10 Oct 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake only

12.0°C > 13.0°C: Overcast at low level with intermittent light drizzle. The cloud lifted somewhat later. Very light north-westerly breeze. Moderate to poor visibility early; eventually good.
Where do they get the weather forecasters from? "No rain" my apps said. Look out the window!

Sunrise: 07:27 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

Abbreviated visit to the lake only.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:45 – 09:10

(246th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- after yesterday's trio of Mute Swans flying West two did the same thing today at c.08:00.
- no geese seen.
- only a drake Shoveler seen. I did wonder yesterday whether I had seen a lone drake as well as the pair but could not relocate it as the time.
- a pair of Gadwall were new arrivals seen early only.
- another "best effort" with the very mobile Mallard. Certainly even more than yesterday.
- six duck Tufted Duck today.
- a single Cormorant arrived and stayed.
- a second Grey Heron tried its luck and was chased away.
- the remaining Grey Heron was also none too happy when the Great (White) Egret arrived. I was told that "an egret" had been present at The Flash about 40 minutes previously.
- a Song Thrush was quietly singing. Not from the same location as yesterday.
- the Jackdaws and Rooks were again a challenge flying over while there was poor horizontal and vertical visibility.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Mute Swans: together
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 19 Wood Pigeons
- 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 138 Jackdaws
- 98 Rooks
- 2 Pied Wagtails: singles

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Shoveler
- *2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 41 (22♂) Mallard
- *6 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- *35 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- >100 Black-headed Gulls: 105 (of these?) seen on the football field c.07:30
- 5 Herring Gulls
- >150 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant: arrived
- 2 Grey Herons: the second only briefly
- *1 Great (White) Egret: arrived

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

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

Moths:
- none identified: one seen in flight.

Springtails:
- *1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type

Flies:
- *1 plumed midge, perhaps Chironomus plumosus
- *1 fly Dryomyza anilis
- *2 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- *1 $ dance fly Tachydromia umbrarum or similar
- *3 winter craneflies Trichocera sp.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- *1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
- *3 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

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

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 51 spiders: usual suspects
Nothing else so what do they all eat?

Noted later elsewhere:

Bees, wasps, etc.:
- European Hornet Vespa crabro: at least three around the nest site

Mammals:
- no bats today. Can they distinguish raindrops from insects using their echolocation?

The dull overcast conditions did not permit great photos and again today's offering will again have many insects. Before those... a bad photo of a distant drake Gadwall. Not the black stern and the brown tone on the back. A Moorhen photo-bombs against the reeds.

Here is his consort. She shows the pale streak at the tail like a duck Common Teal. She however also shows white (and not green) in the folded wing and bright orange edges to her bill (not all-dark).

The Great (White) Egret in the company of a Coot and a duck Tufted Duck.

A (slightly) better view of it.

One of the local Common Buzzards was using the Telford Sailing Club's container a vantage point. The local Magpies were unhappy. You can just see the top of the head and the bill of one peering over the container.

Another day: another springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type. Well I assume it is not the same one as yesterday as this is on a different street lamp pole.

Flies:

A male plumed midge but is it the usual Chironomus plumosus. The body looks slimmer than usual though the banding is correct.

"Another chance to see" - the small fly Dryomyza anilis. Red eyes, orange thorax lightly striped and wings with four dark marks.

One of the two moth flies Psychodidae sp. An unusually "un-fluffy" specimen.

To my surprise I already have this dance fly Tachydromia umbrarum or similar in my logs, though not for this year. One of at least four species that need microscopic examination to specifically identify. This group apparently often run away as opposed to flying off.

One of three winter craneflies Trichocera sp. on the street lamp poles pre-dawn.

I think it is just a rumour that harvestmen Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus have eight legs!

A party! Three harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis get friendly. When I rechecked a few minutes later one was nowhere to be seen and the others were well apart.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies:
- 37 midges of various species

Arthropods:
- 3 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

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

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
29 Redwing
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
1 Curlew
1 Goldeneye
1 Goosander
1 Shoveler
4 Wigeon
1 Teal
1 Common Gull
(John Isherwood)

2009
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
3 Lapwing
25+ Redwing
1 Siskin
(John Isherwood)

2008
Priorslee Lake
130 Tufted Ducks
4 Buzzards
Kingfisher
Chiffchaff
Meadow Pipits
Sky Larks
Redwings
Redpoll
Siskin
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
1 Little Grebe
1 Ruddy Duck
50 Robins
1 Redwing
4 Chiffchaffs
11 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
37 Meadow Pipits
36 Pied Wagtails
1 Redwing
55 Tufted Ducks
2 Willow Tits
(Ed Wilson)