17 Sep 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 16.0°C: Rain ceasing as I arrived. Then cloudy until more rain at c.07:00. After 08:45 brightening up with clear skies ahead of puffy clouds forming. Moderate south-westerly breeze. Very good visibility except during rain.

Sunrise: 06:46 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 – 09:20

(211th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- back to a single Mute Swan.
- probably more Mallard than my count suggests: there was much flying about earlier.
- now nine Tufted Duck.
- gulls were all different today (why?). I noted just two Black-headed Gulls by 06:30 and c.90 by 06:45. This was the approximate number that flushed off the football field c.07:00 with 44 of them settling back before they were spooked again. There seemed to be no dog (walkers) to cause them any concern today.
- just 22 Lesser Black-backed Gulls arrived early with about the same number flying directly over. After 08:00 I counted 109 arriving from the East to wash and drink before moving on. Four Herring Gulls were among them.
- two Cormorants made visited together but did not stay. A trio flew over.
- at least ten Barn Swallows were hunting in the lee of trees c.08:30 and were presumably different birds from the trio that flew South at 07:55.
- just 15 Chiffchaffs with six heard singing.
- two Blackcaps were singing with another calling only.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 27 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 3 Cormorants: together
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 22 Wood Pigeons
- 194 Jackdaws
- 81 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 1 *Mute Swan
- 10 (5?♂) Mallard only
- 9 (2?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 55 Coot
- 16 Great Crested Grebes
- c.90 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 *Herring Gulls
- 131 *Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: arrived and departed
- 2 Grey Herons: one arrived; both departed?

Hirundines etc. noted:
- >13 *Barn Swallows

Warblers noted:
- 15 Chiffchaffs: of these six in song
- 3 Blackcap: of these two in song

Also noted:
Almost nothing with the sun only just emerging on wet vegetation:

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
- *European Hornet Vespa crabro

Hoverflies:
- Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax

Other true flies:
- 1 Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
two other unidentified species of flies noted.

On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:

Moths:
none

Bees, wasps etc.:
none

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

True flies:
- 1 female plumed midge Chironomus plumosus
- 1 *male Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii
- 1 *cranefly with long banded antennae

Springtails:
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type

Bugs:
- 1 *Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius

Arthropods:
none

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 *spider possibly from the Steatoda genus.

The Mute Swan would not come completely out of the water so I had to get close-enough to read the ring through the water. Martin Grant has confirmed the details of this bird: it is a female (pen) born here in 2020 and she has been paired with an unringed male (cob) for the last two years after they usurped the surviving pen from her parents' pairing. No cygnets have been seen either year. Where the cob has gone who knows. It seems unusual that a pen on her own would see off invaders as she did on Tuesday.

Right of centre is a more-or-less adult Herring Gull. The others are all immature / first-winter gulls that can be a nightmare to identify. Easier when they are flying and the upper-wing and tail patterns are visible. Look at the two closest and then note the set of feathers in front of the pointed tail. On the near bird there is almost no white edging whereas the other bird shows clear white tips. I think that makes the nearer bird a Lesser Black-backed Gull and the other a Herring Gull. But... I would not like to postulate on the others.

 It is the upper-wing that I needed to see but the bird just right of centre is surely a Herring Gull.

One of about ten Barn Swallows hunting over the water. This one, apparently a juvenile still with a gape line, perched on top of a very tall tree. If it was waiting to be fed it was unsuccessful.

A shady area of Ivy had many Common Wasps Vespula vulgaris feeding. Among them I noted this European Hornet Vespa crabro. I retreated!

A Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperia carnea. This species over-winters as an adult and does so having changed the body colour to brown to match the leaf litter in which it hides.

This looks to be a cranefly with exceptionally long and banded antennae. I cannot find anything that matches this.

Male Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii may be small flies (3mm to 4 mm) but their distinctive black wing-tips make them easy to ID. Females with plain wings are harder.

A Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius also known as a spittlebug. This species is the culprit behind cuckoo-spit in May – it is the way the larvae protect themselves.

What I believe to be a male Laceweb spider Amaurobius sp.

Both Obsidentify and Google Lens suggested this spider is from the Steatoda genus. They differed as to which species. Checking both against NatureSpot's gallery then nothing seemed an obvious match. I know that with many species of spider shape is more important than abdomen markings but...

