30 Sep 26

No sightings in today

29 Sep 26

No sightings in today

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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)

28 Sep 26

No sightings in today

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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)

27 Sep 26

No sightings in today

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2013
Priorslee Lake
1 Teal
3 Wigeon
1 Kingfisher
(John Isherwood)

2011
Priorslee Lake
13 Meadow Pipits
3 Redpoll
Siskin
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Juvenile Common Scoter
3 Little Grebes
Drake Pintail x Mallard
(Ed Wilson/Andy Latham)

26 Sep 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 14.0°C: Mostly clear with just some thin high cloud to the south-east. A calm start with mist over the water. A light moderate south-westerly breeze developing. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:01 BST

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

I am taking a few days break from the early starts. I will be back!

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:45 – 09:15

(220th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- no Mute Swans until a pair(?) from the north-west at 07:35. Another pair(?) arrived from the West at 08:05. The tow pairs stayed well-apart for a while before one pair started chasing (not sure which) with the chased leaving to the East.
- no Tufted Duck.
- a Little Grebe heard pattering across the surface and then glimpsed just as it dived at the West end.
- gull counts once again impacted by early low-level mist:
- only about 100 Black-headed Gulls noted by 07:00. Just five on the football field c.07:15.
- c.175 Lesser Black-backed Gulls present by 07:00 with, as usual, these all departing by 07:30. No Herring Gulls identified at that time. A steady later arrival saw 79 pass through to bathe and drink before 09:00 with six Herring Gulls at this time.
- at least 110 large gulls, likely mostly Lesser Black-backs, flew South to the far East between 06:45 and 07:00. Later just 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew over
- again seven Chiffchaffs were noted with two of these heard singing.
- at least ten Greenfinches flew out of the trees alongside Teece Drive c.07:20, Good to see a small roost of this much declined species. Going back 25 years (pre my easily-accessed computer records) I recall seeing as many as 400 birds leaving the trees at dawn from the south-east part of the area.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- >120 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 22 Wood Pigeons
- 311 Jackdaws
- 109 Rooks
- 1 Pied Wagtail

Counts from the lake area:
- 0 > 2 > 4 > 2 Mute Swans: see notes
- 9 (6♂) *Mallard only
- no Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens
- 42 Coot
- 1 Little Grebe
- 11 Great Crested Grebes only
- >100 Black-headed Gulls
- 6 Herring Gulls
- >250 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 *Cormorants: a trio and three singles arrived; some departed
- 2 Grey Herons

Warblers noted:
- 7 Chiffchaffs: of these two in song again
- 1 Blackcap: calling only

Also noted:
Very little.

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
- *unidentified ichneumon

True flies:
- cranefly Tipula confusa

Hoverflies:
- *Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus

Other true flies
- *Muscid fly Phaonia signata [was P. tuguriorum]
also several unidentified flies

On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:

True flies:
- 1 cranefly Tipula lateralis
- 1 *unidentified fly

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 *unidentified orb spider Araniella sp.
- 2 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Mammals:
- 1 pipistrelle-type bat at this time

Before sunrise with mist over the water.

Just as the sun was about to pop over the horizon, albeit masked by the clouds.

Drake Mallard are now looking smart in their full breeding plumage after their annual moult.

Well-positioned to fill the frame an immature Cormorant arrives.

Not many insects around now the temperature is dropping. Here is an unidentified (but aren't most of them?) ichneumon.

A Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus

This seems to be the Muscid fly Phaonia signata . It has the typical bowed leading edge shared with all members of the Phaonia genus with this species showing transverse bands on a pale brown abdomen. [It used to be known as P. tuguriorum when I last logged it and I assume an earlier record has been found to take precedence]

This fly has eluded identification. The structure is similar to the long-legged or dance flies group but they are all larger and fly in late Spring and early Summer. I have drawn a blank.

A small spider that I think is one of the orb spiders from the Araniella family

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
none

True flies:
- 11 midges of at least three species
- 2 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- 1 *cranefly Tipula lateralis

Arthropods:
- 5 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger
- 4 Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber

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

At last: a cranefly I can identify. This is Tipula lateralis identified by the pale line running down the abdomen, the dark and pale shading in the wing, the longer antennae seen on many craneflies and its large size – up to 2cm.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flash: 09:20 – 10:25

(217th visit of the year)

Definitely a "heron" day with six Grey Herons, three Little Egrets and two Great (White) Egrets on the island.

Bird notes:
- again just the four Canada Geese that never seem to fly anywhere.
- six Mute Swans still.
- no Tufted Duck found.
- 43 brownhead Goosander.
- one full adult Great Crested Grebe was seen with just two juveniles. Much later this a repeated sighting in a different part of the water but were they different birds? There was also an immature noted at the top end.

