3 Nov 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

7.0°C > 10.0°C: Another mixed morning. Unexpected heavy drizzle just ending as I arrived. Then clearing for a while. Mist descended briefly. Finally sunny intervals ahead of increasing cloud. Light wind initially, with north-easterly breeze later. Mostly good visibility if somewhat hazy.

Sunrise: 07:10 GMT

* = a species photographed today
! = a first sighting of the species this year
$ = a new species for me in this area

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:45 – 09:05

(245th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
A good range of species seen. No significant numbers.

Other bird notes:
- the two Canada Geese throughout again. A pair flew East later.
- a pair of Mute Swans asleep at the West end at dawn. Not visible by 08:00. Did they hide or fly-off? I would have thought this species' heavy wing-beats would have altered me to their departure. But where can they hide?
- just two Pochard today: a drake and an immature/duck.
- a *brownhead Goosander flew in: first of the Winter on the water here.
- a Little Grebe was calling in the north-west area around dawn.
- four Great Crested Grebes today. An extra bird in the north-west area where two birds were heard giving display calls while it was too dark to see them.
- a group of 37 Lapwings flew West in to the mist at 08:00. Most unusually they were more or less flying in a straight line. Flocks of this species are usually very hard to count with birds constantly changing position.
- only c.130 Black-headed Gulls were noted arriving. At 07:05 I noted 111 on / around the football field (66 on the field; 29 on the academy's internal field; 16 flying off).
- five Cormorants arrived today.
- two Grey Herons at peace.
- *a hitherto unnoticed Great (White) Egret flew off North at 07:45.
- three egrets, species not determined, were seen flying East far to the north-east at 07:00.
- a Reed Bunting was calling from the West reeds c.06:45 and then seen to fly off East

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Canada Geese: flew East together
- 37 Lapwings
- 21 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 3 unidentified egrets: see notes
- 99 Wood Pigeons: of these 57 flew South in just two groups
- 333 Jackdaws
- 141 Rooks
- 18 Starlings flew West together
- 6 Fieldfare flew West together
- 2 Redwings
- 2 Pied Wagtails

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese
- 2 Mute Swans: departed?
- 13 (7♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Pochard
- 50 (36?♂) Tufted Duck: partial count? the mist descended
- 1 (0♂) *Goosander: arrived
- 4 Moorhens
- 32 Coots
- 1 Little Grebe: heard only
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- c.130 Black-headed Gulls
- 6 *Herring Gulls
- c.320 *Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 5 Cormorants
- 1 *Great White Egret: departed
- 2 *Grey Herons

Birds seen leaving roosts around the lake:
- 1 Starling
- 1 Redwing
- 1 Reed Bunting

Later on the Teece Drive fence:
Nothing found, too breezy.

On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:

Moths:
- 2 November Moth type Epirrita sp. again: all on the same pole today

True flies:
- 5 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.
- 2 wood gnat Sylvicola sp.
- *male and female Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii
- 1 *unidentified cranefly/gnat?
- 1 unidentified fly

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Just ten minutes after the drenching drizzle had stopped.

And here comes the sun.

Set off against the darker clouds the Autumn colours show well.

Slightly later from a different angle. The mist about to roll in from the West.

Record shot of the brownhead Goosander. Historically this was a very much "drop in, look around and go" species here until the last Winter period when up to eight birds were present for several weeks.

A second-winter Herring Gull with a smudgy tail band, slightly dark secondaries and a slight brown tone to the inner wing. Smart new primary feathers.

A brutish-looking adult-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. No black on the bill.

I think a third-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull with black on both mandibles. It is still in wing-moult: look at the right wing and the outer primary with the white "mirror" is still to grow in to position.

There was a Cormorant standing on this Grey Heron's preferred buoy. The heron made two attempts to take over the perch...

 ...and veered away when the Cormorant showed no sign of relinquishing his perch.

Snapped just in time. The Great (White) Egret flies off. It does not have a black wing-tip. That is shadow from the low sun.

This is a male Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii. Only males have the dark tips to their wings.