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
none

True flies:
- 13 midges
- 1 *unidentified fly, probably from the Muscid family
- 1 *unidentified cranefly
- no moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]

Arthropods:
- 3 Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber again

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 *probable Laceweb spider Amaurobius sp.
- 1 Stout Sac Spider Clubiona sp.
- 1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
- 7 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

This fly looks to have a brown tinge to its wings and I thought it might be possible to identify it. But no: it is nevertheless probably a member of the large Muscid family [the green is some of the idiotic childish scribbling on the wall].

Much like a female plumed midge Chironomus plumosus but the thorax has a different pattern. NatureSpot notes "[this] is a large and difficult family, with only a small proportion identifiable from photographs".

The more spiders I see the more confused I get. This may, or may not, be another Laceweb spider Amaurobius sp.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:25 – 10:45

(208th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I have some (third-hand at least) information about the apparent juvenile Mallards. They were brought here "in a bag by a lady" a few days ago. I have no information on where from or why.
- yesterday's two Tufted Duck (likely a pair) were supplemented by a trio of immatures/ducks today.
- 21 brownhead Goosander confirmed.
- just two full adult Great Crested Grebes and the four dependent juveniles. One of the juveniles looked to be begging for food from a passing Goosander!
- a *Little Egret was present until the two Grey Herons had a dispute just where it was perched. It departed!

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 80 Canada Geese: of there 14 arrived (and 54 earlier according to one of the fishermen)
- 6 Mute Swans again
- 36 (19?♂) Mallard
- 5 (1?♂) Tufted Duck
- 21 (0♂) Goosander
- 7 Moorhens again
- 19 Coot
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebe
- 23 *Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Cormorants
- 2 Grey Herons
- 1 *Little Egret

Warblers noted:
- 2 Chiffchaffs: no song

Noted around the area:
Amazing what a bit of sun can do even before the Ivy is in flower.

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

Moths:
- 1 Chevron Grass Moth Agriphila geniculea [was Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer]

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 8 Honey Bees Apis mellifera
- 1 *Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius
- 6 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- 1 Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
- 1 *Humming Syrphus Syrphus ribesii [Common Flower Fly]
- 1 *Orange-belted Leaf Licker Xylota segnis [Orange-belted Leafwalker]

Damselflies:
- 1 $* Willow Emerald Damselfly Chalcolestes viridis [Western Willow Spreadwing]

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

Bugs:
- 1 *Dock Bug Coreus marginatus

Beetles:
- 1 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata
- 1 *Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. spectabilis

One of the fishermen alerted me to this first-winter Black-headed Gull repeatedly diving in to a sheltered area of calm water and...

...emerging with a small fish, here held by the tail...

 ...and, magically, here held by the body.

Terrible lighting: full sun on a white bird standing against a dark background. The yellow feet is enough to confirm this is a Little Egret.

Long-tailed Tits are always worth a photo.

This bumblebee was not very cooperative but did show the key feature of a Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius.

A Syrphus hoverfly and a female so of course the hind leg is not visible to enable identification to the species-level...

...but is here, showing extensive yellow on the hind leg and identifying it as Humming Syrphus Syrphus ribesii or if you prefer Common Flower Fly.

Not an ichneumon because it does not have long antennae. It is the hoverfly Orange-belted Leaf Licker Xylota segnis also known as Orange-belted Leafwalker. This is my first record from The Flash though I see this species every year at the Balancing Lake.

My find of the day. This seems to be a Willow Emerald Damselfly Chalcolestes viridis which Obsidentify calls Western Willow Spreadwing no doubt because all emerald damselflies rest with their wings half-open. This is my first sighting of any emerald damselfly and not something that I expected to find on a street lamp pole at the bottom of squirrel alley. I worry slightly that the abdomen looks too robust for this species. Reference to Jim Almond's excellent web site here suggests that only Downy Emerald Cordulia aenea occurs in Shropshire and females of that species do have a broader abdomen. Yet my photo shows no "down" and that species is not noted to be on the wing after late July. I read that Willow Emerald Damselfly was first recorded and the UK at Felixstowe in 2007 and has spread rapidly throughout the country. Jim's web site is dated 2012 so it is quite likely the species was not in Shropshire at that time but is now.

The sun was in an awkward position. Here is another view. Sadly it did not stay any longer.

On much safer grounds with this Dock Bug Coreus marginatus!

A Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis of the form spectabilis with two red spots on each elytra, the front one with black intruding in to the red.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
2 Ravens
(John Isherwood)

Nedge Hill
2 Wheatear
6 Raven
(John Isherwood)

2008
Priorslee Lake
1 Snipe
3 Common Sandpipers
149 Greenfinch roost
89 Pied Wagtails
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
Pintail
(Ed Wilson)