21 Sep 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 16.0°C: Areas of medium / high cloud floating about. Some sun, especially later. Very light winds. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:53 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:40 – 09:15

(217th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a trio of duck / immature Tufted Duck flew in.
- also a trio of *Little Grebes shot out of the reeds c.06:40, dived and were not seen again!
- only c.125 Black-headed Gulls were noted on the water. Many birds seen flying off East suggested that more birds were passing through. Just 21 on the football field c.07:00.
- the first sighting of Lesser Black-backed Gulls was a few flying over. Only a small number visited early and very few later. A single Herring Gull with the latter birds.
- a *Great (White) Egret flew East, then North at c.08:20/
- a Sky Lark was heard overhead c.09:05.
- 8 Barn Swallows were high overhead heading South at 07:30.
- two House Martin were overhead at 08:00 and then a trio at 09:00, both passing South.
- three hirundines VERY high up c.08:30 eluded identification, Any calls would have been drowned out by road noise.
- just 10 Chiffchaffs with three again heard singing.
- a single calling Blackcap noted.
- a Song Thrush was making a good attempt at singing alongside Teece Drive c.07:10. My first record of song in September.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 26 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 *Great (White) Egret
- 4 Feral Pigeons: a trio flew East and singleton West
- 4 Stock Doves: two singles and trio
- 18 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Skylark
- 256 Jackdaws
- 49 Rooks
- 1 Pied Wagtail

Counts from the lake area:
- 12 (7♂) Mallard
- 3 (0?♂) Tufted Duck: arrived
- 6 Moorhens again
- 48 *Coot
- 3 *Little Grebes
- 16 *Great Crested Grebes again
- c.150 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 22 *Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 3 Cormorants: arrived singly again
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 8 Barn Swallows
- 5 House Martins
- 3 unidentified hirundines

Warblers noted:
- 10 Chiffchaffs: of these three in song
- 1 Blackcap: no song

Also noted:
Not much again as the sun was just starting to emerge as I was leaving.

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Flies:
- many "greenbottles" of two different genera
- cranefly Tipula confusa

On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:

Moths:
- 1 $ *Brown-spot Pinion Anchoscelis litura

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 1 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris: just two

Four-winged flies etc.:
- 1 Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperla carnea

True flies:
- 1 male Spotted-winged Drosophila Drosophila suzukii
- 1 *Dryomyza anilis (apparently sometimes as Hooded Dryomyza)
- 1 *winged form of an unidentified aphid sp.

Springtails:
- 2 *springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type

Bugs:
- 1 *Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius

Beetles:
- 4 presumed Cabbage-stem Flea Beetles Psylliodes chrysocephala

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
none!

Also at this time

Bats:
- 3 Noctule-type bats high over the water and North wood.

Another sunrise worth getting out of bed for.

I seem to record frequently "a clear start to the East with cloud overhead". If that produces sunrises like this then "bring it on".

And the longer view.

Record shot! On the left one of the three Little Grebes dives. In the middle a Coot. On the right a Little Grebe yet to disappear. Well it was 06:40 and hardly any light!

Feeding time for the juvenile Great Crested Grebes again...

...with an alert and ever-hopeful Black-headed Gull looking for spoils.

An immature / first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull climbs away.

Another record shot. The Great (White) Egret flying North. The long bill and long legs identify it. I can probably convince myself the bill is yellow but it is hard to be sure at this range.

A new moth for me in Shropshire though Brown-spot Pinion Anchoscelis litura is a common species. Species #72 for my 2026 Balancing Lake moth list.

Another Dryomyza anilis fly. I noted yesterday that it does not have a vernacular name. Some sleuthing by Martin Adlam has produced the name Hooded Dryomyza. He also managed to dig up a name for yesterday's small red fly Tricholauxania praeusta: apparently Pale-marked Hairy-veined Lauxanid Fly. These names seem like grasping at straws. They strike me as no more or less memorable than the scientific names and I doubt either of them was used by county folk back in the day.