I cannot get an identity for this. I don't think it is a cranefly as the left hind legs looks to have two spurs (unless they are marks on the street lamp pole). Craneflies do not have spurs and it would likely make it a wood gnat or similar.

(Ed Wilson)

- - - - - - - - - - - 

Also noted at Priorslee Lake midday:

Three Whooper Swans..................

..........courtesy of JG @wolvobirder.bsky.social

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
none

True flies:
- 2 female plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- 2 other unidentified midges
- 1 *male Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata
- 2 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.

Arthropods:
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 5 *Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]
- 1 *harvestman Phalangium opilio

A male Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata. Not a species I expected to see at this date but it does not look too well. Males do not bite.

One of the five Missing Sector Orb-web Spiders Zygiella x-notata has already depleted my cranefly count by one.

A harvestman Phalangium opilio. This species seems to like the tunnel. Another species where the legs change width part-way along.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:10 – 10:40

(242nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- no Mute Swan or Great Crested Grebe: the only Cormorant was leaving as I arrived.
- still *two drake Shovelers.
- *two (Common) Teal found: one drake
- four Goosanders were new arrivals with *one moulting in to adult drake plumage.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 3 Jackdaws
- 4 Fieldfare: flew North together

Noted on / around the water:
- 4 Canada Geese
- 2 Greylag Geese
- no Mute Swan
- 2 (2♂) *Shoveler
- 36 (26♂) *Mallard
- 2 (1♂) *(Common) Teal
- 15 (7♂) *Tufted Duck
- 4 (1♂) *Goosander
- 7 Moorhens
- 15 Coot
- 33 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant: departed
- 1 *Grey Heron

Noted around the area:

Moths:
- 1 November Moth type Epirrita sp. One of Sunday's four still in its same locations.

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 1+ *Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
- 100++ wasps Vespula sp. Very, very busy around the sheltered Ivy bank.

Hoverflies:
tricky to find among the masses of wasps and flies. Probably more
- 4 *Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax [Tapered Drone Fly]
- 2 *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax [Common Drone Fly]
- 2 *Humming Syrphus Syrphus ribesii [Common Flower Fly]
- 2 *undetermined Syrphus sp.

True flies:
- 1 *Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria
- also very many flies not specifically identified including bluebottles, greenbottles etc...

Beetles:
- 6 *7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata

 I had difficulty with ducks sitting beneath the overhanging branches. On the left a duck Tufted Duck. A Coot in the middle. The bird on the right is a drake Mallard – the white neck ring is just visible to the right of the vertical twig.

My initial thought here was two duck (Common) Teal with a duck Tufted Duck behind (note the eye colour).

This view confirms the bird on the right as a duck (Common) Teal showing the black bill and just visible the green speculum. Looking closely at the left hand bird it has a pale edge to its bill and the speculum is blue. It is a duck Mallard. There is a difference in the feather shapes as well. A tribute to the camera: there is no way I could have figured this out otherwise.

A drake (Common) Teal preening and showing the green speculum in his wing.

Here is a puzzle. A drake Shoveler is preening in front of the now sleeping drake (Common) Teal. So why does it show green and not blue in the wing? Well you live and learn. The speculum is green and it is the forewing, more usually exposed, that is blue.

Now where is the other drake Shoveler? Hiding dead-centre!

Yes well. He was a long way away and rapidly pedalling further away. The Goosander coming in to drake plumage.

The strong light has blown out the detail. I cannot recall seeing a Grey Heron standing "waist-deep" in water before.

A  Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris photo today.

A female Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax. The abdomen is more tapered than I would expect for a female. It is a female as the eyes do not meet.

A Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax.

There is a species called Stripe-faced Dronefly E. nemorum. This isn't on. It is the same Common Dronefly.

Some species of hoverfly can only be separated by whether they have hairy eyes or not. "Good luck with that" you might thinks. But get the light at the right angle and here are hairy eyes on this Common Dronefly.

A female with all-yellow hind leg so this is a Humming Syrphus Syrphus ribesii.

I've puzzled over this. It looks to be a more slender species and I thought at the time one of the Field Syrphs Eupeodes sp. However the way the yellow bands wrap around the side of the abdomen means it has to be a Syrphus. As I cannot see which sex it is from this angle it remains an undetermined Syrphus sp.