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 4 Canada Geese
- 6 Mute Swans
- 29 (17♂) Mallard
- no Tufted Duck
- 43 (0♂) Goosander
- 3 Moorhens only
- 16 Coot
- 2 (3?) + 2 (4?) (1 brood) Great Crested Grebe: see notes
- 21 *Black-headed Gulls
- 6 Cormorants
- 6 *Grey Herons
- 2 *Great (White) Egrets
- 3 *Little Egrets

Warblers noted:
- 4 Chiffchaffs: one of these in song

Noted around the area:
A few more things: the sun was out but possibly still too cool for some insects:

Bees, wasps etc.:
- >5 *Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- >5 *Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- 3 *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax [Common Drone Fly]
- 1 *Syrphus sp.

Other true flies:
- greenbottles
- several other species of fly not identified

Bugs:
- 2 *Dock Bug Coreus marginatus

Beetles:
- 1 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata

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

On the left a Little Egret with a black bill. On the right a Great (White) Egret with a yellow bill. In between Black-headed Gulls in winter plumage.

On the left four of the six Grey Herons. In the tree the other Great (White) Egret. In the water seven Black-headed Gulls in winter plumage with perhaps a Little Egret on the far right – hard to tell.

A Honey Bee Apis mellifera has found a flower with nectar. I must try and identify the plant sometime.

A Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris. This species because the yellow band on the side of the thorax is parallel-sided.

A Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax tucks in to the Ivy blossom, yet to open fully.

A Syrphus hoverfly that is hiding the hind leg that might enable specific identification.

Only when I looked at my photo of this Dock Bug Coreus marginatus did I notice there is an instar of the species intruding in to the top of the picture.

A very sorry-looking harvestman Opilio canestrinii that has lost half its legs. All harvestmen are prone to losing legs to escape predators. They cannot regrow legs which spiders, before their final moult, can do.

Plane(?) of the day. It is a Thruster T600N 450 Sprint, a two-seat microlight design originating in Australia and licence-built in Langworth, Lincolnshire. This particular example is currently under-going a change of ownership on the aviation register, its last recorded owner being on the Isle of Man. It does not seem to have, or use, a transponder so I cannot say anything about its flight.

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
115 Greylag Geese
420+ Canada Geese
Shoveler
Common Sandpiper
Kingfisher
3 Blackcaps
12 Chiffchaffs
(Ed Wilson)

25 Sep 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

12.0°C > 14.0°C > 12.0°C: Early fog lifting to give a few bright intervals. Then after 09:20 drizzle, often heavy. Once again there were light winds early with a moderate north-westerly breeze developing. Very good visibility until drizzle when moderate at best.

Sunrise: 07:00 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:50 – 09:20

(219th visit of the year)

Highlight today was the arrival of two *Great (White) Egrets at 07:45. They stayed about 15 minutes before heading off West

Other bird notes:
- the pair(?) of Mute Swans throughout.
- much flying about by the Mallard. Possible (many?) more that I have logged.
- no Little Grebe seen or heard but with fog early that may not mean much.
- gull counts badly affected by the fog:
- about 200 Black-headed Gulls were still present early when the fog temporarily thinned around 07:00. After 08:30 only 28 seen. I did not bother with the football field.
- I counted 62 Lesser Black-backed Gulls leaving to the East after c.06:45 with at least 75 still on the water. No Herring Gulls identified at that time but with many on the water being first year birds it was difficult to be sure. There was no big arrival / return later with just 29 Lesser Black-backs and a single Herring Gull noted
- just seven Chiffchaffs were noted with two of these heard singing.
- most of the Jackdaws and all of the Rooks on roost dispersal overhead were lost in the mist.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Stock Dove
- 19 Wood Pigeons
- 38 Jackdaws
- no Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 19 (?♂) Mallard
- 3 (0♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens again
- 46 Coot
- no Little Grebe
- 10 *Great Crested Grebes only
- >200 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- >150 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 4 *Cormorants: arrived separately
- 2 *Grey Herons
- 2 *Great (White) Egrets: arrived and departed

Warblers noted:
- 7 Chiffchaffs: of these two in song

Also noted:
Very little.

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

True flies:
- cranefly Tipula confusa

Beetles:
- *(dead?) ground-beetle from the Pterostichus genus

Fungus:
- *Brown Rollrim Paxillus involutus

On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:

Moths / Butterflies:
- 1 *unidentified caterpillar

True flies:
- 1 female Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii
- 1 small midge

Beetles:
- 1 probable Cabbage-stem Flea Beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala

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

Is the juvenile Great Crested Grebe feeding or drowning?

