3 Oct 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 13.0°C: Apart from some high cloud to the East fine and clear. Mist over the water and the fields. Calm at first with a light westerly wind developing. Excellent visibility above the mist.

Sunrise: 07:14 BST

* = a species photographed today. NB photos will be added later
! = a first sighting of the species this year
$ = a new species for me in this area

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:50 – 09:10

(223rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a pair of Mute Swans and two cygnets present at dawn. The cygnets left to the East at c.07:55 and the adults to the South at c.08:25
- a Little Grebe seen again briefly at the West end early and then later presumably the same bird in the north-east area.
- no Lesser Black-backed Gulls arrived until c.05:40 with only c.40 on the water by 06:00 – no definitive count due to the mist.
- the first Black-headed Gulls arrived later after 05:45. About 250 were present by 06:55 when a party of c.250 arrived low from the south-west over the sailing club container. Many of these immediately veered away towards the football field/
- when I visited the football field c.07:25 mist made counting difficult. I logged 288 Black-headed Gulls, five Herring Gulls (one (near) adult and four first-winters) and one first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull.
- later I logged nine Herring and 114 Lesser Black-backed Gulls arriving from the East. There was again a minuscular passage of gulls overhead.
- just three Chiffchaffs noted: no song.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Herring Gulls
- 37 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant again
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 15 Wood Pigeons only
- 1 Skylark
- 284 Jackdaws
- 151 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 4 *Mute Swans: all departed; see notes
- 12 (>5♂) Mallard
- 6 (2?♂) Tufted Duck again
- 6 Moorhens
- 39 Coot
- 1 *Little Grebe
- 12 Great Crested Grebes
- >500 Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- 9 Herring Gulls
- c.150 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant, briefly
- 1 Grey Heron

Warblers noted:
- 3 Chiffchaffs: of these one in song

Also noted:
Very little. Very wet vegetation

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
these again annoying me pre-dawn as I tried to count the gulls arriving

True flies:
many unidentified flies

On the West end street lamp poles before dawn:

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 1 *unidentified ichneumon wasp

True flies:
- 1 wood gnat Sylvicola sp.
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.
- 1 *male Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata
*many unidentified (and probably unidentifiable) flies, some covered in dew

Springtails:
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type

Arthropods:
- 1 *$ Striped Millipede Ommatoiulus sabulosus

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 unidentified spider

I guess you could call this "half-moon". Was it the moon or me that was leaning at an angle?

The dawn according to my phone camera.

And according to my "big camera".

The atmospherics this morning painted the sky with vapour- or con-trails. I read that an expensive study using AI is underway to try and predict flight-levels that will minimise these trails. Funny: I understood the military had been doing this for years to avoid their aircraft being seen. Meanwhile on the other side of the world there are studies on how to increase cloud cover so as to cool the planet! None of this will have any impact on the exhaust gasses emitted by aircraft engines.

The two cygnets departing to the East. Until they did so it had looked for all the world that they were with their parents on the lake.

And some 30 minutes later here is the adult pair circling around to depart to the South.

The Little Grebe just as it emerged from the West end reeds and before it dived.

One of many of this morning's inhabitants of the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn. An unidentified (they mostly are!) ichneumon.

A male Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata.

There was an unusually large array of flies on the street lamp poles pre-dawn. I do not have the time, the experience or, frankly, the inclination to try and identify them. So I have made collages of them. Here are four species.

And another three.

After sun-up I saw few flies: this is one of the Root-maggot flies.

This seems to be a Striped Millipede Ommatoiulus sabulosus. The striping is most obvious near the head. I have had my suspicions about this species previously: this is my first confirmed record.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 1 *Rusty-dot Pearl Udea ferrugalis : presumed same

True flies:
- 21 midges of several species
- 7 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- 1 winter cranefly Trichocera sp.

Arthropods:
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger
- no Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 15 Missing Sector Orb-web Spiders Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

Here for the third morning is the Rusty-dot Pearl moth Udea ferrugalis.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flash: 09:15 – 10:20

(220th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- only two of the four "static" Canada Geese again. 51 more arrived in two groups
- six Mute Swans.
- a drake Goosander with at least 45 brownheads.
- one full adult Great Crested Grebe was seen feeding three juveniles. No other adults / immatures / juveniles seen.
- *five Little Egrets again.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 53 Canada Geese: of these 51 arrived
- 3 Greylag Geese
- 6 Mute Swans
- 34 (18♂) Mallard
- 46+ (1♂) Goosander
- 6 Moorhens again
- 22 Coot
- 1 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebe: see notes
- 35 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull: near adult, briefly
- 5 Cormorants once again
- 3 Grey Herons again
- 5 *Little Egrets once again

Warblers noted:

None

Noted around the area:
The sun felt warm but the ambient temperature was only c.13.0°C

Butterflies:
- 1 *Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 3 Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- >30 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- 1 Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax [Tapered Drone Fly]
- 4 *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax [Common Drone Fly]

Other true flies:
- 3 "bluebottle" Calliphora sp.
several other species of fly even less identified

Springtails:
- 1 *springtail Orchesella cincta

Beetles:
- 2 larva of Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis

All five Little Egrets in the same frame.

A Red Admiral butterfly Vanessa atalanta. The camera apologises for being unable to render the wings the same colour.

The warm sun was making all the insects hyperactive. Only this Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax posed for me.

The springtail Orchesella cincta. Identified by the white band across the dark body and the white segment toward the base of the antennae.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2011
Nedge Hill
1 Wheatear
50+ Meadow Pipits
2 House Martin
(John Isherwood)

2006
Priorslee Lake
29 Golden Plover
House Martin
1 Chiffchaff
(Ed Wilson)