12 Sep 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 18.0°C: Broken cloud with some sunny intervals. Clouding as I was leaving. South-westerly breeze increasing moderate. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:38 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:10 – 09:25

(206th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- no geese recorded at all here.
- the single Mute Swan remains.
- Great Crested Grebes are becoming increasingly difficult to count. Most families have juveniles with each of the parents and are no longer staying near the nesting area but mixed up as they range widely across the water.
- c.50 Black-headed Gulls flew in from the West c.05:50. Eventually >200 were present. My count of birds on the football field c.06:40 was 102.
- my best estimate of the number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls first thing is 450. I was merrily counting a continuous small arrival from the West after 05:50 when at 06:05 a mass arrival on a broad front of at least 250 birds overwhelmed me. Thereafter small numbers followed. The Grey Heron flying across the lake always put them all up from the water with many leaving. I have no real idea whether c.75 that arrived together at 06:25 were new arrivals or returning birds. I am sure there ought to have been some Herring Gulls somewhere. Immatures are hard to spot but I noted no adults among them. Very few large gulls visited later.
- no Swifts seen.
- the first hirundine was a single Barn Swallow at 07:35. Thereafter up to 15 Barn Swallows low over the water and up to five House Martins high up. The swallows seemed to be going to and from the East as if they might be birds from the local farms rather than on migration.
- an even higher count of Chiffchaffs with at least 20 noted. Song only started when the sun came out with just four heard.
- a single calling Blackcap again.
- a loose party of 31 Starlings flew East across the football field c.06:50.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Herring Gull
- 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- c.30 Racing Pigeons
- 13 Wood Pigeons only
- 192 Jackdaws
- 166 Rooks
- 31 Starlings

Counts from the lake area:
- 1 Mute Swan
- 31 (?♂) Mallard
- 2 (0♂?) Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens again
- 43 Coot
- 20 Great Crested Grebes
- >200 Black-headed Gulls
- >8 Herring Gulls: all later; one adult
- >450 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 *Cormorant: arrived
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- >15 Barn Swallows
- >5 House Martins

Warblers noted:
- 20 Chiffchaffs: of these four in song
- 1 Blackcap

Also noted:
A few things tempted by the sunny spells:

Butterflies:
- 2 *Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria
- 1 *Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta

Moths:
none

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

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

Other true flies:
- *bluebottle Calliphora sp.
- greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- *male Muscid fly Musca autumnalis aka Face Fly
- Flesh fly Sarcophaga sp.
- *European Cranefly Tipula paludosa
other unidentified flies.

Bugs:
- *Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina

Beetles:
- 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata

On the West end street lamp poles around dawn:

Moths:
- 1 *Square-spot Rustic Xestia xanthographa

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 2 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

True flies:
- 1 female plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- 1 *male Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata
- 1 *female Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii
- 1 *Tachinid fly Gastrolepta anthracina
- 1 *dance fly possibly Tachypeza nubila
- several other unidentified flies

Springtails:
- 2 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 2 Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius [Bridge Orbweaver]
- 2 harvestman Paroligolophus agrestis

Mammals:
- no bats seen

The sunrise did not look up to much until...

...suddenly and briefly.

A Cormorant looking at me and wondering what to do.

An almost side-elevation view of a Speckled Wood butterfly Pararge aegeria. I have never noted the markings on the abdomen previously.

A Red Admiral butterfly Vanessa atalanta that may be destined to fly in circles with one damaged wing?

I had high hopes for this moth. Not so. Just a faded example (note the "bald head") of a Square-spot Rustic Xestia xanthographa.

How hairy can you get? A Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris enters the competition.

A male Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax

I remain puzzled by this hoverfly. With the bright yellow face and scutellum is reminiscent of Common Twist-tail Sphaerophoria scripta which is what I thought it was at the time [the epithet Long Hoverfly is only appropriate for males and this is a female]. But it isn't: on that species all the yellow bands are horizontal and here the upper-band is hooked.

Another view shows it is also too robust for that species. Obsidentify suggested Syrphus sp. and it may be correct. But I cannot find any species in that family with five yellow sections and it also seems too small and too yellow.

A bluebottle from the Calliphora genus.

The strange antennae identify this as a male and the abdomen pattern define it as a Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata.

This small fly is a female Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii. Only the males have spots at the tip of the wings.

This black, narrow-bodied and hairy fly seems to be the Tachinid fly Gastrolepta anthracina [anthracina is from the Greek translating as "coal black" (anyone remember anthracite as a type of coal?) The Greek derivation illustrates why the terminology "scientific name" is preferable to "Latin name"].

This is a male Muscid fly Musca autumnalis aka Face Fly. Female have four pale stripes on their thorax. [Somebody else has been unwell on the street lamp pole].

Not a brilliant photo but this fly was doing what it is noted for – running away at speed rather than fly. Its is a dance fly possibly Tachypeza nubila. A slender body, a small, rounded head almost detached from the thorax and legs with swollen thighs and the front legs also with a swollen femur.

It is Autumn: we will be seeing many of these European Craneflies Tipula paludosa in the next few weeks.

An adult Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
none

True flies:
- 16 midges
- 7 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]

Arthropods:
- 1 Common Shiny Woodlouse Oniscus asellus
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 *spider Clubiona sp.
- 1 *Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- 9 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]
- 1 *harvestman Opilio canestrinii

This is a spider Clubiona sp. An unusual find in the tunnel but common enough elsewhere. The shape of the end of the abdomen defines this genus.

Another spider genus I do not find very often in the tunnel: a Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.

A harvestman Opilio canestrinii. This species seems to be almost a permanent resident in the tunnel.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:30 – 10:35

(203rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- six Mute Swans again.
- probably more Mallard than I have logged. When I arrived there was a swirling melee being fed and many of these them dispersed before I could check other parts.
- now 18 brownhead Goosander.

Thanks to Martin Grant I can report the Mute Swan with the blue Darvic ring is showing a Lancashire code. Martin is awaiting further ringing details and I'll report them when I have them.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Noted on / around the water:
- 25 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Geese
- 6 Mute Swans again
- >33 (?♂) *Mallard
- 18 (0♂) *Goosander
- 5 Moorhens
- 18 Coot only
- 3 + 4 (1 brood) *Great Crested Grebe
- 28 *Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: of these two arrived
- 2 Grey Herons

Warblers noted:
- 1 Chiffchaff: no song

Noted around the area:

Butterflies:
- 4 Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria

Moths:
none

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 4 Honey Bees Apis mellifera
- 1 *Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- 3 Common Wasps Vespula vulgaris

True flies:
- Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- Flesh fly Sarcophaga sp.
various other unidentified flies

Bugs:
- 1 *instar Hairy Shieldbug Dolycoris baccarum [Sloe Bug]
- 1 *instar Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina
- 1 adult Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina

Beetles:
- 6 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata

Table manners guys! Mallard and Black-headed Gulls battle for the proffered corn.

Thirteen of today's 18 Goosanders. Every day there are more. How do they find out where to come? Do birds have social media?

It is the turn of the right-most juvenile Great Crested Grebe to be fed.

Down it goes.

A Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum has found a late-flowering Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra.

An instar of a Hairy Shieldbug Dolycoris baccarum. Compare with...

An instar of Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
9 Ravens
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
1 immature Peregrine Falcon
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

Nedge Hill
3 Wheatear
Yellow Wagtail
(John Isherwood)

Trench Lock Pool
1 Arctic Tern
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Albino Wood Pigeon
3 Swifts
1 Sedge Warbler
Redpoll
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)