A female Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria also attacking the Ivy blossom.

I have no idea why this 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata was investigating dead flowers of Common or Stinging Nettle Urtica dioica.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Shifnal, Lizard Wood
2 Hawfinch
(Arthur Harper)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Several Herons
>3800 Wood Pigeons
11 Skylarks
2 Meadow Pipits
199 Fieldfare
32 Redwings
9 Siskins
1 Linnet
Brambling
(Ed Wilson)

Wrekin
Location
1 Crossbill
Several Redpolls
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
21 Pochard
58 Tufted Ducks
2 Buzzards
>900 Black-headed Gulls
176 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
807 Wood Pigeons
16 Pied Wagtails
26 Wrens
14 Dunnocks
34 Robins
24 Blackbirds
213 Fieldfares
6 Song Thrushes
150 Redwings
5 Mistle Thrushes
1 Blackcap
447 Starlings
2 Siskins
7 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

2 Nov 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

4.0°C > 8.0°C: Clear skies. Just frosty in places sheltered from the moderate northerly breeze. Very good visibility

Sunrise: 07:09 GMT

* = a species photographed today
! = a first sighting of the species this year
$ = a new species for me in this area

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:45 – 09:00

(244th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
A manic quarter of an hour. Several of the early groups of migrating southbound Wood Pigeons were concurrent with the last of the roost-dispersal Jackdaws and Rooks. At the same time a few Fieldfare and Redwing were passing over, four of the former briefly perching on trees at the West end. While all this was going on a group of Starlings departed their West end roost. I don't think any of this explains the car on its roof in the middle of Castle Farm Way! Numbers best-efforts in the circumstances.

Other bird notes:
- the two Canada Geese throughout again.
- a pair of Mute Swans departed to the West at 07:15.
- yesterday's three Pochard remain.
- still only three Great Crested Grebes.
- c.220 Black-headed Gulls arrived in three groups. I did not check the football field before 08:50 when it was devoid of any birds.
- four Cormorants, all arriving separately.
- Grey Herons were in almost continuous dispute. At least three birds involved, probably more.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 14 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- c.1500 Wood Pigeons: almost all in 16 groups flying South
- 1 Skylark again
- c.540 Jackdaws
- 134 Rooks
- 2 Starlings
- 2 Fieldfare
- 10 Redwings
- 1 Pied Wagtail again

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese
- 2 Mute Swans: departed
- 14 (8♂) Mallard
- 3 (2♂) Pochard again
- 71 (>31♂) Tufted Duck: still diving in groups and difficult to count
- 3 Moorhens
- 25 Coots again
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- c.220 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Herring Gulls
- c.225 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 4 Cormorants
- 3 *Grey Herons

Birds seen leaving roosts around the lake:
- 33 Starlings
- 1 Redwing

Later on the Teece Drive fence:

Nothing found. Too cold and breezy.

Elsewhere:

Fungus:
- same yet again including Shaggy Inkcap or *Lawyer's Wig Coprinus comatus

On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:
Too cold for most things?

Moths:
- 3 November Moth type Epirrita sp. again: all on the same pole today

True flies:
- 2 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.

Bugs:
- 1 *Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 2 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

A clear and just frosted start today. On the right of the water are some of the early arriving gulls. Just about visible over the vegetation toward the left are some of the many Tufted Duck present.

Autumn colours from the dam-top.

Three Grey Herons were present at various times chasing around. This one made a rare misjudgement and dipped a wing-tip in the water.

And this one just about got away with it – the merest streak on the water says it dipped the extreme tip of one feather.

The only unusual sighting on the dew-covered West end street lamp poles this morning was this Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius.

It looked pristine yesterday. Not much sign of it as a Lawyer's Wig Coprinus comatus today

Plane of the day: this is a seven-seat Diamond Aircraft DA 62 "flying SUV" owned by MAJ Aviation Ltd. of Leominster, Herefordshire [not to be confused with a large operator of a similar name in Singapore!]. It was flying from Leeds East Airfield [RAF Church Fenton as was] back to its home base at Shobdon Airfield, just west of Leominster. The registration prefix "2-" originates from Guernsey. Perhaps registered there for tax reasons?