Don't snatch!

Juvenile makes off at high speed.

One minute before I took this photo of a Cormorant there was a Grey Heron on the buoy.

 It is a good trick if you can do it - balance on one leg on a buoy. A Grey Heron shows how...

Image to come

 It needs a bit of wing-flapping to get stability. 


Is this really more stable?


Two Great (White) Egrets arrive.

One touching down at the edge of the water.

The two checking this-way-and-that. A juvenile Great Crested Grebe in the foreground.

What has caught their attention?

Two sparring Grey Herons perhaps.

Time to move on.

Obviously a caterpillar (or larva) but of what? Obsidentify was no help at all. Google Lens suggested Goat Moth Cossus cossus and the accompanying photos looked promising. However reference to the West Midlands Moths web site told me that this species was in serious decline and is probably extinct in the region, the last record being from Staffordshire in 1983. I'll see what the Shropshire recorder makes of it.

A more-or-less side-elevation view reveals hairs that the plan view did not show.

This is, or perhaps was, a ground-beetle from the Pterostichus genus. Further identification would have required clear view of the antennae and all the legs. Google Lens thought P. melanarius. The gallery in NatureSpot shows too many very similar species, all with identification difficulty flagged "red", for me to be confident. It was lying in the gutter along Teece Drive.

Alongside one of the street lamp poles pre-dawn I noted this Garden Spider Araneus diadematus sitting in its web awaiting a client.

A well-chewed fungus!

And from the side. I realise these are not good photos. Normally I would use my phone camera which takes much better close-ups as it acts more like a pin-hole camera and has a much greater depth of focus. I left the phone at home – doh! However I am sure this the very common Brown Rollrim Paxillus involutus.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
none

True flies:
- 16 midges of at least three species
- 2 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.

Arthropods:
- 2 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger
- 8 Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber

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

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flash: 09:25 – 10:15

(216th visit of the year)

We were all affected by the soaking drizzle

Bird notes:
- just the four Canada Geese that never seem to fly anywhere.
- six Mute Swans again.
- a single duck/immature Tufted Duck noted: four of them certainly drakes.
- 37 brownhead Goosander.
- one full adult Great Crested Grebe was sometimes with the four dependent juveniles one of which is declaring UDI much of the time. No other full adult seen but an immature was at the top end.
- an adult and three immature Lesser Black-backed Gulls arrived.
- two Cormorants were arriving as I was departing. None had been sitting in the trees previously.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
None

Noted on / around the water:
- 4 Canada Geese
- 6 Mute Swans
- 33 (19♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Tufted Duck
- 37 (0♂) Goosander
- 6 Moorhens
- 18 Coot
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebe: see notes
- 21 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: arrived together
- 2 Cormorants: arrived
- 2 Grey Herons
- 2 Little Egrets remain

Warblers noted:
- 1 Chiffchaff in song

Noted around the area:
Almost nothing in the drizzle apart from....

Bees, wasps etc.:
- >10 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

(Ed Wilson)

24 Sep 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 14.0°C:  Areas of medium-high cloud giving another stunning sunrise. Some sunny periods. Very light winds early with a light southerly breeze developing. Very good visibility.

Sunrise:  06:58 BST

* = 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 – 09:10

(220th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a pair(?) of Mute Swans throughout. Probably the birds that visited briefly yesterday and then likely the extra two at The Flash where they were being chased. No extras at The Flash today.
- *two Little Grebes were seen at first light. No calls were heard.
- gull numbers were significantly smaller today:
- about 150 Black-headed Gulls were present early, all of these arriving after many of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls had made it in. I counted just 24 on the football field at 07:05.
- about 75 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were present early. No overflights were seen at this time.
- later the now-usual arrival from the East comprised 121 Black-heads, 18 Lesser Black-backs and three Herring Gulls.
- a single skein(?) of 26 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were the only overflying gulls I noted
- no hirundines were seen again [two Barn Swallows flew by my Newport house this afternoon].
- for the third day nine Chiffchaffs were noted with just one of them heard singing.
- single Chaffinches were heard calling from each side of Castle Farm Way. I had not seen or heard this species here since a bird stopped singing [last heard 06 July].

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 26 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 5 Cormorants: together
- 15 Feral Pigeons: two groups flew East
- 2 Stock Doves: two duos flew West
- 28 Wood Pigeons
- 254 Jackdaws
- 60 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 12 (6♂) Mallard
- 3 (1?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 49 Coot
- 2 *Little Grebe
- 13 Great Crested Grebes again
- >150 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls
- c.90 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 *Cormorants visited separately
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
None

Warblers noted:
- 9 Chiffchaffs: of these one in song yet again

Also noted:
Very little.