The winged form of an unidentified aphid sp.

One of two springtails of the Pogonognathellus longicornis-type that were on one of the street lamp poles pre-dawn.

Also on a street lamp poles pre-dawn was this Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius. I looked at the photo and thought "I don't remember this species having hairy flanks".

It doesn't. They were the hairs on the mostly hidden legs.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
none

True flies:
- 10 midges
- 1 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- 1 *caddis fly Limnephilus lunatus
- 2 different unidentified craneflies

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

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

I found this caddis fly resting on the ceiling of the tunnel. Very many of this group are all-brown so it is good to see one well-marked and to be able to identify it as the caddis fly Limnephilus lunatus.

A two-fer. A White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger and a harvestman Opilio canestrinii. I assume I don't have to say which is which.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:20 – 10:35

(212th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a duck (Common) Teal flushed off. Then a few minutes later it, or another(?) seen on the water.
- just 13 brownhead Goosander with 11 of these inside the island.
- the daily change for the Great Crested Grebes: two full adults, one immature and four dependent juveniles.
- the two Little Egrets remain.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
None

Noted on / around the water:
- 32 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Geese
- 6 Mute Swans as usual
- 24 (15♂) Mallard
- 1 (2?) (0♂) *(Common) Teal
- no Tufted Duck
- 13 (0♂) Goosander
- 4 Moorhens
- 19 Coot
- 3 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebe
- 22 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 2 Little Egrets again

Warblers noted:
- 1 Chiffchaff in song

Noted around the area:

Hazy sun.

Butterflies:
- 1 *Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria

Moths:
none

Bees, wasps etc.:
- >10 *Honey Bees Apis mellifera
- 1 *Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
- >10 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- 2 *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
- 2 *Lunuled Broadtail Eupeodes luniger [Common Spotted Field Syrph; Lunuled Aphideater]
- 1 *Humming Syrphus Syrphus ribesii [Common Flower Fly]

Damsel/dragonflies
- 1 *male Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum

Other true flies:
- 1 *$possible Tachinid fly Exorista rustica
- >5 small greenbottle sp.
numerous unidentified flies on the Ivy bank

Some additional information about Willow Emerald Damselfly Chalcolestes viridis that I photographed last Thursday. This species is indeed a recent colonist in our area. According to the web site "shropshiredragonflies" the first Shropshire record was on 31 July last year. There have been several sightings this year. My sighting of one on a street lamp pole at the bottom of squirrel alley was perhaps not so strange as I thought: this species lays eggs "directly into branches of willows and alders and similar that hang over slow flowing rivers". So near the Wesley Brook is perhaps not too surprising

Interesting story. A very distant duck (Common) Teal...

 ...that took off...

...and apparently departed.

A few minutes later, also very distant but clearly a Teal with the bright green speculum, was on the water. Did she return? Was there another hitherto unseen?

How could I resist this poseur?

A Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria. Just the one today so there was no fighting.

Feeding time for a Honey Bee Apis mellifera.

Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum is usually noted as having a pure white tail as it seems here.

Clearly it depends on your angle of view!

A Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax. This species shows variable brown markings on its abdomen. This specimen shows very typical markings.

This one is unusually dark.

I read that Steve Falk – he who must be obeyed – now calls this species Lunuled Broadtail Eupeodes luniger. I previously used the name Common Spotted Field Syrph while Obsidentify calls it Lunuled Aphideater.

I was surprised to identify this as another of the same species. At the time it looked significantly more slender. Searching the web indicates there are no other species with this shaped yellow markings.

An almost identical view of a Syrphus hoverfly as I photographed yesterday. A female showing her mostly yellow hind-leg through the folded wing to enable me to identify it as a Humming Syrphus Syrphus ribesii.

An immature male Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum. Adult males are a brighter red and females light brown.

With the usual proviso that there are almost certainly "similar species" this looks to be the Tachinid fly Exorista rustica. A new / newly identified species for me.

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Wigeon
Water Rail
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)