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)

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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)

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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)