mute Swan looking on.

There are two Mallard ducklings along with a drake and a duck. I think at least one other duckling had paddled out of sight before I could get this photo.

An even smaller midge!

These "flowers" are from Common Sorrel Rumex acetosa. This plant is closely related to the familiar Docks and shares the family name Rumex.

(Ed Wilson)

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2012
Wrekin
Several Pied Flycatchers
2 male Common Redstarts
2 Wood Warbler
3 male Tree Pipits
(Glenn Bishton)

2011
Priorslee Lake
2 Common Sandpiper
(John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill
1 Wheatear
(John Isherwood)

2007
Nedge Hill
2 Wheatears
(John Isherwood)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 drake Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)