14 Jun 18

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake: 07:35 – 09:45
The Flash: 07:10 – 07:30 // 09:50 – 10:10

15C > 17C: Mostly cloudy with some occasional light drizzle. Some breaks, especially later. Fresh SSW wind. Good visibility, becoming very good.

Sunrise: 04:45 BST [mornings now getting darker – winter approaches]

The Environmental Officer at Ricoh had organised the new apprentices to undertake a litter pick along the Wesley Brook. Sad that people are so ill-behaved that they have to do such a thing: but good on them for organising it

Priorslee Lake: 07:35 – 09:45

(76th visit of the year)

Bird notes from today:
- ever increasing number of loafing drake Mallards
- Great Crested Grebes playing submarines again: possibly more than 7 present
- the floating weed is making it hard for the juvenile Coots to battle through to get fed by their parents: as a result not entirely sure how many broods there were
- at least one of the House Martins was a juvenile
- rather few Blackcaps singing today: no obvious reason
- adult Common Whitethroat seen carrying food to juvenile
- fewer singing Reed Warblers perhaps explained by their having to hang on tight as the wind blew the reeds about

Today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 2 Stock Doves
- 1 Wood Pigeon only
- 3 Jackdaws again

Hirundines seen today
- 4 Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows again
- 3 House Martins

Warblers noted: figure in brackets is singing birds
- 7 (7) Chiffchaffs
- 5 (5) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
- 3 (1) (Common) Whitethroats
- 6 (6) Reed Warblers

The counts from the lake area
- 4 + 7 (2) Mute Swans
- 14 (14♂) Mallard
- 7 Great Crested Grebes again
- 1 Moorhen
- 29 + 15 (8? broods) Coots

And, despite the windy and cloudy conditions, still managed a few insects. Surprising number of damselflies lurking in the sheltered bits
- no butterflies noted
- no moths flushed from the vegetation
- a still to be identified Tortrix moth
- a Common Marble
- 3 species of damselflies positively ID-ed
- Common Blue Damselfly
- Blue-tailed Damselfly
- Red-eyed Damselfly
- 2 species of hoverfly
- a drone fly sp. (Eristalis sp.)
- a Parhelophilus sp.
- the following flies identified (also unidentified species)
- Scorpion Flies (Panorpa communis)
- Black Snipe flies (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- a Tiger Cranefly (Nephrotoma flavescens)
- a Common Crane-fly (Tipula oleracea) in a web
- a still to be identified ichneumon
- beetles and bugs
- a Shield Bug tentatively ID-ed as a Tortoise Bug (Eurygaster testudinaria)
- Harlequin ladybird
- several Common Green Capsid (Lygocoris pabulinus)
- no spiders noted
- Monday’s fungus growing on the football field could not be found

New species of flowering plants
- Convolvulus sp. probably Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)

After Tuesday’s photo of the long-term resident Mute Swans and their four cygnets here is the other pair with their three cygnets.

Carrion Crows are not easy to photo as they are rather wary. Two juveniles this morning seemed happy with a closer approach. Apart from the slight yellow gape we see a few white feather edges in the wings and at this age the plumage is not all-black.

The flank feathers seem to still be the downy fluff of a fledgling.

Not the easiest angle to see what is going on – an adult Common Whitethroat with a green caterpillar in its beak.

This is a rather brown-looking specimen but I think it is a Common Marble (Celypha lacunana) moth.

I have no reference books on caterpillars and I do not know where to start! Looks dangerous to touch. Looks somewhat like the caterpillar of the Knot Grass moth, but I am sure it isn’t.

A fine portrait of a male Common Blue Damselfly: the shape of the black mark on segment 2 identifies.

Not surprisingly this is a Red-eyed Damselfly – we do not get the Small Red-eyed Damselfly in the West Midlands area, only in the S and E of England.

A Tiger Cranefly (Nephrotoma flavescens).

This unfortunate Common Crane-fly (Tipula oleracea) – I think – is a spider’s meal. It’s a jungle out there.

I though this was a type of scorpion fly but I noted that the wing markings were wrong and then that the whole shape is more like an ichneumon wasp, though I have been unable to find anything that matches this from research on the web.

Meanwhile this IS a Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis).

This is another ichneumon wasp:

Another view and from this angle I think it might be Buathra laborator though there appear to be other similar species that need expert help to sort out.

Well I suppose they know what they are doing – well we all know what they are doing, but they hardly look like the same species of fly. The wing marks suggest a saw fly sp. but all saw flies have longer antenna.

Another exciting fly sp. that I cannot identify.

This is, I think, a Tortoise Bug (Eurygaster testudinaria). There are other Eurygaster sps. and they are not easy to separate.

A Common Green Capsid (Lygocoris pabulinus). These are hard to photograph as when you get any closer they run underneath the leaf.

This one did just that but was then happy for me to turn the leaf over – my fingers supporting the leaf.

Another and different White-lipped Snail. Not entirely sure what that strange hairy stem behind it is.

Looking at this I must have missed the first flowering of this species, but it can only be in the last week or so – Convolvulus sp. probably Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 07:10 – 07:30 // 09:50 – 10:10

(59th visit of the year)

Notes from today
- many Greylag Geese flew while I was down at the lake, but apparently no Canada Geese. Always possible more inside the island
- two groups of Mallard ducklings: only one counted for certain – the well-grown group of 7
- one of the recent broods of Coots seems to have been lost and the nest is being added to – another attempt

Birds noted flying over or flying near The Flash
- 3 Feral Pigeons
- 1 Wood Pigeon
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc. seen today
- 4 Swifts
- 8 House Martin

Warblers noted: figures in brackets is singing birds
- 2 (2) Blackcap

The counts from the water
- 1 Mute Swan: the cob again
- 14 > 41 Greylag Geese
- 1 > 1 Greylag x Canada Geese
- 49 > 49 Canada Geese
- 12 (7♂) + >12? (2 broods) Mallard
- 5 (3♂) Tufted Ducks again
- 1 Great Crested Grebe still
- 0 + 1 Moorhens
- 28 + 14 (5 broods) Coots – same # of juveniles

and
- very few Mystacides longicornis caddis-flies braving the fresh wind

Of interest between the lake and The Flash
- Moorhens with juveniles seen / heard at both pools

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day..........

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
Richardson's-type Canada Goose 
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
Sedge Warbler possibly breeding
Skylark nesting in Celestica grounds
(John Isherwood)