21 Sep 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 12.0°C: Areas of medium/high-level took much of the time to disperse before mostly sunny. Keen north-westerly breeze, veering northerly. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:55 BST [equinox: so why is it not 07:00?]

* = a species photographed today
$ = my first sighting of the species for this year
$$ = my first ever recorded sighting of the species in the area

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:30 – 09:05

(228th visit of the year)

Highlight:
*Definite highlight of the morning was a Wheatear on the dam c.08:30. This once more or less annual migrant, usually seen on Spring passage, has become decidedly scarce since the building work on its favourite horse fields in the Nedge Hill area. My first here since 29 April 2020. Bird species #99 for my 2025 lake list.

Bird notes:
- yesterday's group of seven Tufted Duck gone.
- none of the four Great Crested Grebes seen is a juvenile. I wonder where the four (at least) that fledged here have gone.
- >300 Black-headed Gulls again. Only 12 made it to the football field.
- after yesterday's high count of large gulls just three first-winter Herring Gull stopped off. Otherwise a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls had a look and moved on.
- a Tawny Owl was calling very loudly alongside Teece Drive at 05:40.
- no hirundines seen.
- Jackdaws and Rooks probably under-recorded. A straggling group of 96 Jackdaws flew at tree-top height fooling me as to where the main passage would be. With a tailwind it transpired the rest were flying very high, almost too high to see with the naked eye. Luckily Jackdaws are usually vocal which helped to locate them.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 48 Greylag Geese: outbound together
- 9 Feral Pigeons: eastbound together
- 36 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Collared Doves: singles
- 1 Herring Gull
- 27 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 136 Jackdaws
- 128 Rooks
- 2 Pied Wagtails again

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 10 (4♂) Mallard
- 8 Moorhens
- 59 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes again
- >300 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls
- no Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Grey Heron: seen at 08:00 only

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 12 (1) Chiffchaffs

Noted on the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn:
Everywhere was wet after yesterday's rain.

Moths:
- for the third consecutive morning a medium-size moth has flushed from vegetation alongside one of the street lamp poles and disappeared.

Flies:
- 1 male Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii
- *1 possible Dagger fly Empis sp.
- *1 Cluster fly Pollenia sp.
- *1 Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria
- *1 unidentified midge sp.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius [Bridge Orbweaver]
- *1 Orb-web spider Metellina segmentata
- 1 male and *1 female harvestman Leiobunum blackwalli
- *3 harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis

Noted on the walls of the sailing club HQ pre-dawn:

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 31 spiders: usual suspects. What do they eat? And where do they go? A search at 09:00 failed to locate any spiders.

Noted later elsewhere:

Bees, wasps, etc.:
- Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris
- European Hornet Vespa crabro: again at least 10 around the nest

Flies:
- *possible Helina depuncta
- *several other unidentified species of fly

Mammals:
- 1 pipistrelle-type bat only

Fungus:
- *Brown Rollrim Paxillus involutus

A decent sunrise.

And from a different perspective.

Star bird of the day. A Wheatear. This is a female or a juvenile of either sex. These are almost impossible to separate. Adult males would show a dark mask.

Being the star we had better have another...

 ...and another...

...last one!

This is possibly a Dagger fly Empis sp. I cannot trace a specific identity and perhaps the antennae are too long for the group?

After the sun came out a few of these flies came out to sun themselves. I think a species of Helina. It may be H. depuncta noted by eakringbirds as "Often recorded sitting on foliage in the Summer and early Autumn".

Here is another, the view somewhat confused by the brown mark on the leaf.

The brown hairs on the thorax suggest this is a Cluster fly Pollenia sp. However the very pale brown scutellum does not match any species shown on the web sites I use.

Another fly that will remain unidentified despite it looking distinctive. Is the brown the wing colour or the abdomen colour showing through plain wings?

Yet another unidentified fly.

At last: a fly I can identify! It is a Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria.

An unidentified midge. I see this species with the brown wings sporting a pale shoulder and a narrow abdomen that extends beyond the folded wing tips. Neither my apps nor a search of several internet sites has produced a likely ID.

An Orb-web spider Metellina segmentata with something, I know not what, in its jaws.

A female harvestman Leiobunum blackwalli showing the way the dark mark on the saddle terminated abruptly. Another seven-legged harvestman. There must be a pile of legs somewhere!

A very typical harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis with the pale stripe down the abdomen and the legs that change thickness about half-way along. Well perhaps not so typical: it has all eight legs present and correct.

This is a smaller harvestman with an apparently different-shaped abdomen and lacking any pale stripe. My apps tell me it is another Paroligolophus agrestis and it certainly shows the same two-thickness legs. Perhaps a younger individual. I guess they are very small when they hatch. I have never seen one.

A messy-looking Brown Rollrim fungus Paxillus involutus. Not the same location as the previous examples photographed.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths: [46 species here before today; no addition]
- none

Flies:
- *1 small cranefly of the Limonid group
- 34 midges of various species

Arthropods:
- 3 White-legged Snake Millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 13 spiders over several species: confirmed species were:
Garden Spider Araneus diadematus [Garden Cross Spider]
Missing Sector Orb-web Spiders Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

The only unusual insect I noted in the tunnel this morning was this small cranefly from the Limonid group. That is as far as I can go with ID-ing it.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:10 – 10:10

(221st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- *13 Mute Swans today. One of the cobs was not happy.
- yesterday's Goosanders had departed

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 3 Jackdaws

Noted on / around the water:
- 5 Canada Geese
- Greylag Geese heard from inside the island but not seen
- *13 Mute Swans
- 38 (24♂) + 4 (1 brood) Mallard
- 7 (1?♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 Moorhens
- 81 Coots again
- 4 + 4 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes: a "missing" juvenile for the third day. Overlooked all three?
- 7 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult briefly
- 7 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 2 (0) Chiffchaffs

Noted around the area:

Moths:
- 1 Brindled Green Dryobotodes eremita: third day

Bees, wasps etc.
- Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- Garden Spider Araneus diadematus [Garden Cross Spider]
- *harvestman Opilio canestrinii

This cob Mute Swan was not happy.

Not happy at all!

Probably a first winter Cormorant showing so much white.

A harvestman Opilio canestrinii keeping up the missing leg(s) tradition.

Plane of the day: This 1978-build Piper PA-28-181 Archer II was imported from America in 1987. It is now on its sixth UK owner who has a Kidderminster address. It is hangered at Wolverhampton's Halfpenny Green Airport. It was on a local flight in today's by now clear skies.

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Wigeon
Water Rail
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)