29 Sep 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

6.0°C > 12.0°C: Clear with the forecast dense fog only visible in the distance. Calm. Very good visibility except in the direction of the fog bank.

Sunrise: 07:08 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: 05:30 – 09:30

(237th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a good number of Mallard with many of these flying in from the pools to the East.
- a continuing decline in the number of Coots. The count was now even smaller than it was in the breeding season when some (half?) of the birds were sitting on nests.
- just one Great Crested Grebe located.
- another change with the gulls. Lesser Black-backed Gulls were arriving early with at least 80 on the water by 06:30. At least 100 more arrived from the South with others from the East, these being mixed up with birds leaving and flying around. A conservative estimate of c.225. Only three Herring Gulls noted with them. Just four were noted flying by in the distance.
- also by 06:30 there were c.250 Black-headed Gulls on the water with many more streaming in and I reckon at least 700 were present by 06:50. Mist low over the water was doing its best to mask some of the birds. I checked the football field at 07:10 and counted 133 Black-headed Gulls and amongst them a first winter Common Gull – my first of the year here and my bird species #100 for the lake this year.
- two Skylarks over.
- all change with the Jackdaws and Rooks today. 72 of the Rooks were first overhead at 06:37 with just two Jackdaws with them. It was 15 minutes before several tight groups of Jackdaws passed. Usually it is Jackdaws first.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 4 Pintail
- 10 Wood Pigeons only
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 165 Jackdaws
- 118 Rooks
- 2 Skylarks
- 1 Pied Wagtail

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 19 (12♂) Mallard
- 4 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhens
- 38 Coots only
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- *c.700 Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- 1 Common Gull
- 3 Herring Gulls
- >225 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Grey Heron: one flew off West 07:20

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

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

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

Moths:
- 1 $ Garden Rose Tortrix Acleris variegana
- 1 Square-spot Rustic Xestia xanthographa

Springtails:
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis

Other flies:
- 1 plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius [Bridge Orbweaver]
- 1 Noble or False Widow Spider Steatoda nobilis
- 1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

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

Flies:
- 1 male mosquito, perhaps Aedes punctor
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.

Slugs, snails etc.:
- 1 slug Arion sp.
- 2 snails, neither identified and not

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

Noted later elsewhere:

Bees, wasps, etc.:
**** I did not visit the area where the nest of the European Hornet Vespa crabro is located

Flies:
- 2 cranefly Tipula confusa

Fungus:
- $$ Shaggy Parasol Chlorophyllum rachodes
- Shaggy Inkcap or Lawyer's Wig Coprinus comatus

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

You will probably have to take my word for it that these are four Common Teal. I can just about see the white line at the side of the tail on the closest bird. Thank you to Tom Lowe for pointing out that these are actually Pintail.

A first winter Common Gull with Black-headed Gulls on the football field was my first of the year. At all ages this shows a rounded head and a dark-eye. In first winter note the two-tone bill. In our part of Shropshire "common" is a misnomer. Go to Ellesmere in a few months time and you can see over hundred in the gull roost.

Another view. When feeding the rounded head is not so obvious. Neither of these photos is exactly stunning. It was still c.07:10 and I was shooting through two layers of fencing around the football field.

Somewhat speckled with dew is this Garden Rose Tortrix moth Acleris variegana. Moth species #93 for me here this year and seen one day later than my single 2024 record of this species.

A Square-spot Rustic Xestia xanthographa on the overhanging light unit atop one of the street lamp poles.

A male mosquito with rather unusual-looking "double-decker" antennae. It is perhaps Aedes punctor. The females of this species do bite man but don't carry tropical diseases.

An Arion slug. Further identification eludes many experts with DNA the only reliable way.

Another (non)winner for Obsidentify that was 99% certain this is a Lapidary Snail Helicigona lapicida. Assuming the photos on NatureSpot are correctly labelled (and I am sure they are) this quite a different species.

A new species of fungus for me: Shaggy Parasol Chlorophyllum rachodes. You even get a side-elevation (not guilty m'lud – it was like that, honest).

Very distinctive and I doubt I have overlooked them previously.

Remember yesterday's Shaggy Inkcap or Lawyer's Wig fungus Coprinus comatus? This is it one day later, already starting to deliquesce.

A Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius.

Not sure about this spider. Obsidentify was 100% sure it was a money spider. I am 100% sure it isn't as it was far too large. Google Lens suggested Noble or False Widow Spider Steatoda nobilis but I think that is also wrong as it looks nothing like the other one I see every morning tucked up in a crack at the top of a street lamp pole.

I suspect this five-legged harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus has trouble walking in a straight line.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies:
- 86 midges of various species

Arthropods:
- 11 White-legged Snake Millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 2 spiders only

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:40

(228th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a low count of Mallard. Had some gone to the Balancing Lake?

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 3 Canada Geese
- 11 Greylag Geese
- 10 Mute Swans
- 17 (9♂) Mallard
- 14 (2?♂) Tufted Duck
- 14 Moorhens
- 93 Coots
- 6 Great Crested Grebes: four adults and just two first winter birds
- 8 Black-headed Gulls
- 8 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (0) Chiffchaff

Noted around the area:

Bees, wasps, etc.:
- Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum: apparently a queen on size
- Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris: just one

Beetles:
- 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- Garden Spider Araneus diadematus [Garden Cross Spider]

I have not seen this species for a while. It is a Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum and apparently a queen on size. The latest Field Guide notes this species sometimes has a second generation in which event queens may be seen in to October.

With wings a-whirr! Although it shows some pale hairs the abdomen is too black for a Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum.

Plane of the day. Flying at 20000' to the East of Stafford is a Lockheed C-130H Hercules of the Royal Saudi Air Force. It was flying from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and landed at Birmingham. I am not entirely sure that Birmingham was its intended destination as it flew well past there before turning back to land. I surmise that RAF Brize Norton was the intended destination but was closed by fog.

(Ed Wilson)

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2010
Priorslee Lake
3 Pochard
2 Sparrowhawks
24 Swallows
Peregrine Falcon
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Redwing
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
Siskin
105 Greenfinches
Swallow
House Martin
3 Chiffchaffs
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)