6 Oct 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

12.0°C > 15.0°C: A mixture of clear spells and areas of cloud. Moderate south-westerly wind increasing fresh. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:20 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 – 09:30

(243rd visit of the year)

Note
Today saw the start of three days work cutting some of the reeds. Left unchecked reeds will "take over". The work is being paid for by Telford Sailing Club and has been authorised by Severn Trent (ST). Exactly how closely ST has been involved in delineating the work is unknown. There was no-one from ST present to monitor the activity. I always worry about "boys with toys". Beyond talking to the sailing club about the activity there is little I can do to influence the outcome. It did mean that many of the ducks departed once activity started.

Bird notes:
- the pair of Shoveler still present and seemed to return after the mass departure.
- no sign of yesterday's Little Grebe.
- a surprise was a Common Sandpiper heard and then seen flying around. This is my latest date for the Autumn passage of this species. That said I only have "latest dates" going back 10 years and it is not unknown for this species to over-winter locally.
- another low count of Black-headed Gulls around the lake early. Unusually I noted 38 flying over heading South in four groups.
- a Tawny Owl was calling alongside Teece Drive at 05:35
- at least 17 Skylarks with groups of seven and nine seen overhead and at least one other heard in flight.
- two Meadow Pipits over together

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 20 Greylag Geese: a groups of seven flew outbound long after 13 flew inbound together
- 13 Feral Pigeons: nine flew East together; 4 flew West in loose group
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 17 Wood Pigeons
- 38 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 28 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 152 Jackdaws
- 107 Rooks
- 17+ Skylarks: see notes
- 7 Starlings: two groups
- 3 Pied Wagtails: singles
- 2 Meadow Pipits: together

Counts from the lake area:
many of these departed once the reed cutting started
- 4 Canada Geese: arrived and departed together
- 2 Mute Swans
- *2 (1♂) Shoveler
- 28 (15♂) Mallard
- *14 (3♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 33 Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Common Sandpiper
- c.50 Black-headed Gulls again
- 4 Herring Gulls
- c.125 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *2 Cormorants: arrived separately and departed together
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 3 (0) Chiffchaffs
- no Blackcap

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

Moths:
- none

Hoverflies:
- *1 Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]

Other flies:
- *1 Yellow Cereal Fly Opomyza florum
- *1 unidentified presumed cranefly

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 lace-weaver spider Amaurobius sp.
- *1 Common House Spider Eratigena atrica
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius [Bridge Orbweaver]
- *1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- *1 unidentified spider
- 4 harvestmen Paroligolophus agrestis

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

Flies:
- 1 plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- *1 "stout" fly

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

Noted later elsewhere:

Bees, wasps, etc.:
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris
I did not visit the European Hornet Vespa crabro nest site

Flies:
- *Suillia affinis or similar
- cranefly Tipula confusa

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

Mammals:
- despite the mild morning no bats were seen.

 Looking West just before dawn. It was "grey"!

It was clear to the far East and the sun peeped out...

 ...lighting up the Autumn colours.

All the ducks took flight when the reed-cutting machine appeared. Here are what I believe to be the pair of Shoveler as they fly around. The drake is the lower bird. I am surprised the upper-wing pattern of these two birds looks so similar. Most illustrations show the drake's fore-wing being a much more contrasting pale blue compared with a grey-blue of the duck.

The Tufted Duck went up too. Here are six of them with a drake the upper bird in the centre.

This is rather worrying. This bird split off from the main group of Tufted Duck and was seen flying away. At the time I was not sure whether it might be a Common Teal so I attempted a long-range photo. It certainly isn't a Common Teal. The contrasting wing bar, very white on the inner wing and almost non-existent on the outer wing is a feature of Lesser Scaup. This New World species is closely-related to Tufted Duck and is occurring in very small, but increasing, numbers in the UK. I doubt this photo provides enough evidence to confirm its identity. I did not note it on the water among the Tufted Ducks.

Does not look much different here. Many of the Tufted Duck did not return and I did not note anything unusual among those that did.

Cormorants usually look black or at least dark, other than the pale bellies of the immatures. In fact the feathers are often look brown and can gloss either green or blue depending on the angle of light.

At rest on a street lamp pole pre-dawn was this female Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare. It is a female because the eyes do not meet and in this species her yellow marks are triangular.

This is a Yellow Cereal Fly Opomyza florum though it looks more orange than yellow to my eyes. Identified by the wing markings.

Another orange fly. This I believe to be a Suillia affinis or similar.

A small fly that was on a street lamp pole pre-dawn. It has some similarity in size and shape to the frequently seen Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii. It lacks the red eyes of the latter so it is something different. But what?

Another unknown fly on the street lamp poles pre-dawn. It has the general appearance of a cranefly. The antennae are unusually long and strikingly banded. Also it has an orange toned abdomen. None of the winter craneflies illustrated in NatureSpot show long or banded antennae.

This fly was on one wall of the Telford Sailing Club HQ pre-dawn: not a location and time I see flies at rest very often. Google Lens thought Awkward Clusterfly Pollenia rudis but that species has golden hairs on the thorax. It is an unusually stout-looking fly. Another "but what?"

From the abdomen markings this seems to be a Common House Spider Eratigena atrica. It is a lot smaller than those I rescue from my bath tub!

A Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp. with breakfast. It does not look appetising.

This morning's mystery spider.

Yet another seven-legged harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus, this with a different leg missing from the one I photographed last week.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies:
- 1 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- *1 unidentified "orange" fly
- 11 midges of various species

Arthropods:
- 2 White-legged Snake Millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 6 spiders only: usual suspects

Another of this morning's "orange flies". I cannot an ID for it. I do not see many flies lurking in the tunnel pre-dawn.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:30

(243rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- only five Great Crested Grebes found.
- the House Sparrows were back shouting along the East side. Have they been on holiday?

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 3 Canada Geese
- 16 Greylag Geese
- 12 Mute Swans
- 32 (22♂) Mallard
- 18 (3?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens only
- 99 Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 15 Black-headed Gulls
- 10 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron

Warblers recorded:

None

Noted around the area:
It seemed warmer and sunnier than yesterday around the Ivy bank yet there were fewer insects. Perhaps it was windier and that put them off?

Butterflies:
- *1 Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta

Bees, wasps, etc.:
- Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris: just one again

Hoverflies:
- *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
- *Syrphus sp.

Flies:
- *Muscid fly Phaonia errans
- *Flesh fly Sarcophaga sp.
- also a few unidentified flies

If this is the same Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta as the pristine example I photographed yesterday it has had an "interesting" 24 hours!

A Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax

I could not get an angle to include the hind leg of this female Syrphus hoverfly in the photo, So I cannot provide a more detailed identity.

I think this is a Muscid fly Phaonia errans. The slight bulge on the outer edge of the wing indicates it is a Phaonia species and the closest match to the thorax pattern is P. errans.

A flesh fly Sarcophaga sp.

(Ed Wilson)

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2014
Priorslee Lake
1st-winter Caspian Gull.
(Observer Unknown)

2008
Priorslee Lake
3 Pochard
100 Tufted Duck
Water Rail heard
39 Lapwings
Kingfisher
3 Redwings
Redpoll
Siskin
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
49 Tufted Duck
1 Chiffchaff
Willow Tits
(Ed Wilson)

6 Oct 06 - Wesley Bridge under water (Ed Wilson)