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax

True flies:
- cranefly Tipula confusa

On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:

Moths:
none

Four-winged flies:
- 1 *Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperia carnea

True flies:
- 2 *female plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- 2 *Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii [male and female]
- *several other unidentified flies

Springtails etc.:
- 1 *barkfly Ectopsocus briggsi agg.
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type

Beetles:
- 1 *unidentified flea beetle

Arthropods:
- 1 *possible Striped Millipede Ommatoiulus sabulosus

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 harvestman from the species pair Dicranopalpus ramosus / D. caudatus
- 1 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Did I mention it was another good sunrise.

Very colourful for a while.

From a different perspective.

As the colour spread across the sky it faded away.

The only time I saw any Little Grebes was around dawn. I tried using flash but they were too far away though the eye-shine shows in one of them.

There is something almost pre-historic about Cormorants. Here an immature with white on the belly. It takes three to four years for this species to become all-dark.

A heavy dew this morning as evidenced by the speckled Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperia carnea.

This fly is a female Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii. Only males have the dark tips to their wings that gives this species its vernacular name.

One of several unidentified flies of different species on the street lamp poles before dawn.

And another. It is strange that there is more activity at this time than later when it is light.

And yet one more (on the left) in the company of a barkfly Ectopsocus briggsi agg. "agg." = aggregate because there are several species only separable by examining the male genitalia. Good luck on a fly this size.

Another two-fer. On the left a female plumed midge Chironomus plumosus. On the right a small beetle with swollen hind femur suggesting it is one of the flea beetles. As it is brown in colour it is not one of the recently seen black probable Cabbage-stem Flea Beetles Psylliodes chrysocephala.

Obsidentify assures me this is a Blunt-tailed Snake Millipede Cylindroiulus punctatus. It doesn't look very blunt-tailed to me. It is hard to tell whether the change in colour down the body is due to the camera flash. If it is a real change in tone then it is a better candidate to be a Striped Millipede Ommatoiulus sabulosus.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
none

True flies:
- 15 midges of at least three species
- 3 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.

Arthropods:
- 3 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger
- 4 Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber

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

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flash:  09:15 – 10:30

(215th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the arriving Canada Geese were all calling as they did so today after yesterday's "stealth mode".
- two Greylag Geese circled for a while and decided not to splash-down here and went off North.
- back to six Mute Swans.
- five Tufted Duck noted: four of them certainly drakes.
- 44 brownhead Goosander today.
- one full adult Great Crested Grebe was with the (now scattered) four dependent juveniles; another adult was on its own at the bottom end with Mallard..

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Greylag Geese

Noted on / around the water:
- 23 Canada Geese; of these 20 arrived in two groups
- 6 Mute Swans
- 44 (24♂) Mallard
- 5 (4♂?) Tufted Duck
- 44 (0♂) Goosander
- 5 Moorhens
- 18 *Coot yet again
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebe again
- 24 *Black-headed Gulls
- 7 *Cormorants
- 3 *Grey Herons
- 2 *Little Egrets again

Warblers noted:
- 2 Chiffchaffs: no song

Noted around the area:

Little sun and breezy on the best vegetation.

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 4 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
- 1 *unidentified ichneumon

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

Other true flies:
- 1 *bluebottle from the Calliphora genus
- 1 *Root-maggot fly from the Anthomyiidae family
- several other flies not identified

Beetles:
- 1 *larva of Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis

A Grey Heron and a Cormorant stare each other out.

Differing postures between the two Grey Herons being ignored by two Coots and two winter-plumaged Black-headed Gulls.

"Strange Fruit" [with acknowledgement to Abel Meeropol and Billie Holiday]. Seven Cormorants and two Little Egrets hanging (not) from the trees.

How could I resist?

An ichneumon wasp is all I can say about this insect. There are hundreds of species most of which cannot be identified from photos.

A fine-looking female Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax.

This appears to be a Root-maggot fly from the Anthomyiidae family

"What great big eyes you have". "All the better to see you with" [with acknowledgment to Little Red Riding Hood, adapted from a Brothers Grimm fairy-tale]. A bluebottle from the Calliphora genus.

This is the larva of a Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis. It seems late in the year for it to be at the larval stage. The species normally over-winters as an adult which means this has also to progress through the pupal stage before the cold weather sets in.

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
1 Common Sandpiper
(John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill
1 Wheatear
1 Yellow Wagtail
(John Isherwood)
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