15 Sep 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

16.0°C > 19.0°C: A temporary clearance after rain but remaining cloudy. A short spell of drizzle c.07:20. Then brightening with good sunny intervals and puffy clouds. A moderate / fresh westerly breeze developing. Very good visibility except during drizzle.

Sunrise: 06:43 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:05 – 09:25

(209th visit of the year)

Note
I did not meet anyone to confirm this but there was equipment inside the lake area suggesting that Severn Trent may be starting their planned replacement one of the bridges on North side. It may be that access is restricted while they are working.

Bird notes:
- a lone Canada Goose flew in.
- initially just the single Mute Swan. Two others arrived followed by much chasing. Later there seemed to be only two remaining with the earlier single being one of them.
- yesterday's Gadwall not found.
- four Tufted Duck again.
- at least 200 Black-headed Gulls were present by 06:20. On the football field I counted 158 at 06:55.
- at most five Lesser Black-backed Gulls visited early. More later and three Herring Gulls with them.
- no hirundines seen either during the drizzle or in the breezy conditions thereafter. Have they all gone?
- 19 Chiffchaffs with eight heard singing. This is the same number of birds that I logged this date last year: there were only four noted singing then.
- no Blackcaps.
- a group of five Starlings flew over the football field c.07:00.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Herring Gull
- 20 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 15 Wood Pigeons
- 179 Jackdaws
- 102 Rooks
- 5 Starlings

Counts from the lake area:
- 1 Canada Goose: arrived
- 3 *Mute Swans: see notes
- 28 (?♂) Mallard
- 4 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 45 Coot
- 18 Great Crested Grebes
- c.200 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Herring Gulls
- 24 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
None

Warblers noted:
- 19 Chiffchaffs: of these eight in song
- no Blackcaps

Also noted:
Almost nothing in sunny but breezy conditions:

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Other true flies:
- 1 Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- 1 *Flesh fly Sarcophaga sp.
several other unidentified species of flies noted.

Fungus:
- 1 possible *Brown Rollrim Paxillus involutus

On the West end street lamp poles after dawn:

Moths:
none

True flies:
- 3 female plumed midge Chironomus plumosus

Springtails:
- 1 *springtail Orchesella cincta

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
none

Between spells of rain there was a brief clearer spell and a touch of colour.

This is the lone Mute Swan that has been here at least a week. This is the first time I have been able to note that it is ringed. The blue Darvic ring is just not quite readable – is it '7JUP' or '7JUB'? I'll see whether Martin Grant has any information. I wasn't able to confirm whether either of the visitors was ringed. This bird was again on the concrete ramp at 09:10 when there was only one of the visitors visible at the far end.

Very few insects about though the Chiffchaffs must be finding enough to eat. Here is a Flesh fly Sarcophaga sp.

And another from the same family. I am sure there is a good evolutionary reason for them to look like this.

On the West end street lamp poles somewhat after dawn (I avoided the earlier rain) was this springtail Orchesella cincta identified by the pale band across the abdomen more or less joining the hind legs combined with relatively short antenna.

I think this fungus is Brown Rollrim Paxillus involutus. Obsidentify's suggestions were species from the genus Leccinum, part of the Boletes family. Perhaps it is!

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 1 *Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba

True flies:
- 3 midges
- 1 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- 1 *cranefly Tipula lateralis
- 1 unidentified cranefly

Arthropods:
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 2 *Orb-web spider Metellina segmentata
- 1 *Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- 8 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

This moth is a Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba. I admit it looks somewhat shorter and squatter than usual, I think because it is being foreshortened by the angle at which I had to take its photo. The dark smudge near the wing-tip rules out any of the other less common yellow underwing moths.

The cranefly Tipula lateralis. There was another cranefly in the tunnel which I could not photograph well-enough to try for an ID.

There is often an array of spiders in the tunnel. This looks to be the Orb-web spider Metellina segmentata.

Another. This one is certainly a male with the large palps.

This is a Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp. showing why this group is also called stretch spiders.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:30 – 10:30

(206th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a bumper number of Mallard
- two Tufted Duck back.
- now 27 brownhead Goosander: their networking seems to be working well.
- three full adult Great Crested Grebes found with no immature seen, just the four dependent juveniles.

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 24 Canada Geese
- 6 Mute Swans: again
- 45 (28?♂) *Mallard
- 2 (0?♂) Tufted Duck
- 27 (0♂) Goosander
- 8 Moorhens
- 23 Coot
- 3 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebe: see notes
- 19 *Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: again
- 2 *Grey Herons: again

Warblers noted:
- 2 Chiffchaff: no song

Noted around the area:

Butterflies:
- 3 Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria

Moths:
none

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 5 *Honey Bees Apis mellifera
- 1 Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- 2 *Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- 7 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

True flies:
- Greenbottles Lucilia sp.
other unidentified flies

Bugs:
- 1 Dock Bug Coreus marginatus

Beetles:
none

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
none

Fungus
No new sightings

Boys will be boys. Two drake Mallard having a scrap.

"Take that".

One way to take a shower.

 No holds barred.

"I can't hear you". An adult-winter plumaged Black-headed Gull seems to be hard of hearing...

...or was it just dealing with an itch?

A Grey Heron falls out of a tree! In reality it was on the warpath to chase the other heron that had come too close.

Flying back with order restored.

A busy Honey Bee Apis mellifera.

One of two Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris.

Plane of the day. This a Beech C90GTi King Air, here flying from Wolverhampton's Halfpenny Green Airfield back to its base at Sleap Airfield near Wem. It is registered to a trust company in the USA, hence the N- prefix to its identity. This seven-seat twin-turboprop aircraft ceased production in 2021 when the list price was c.$5 million. Gulp.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
Green Sandpiper
9 Ravens
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Mallard x Pintail
Raven
2 Sand Martin
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
100+ hirundines
31 Pied Wagtails
Redwing
14 Chiffchaffs
7 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)