28 Sep 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 12.0°C: Light sprinkles after overnight rain soon gave way to broken medium level cloud. Light westerly breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:06 BST

* = 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: 05:35 – 09:00

(236th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- all change again with the gulls. Very few Lesser Black-backed Gulls seen early with more passing north-east over than visiting the lake. A large number of Black-headed Gulls arrived and then moved off to the football field where I noted at least 550 (with one first-winter Herring Gull and one second-winter Lesser Black-back). Whether this enthusiasm for the grass was prompted by food availability after the overnight rain or merely by the relative lack of disturbance early on a Sunday morning is hard to say.
- two of the Great Crested Grebes were seen making a rather feeble attempt at displaying.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 24 Canada Geese: inbound in three groups
- 2 (1?♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Feral Pigeon: an all-white bird
- 39 Wood Pigeons
- 68 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 204 Jackdaws
- 142 Rooks
- 7 Starlings: together again – the same birds as yesterday?

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 13 (5♂) Mallard
- 11 (7♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 Moorhens only
- 43 Coots only
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- *>550 Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- *1 Herring Gull
- *42 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

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

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

Moths:
- none

Springtails:
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis

Four-winged flies:
- *1 Pond Olive mayfly Cloeon dipterum

Other flies:
- *1 plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- 2 Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii
- *1 possible fruit-fly Dryomyza anilis
- *1 Muscid fly Phaonia sp.
- *2 winter craneflies Trichocera sp.

Beetles:
- *1 flea beetle, perhaps Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- *1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- *1 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

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

Flies:
- *1 European Cranefly Tipula paludosa
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.
- *1 midge with mark in wings

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 38 spiders: usual suspects plus
*1 Large House Spider-type from the Eratigena group

Noted later elsewhere:

Bees, wasps, etc.:
- Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris
- European Hornet Vespa crabro: at least 5 around the nest site

Flies:
- no flies noted!

Fungus:
- *$ Shaggy Inkcap or Lawyer's Wig Coprinus comatus

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

One for cloud fans: Herringbone-type clouds. Meteorologically known as Cirrocumulus clouds apparently.

Just a small part of the c.550 Black-headed Gulls on the football field c.07:10. In the bottom middle is a lone second-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. Directly above it is a first-winter Herring Gull. These were the only two non-Black-heads on the field.

I do not have any literature on how to identify mayflies. This most likely a Pond Olive mayfly Cloeon dipterum.

A slightly different species of midge with dark spot in each wing. No idea as to its identity. Possibly a female as it has "simple" antennae.

A "proper" male plumed midge Chironomus plumosus.

This is one of Muscid flies in the genus Phaonia. Another inhabitant of the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn.

An European Cranefly Tipula paludosa signalling to turn left.

One of the winter craneflies Trichocera sp. seen: this one on a street lamp pole.

Flea beetles are almost impossible to identify from good photographs. This not a good photograph. It is perhaps most likely a Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala.

Among all the other 33 spiders I noted on the walls of the Telford Sailing Club HQ I hound this Large House Spider-type from the Eratigena group. There are at least five different species of spider. Do they have separate niches? How else do they all get along?

A two-fer...

The bottom left is this Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp. The other...

...is a fly that I should know. It may be the fruit-fly Dryomyza anilis though pictures on the internet suggest it should have stronger venation and do not show the shading on the very tips of the wings.

A Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata unusually on a street lamp pole.

This fungus is known as Shaggy Inkcap or Lawyer's Wig Coprinus comatus.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies:
- 77 midges of various species

Arthropods:
- 2 White-legged Snake Millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 7 spiders: usual suspects

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:05 – 10:05

(227th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- obtaining the correct number of Cormorants was a challenge. Bird perched on the trees were seen to take off and fly around before splashing down to fish. Meanwhile birds appeared out of the water and also flew around only to perch elsewhere in the trees. When they are fishing they are mostly submerged and travel some distances.

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 7 Canada Geese
- 14 Greylag Geese
- 10 Mute Swans still
- 30 (21♂) Mallard
- 8 (1?♂) Tufted Duck
- 13 Moorhens
- 94 Coots
- 9 Great Crested Grebes: four adults and five first winter birds
- 12 Black-headed Gulls
- 9 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron

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

Noted around the area:

Bees, wasps, etc.:
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
2 Skylarks
3 Meadow Pipits
26 Pied Wagtails
7 Siskins
2 Redpolls
142 Greylag Geese
320 Canada Geese
Common Sandpiper
45 Robins
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Cormorant
A pair of Wigeon
220 Coots
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
(Ed Wilson)

2007
RAF Cosford
Juvenile Gannet flew over RAF Cosford
(Martin R Adlam)

2005
Priorslee Lake
3 Redpoll
Siskin
5 Chiffchaffs
Blackcap
Kingfisher
Buzzard
2 Kestrel
Meadow Pipit
(Ed Wilson)