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Another poor showing

Moths:
none

True flies:
none

Arthropods:
- 2 Common Shiny Woodlouse Oniscus asellus

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

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:05 – 10:15

(241st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the single Mute Swan gone.
- the two drake Shovelers remain.
- a duck (Common) Teal found.
- no Great Crested Grebe seen.
- no Cormorants either.

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 4 Canada Geese
- 2 Greylag Geese: arrived
- no Mute Swan
- 2 (2♂) *Shoveler
- 37 (25♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) *(Common) Teal
- 22 (11♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens
- 14 Coot
- no Great Crested Grebe
- 55 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls
- no Cormorants
- 3 *Grey Heron

Noted around the area:

Moths:
- 3 November Moth type Epirrita sp. Three of yesterday's four still in the same locations.

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 1+ *Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
- >100? wasps Vespula sp. Very busy around the sheltered Ivy bank.

Hoverflies:
- 4 *Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax [Tapered Drone Fly]
- 1 *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax [Common Drone Fly]
- 2 *Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis

True flies:
- *Common Blow Fly Calliphora vicina
- also very many flies not specifically identified including bluebottles, greenbottles etc...

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 2 *harvestman Opilio canestrinii

 Still here: the two drake Shoveler ducks.

Horrible lighting on this distant duck. About the only identification feature is the all black bill indicating it is a duck (Common, sometimes called Eurasian) Teal. [There is a very similar New World species names Green-winged Teal. But then both species are common and both have green in the wings. Confusing.]

The Grey Herons were chasing here as well as at the Balancing Lake.

I got close to this Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris so you don't have to. There were dozens and dozens of them on the Ivy and it was possible to hear the petals knocked off the flowers as they cascaded through the vegetation to the ground.

A very typical pose with wings held erect, presumably for balance.

 It is always a bonus to log hoverflies in November. They will be around on sunny days just as long as the Ivy blossom holds out. Here is a male Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax.

Another with his tongue partially out.

A female: her body is not so tapered as that of the male. I am bemused by the pale bands of hair between the tergites on all these individuals. I do not recall noticing them on individuals of this species seen in the Summer. I cannot find any comment to this effect in the literature.

For a change a male Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax best identified at this angle by the leg markings. The extent of the paler brown areas on the abdomen is not diagnostic and very variable in most droneflies. This one has his tongue out as well.

A female Syrphus sp. Her hind leg is not visible to provide a specific identity.

Another. It is tempting to call the hind leg colour but I am not 100% sure I can see enough of the upper part (tibia) to be certain.

There were also very many flies around today – more so than recently. I did not bother with most of them. This posing Common Blow Fly Calliphora vicina was an exception.

There were two harvestmen Opilio canestrinii together on a top end street lamp pole this morning. This one is clearly a male with long palps. The #1 leg on the right side is missing.

(Ed Wilson)

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2012
Priorslee Lake
2 Gadwall
7 Pochard
Kestrel
Little Grebe
Sparrowhawk
(John Isherwood)

2011
Priorslee Lake
4 Yellow legged Gulls
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
36 Pochard
85 Tufted Ducks
4 Lapwings over
c.200 Starlings roosted at W end
53 Wood Pigeons
249 Fieldfare
14 Redwings
7 Siskins
1 Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Little Grebes
17 Pochard
57 Tufted Ducks
1 drake Ruddy Duck
c.170 Golden Plover
1175 Wood Pigeons
1 Kingfisher
16 Pied Wagtails
22 Wrens
10 Dunnocks
27 Robins
22 Blackbirds
298 Fieldfares
8 Song Thrushes
24 Redwings
1 Mistle Thrush
69 Starlings
12 Chaffinches
33 Greenfinches
11 Goldfinches
1 Redpoll
5 Bullfinches
9 Reed Buntings
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
Adult Arctic Tern
172 Redwing
9 Pochard
47 Tufted Duck
Siskin
Redpolls
7 Reed Buntings
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)