18 Jun 18

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake: 07:45 – 09:45
The Flash: 07:15 – 07:40

14°C > 15°C: Broken medium cloud, tending to fill. Moderate / fresh WSW wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:44 BST again

Priorslee Lake: 07:45 – 09:45

(78th visit of the year)

Bird notes from today:
- just 6 Great Crested Grebes counted today: one pair now lurking in the reeds along the S side might indicate thoughts of or actual nesting
- the Common Tern throughout: if it has a mate nearby it does not seem to take food back to the nest: perhaps they swap duties when one bird goes absent?
- House Martins feeding unusually low over the sheltered grassy area in the SW area – hopefully reducing the number of snipe flies in the area
- noticeably less song today – see warbler counts. Song Thrush an exception with 5 counted singing
- a presumed family party of Grey Wagtails – three seen together in the Wesley Brook. One of these then, unusually, went and sat in a tree
- a barely-fledged juvenile Reed Bunting noted

Today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Wood Pigeon only
- 2 Jackdaws again

Hirundines seen today
- 2 Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows again
- >8 House Martins

Warblers noted: figure in brackets is singing birds
- 3 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 5 (5) Blackcaps
- no Garden Warblers
- no (Common) Whitethroats
- 5 (5) Reed Warblers again

The counts from the lake area
- 4 + 7 (2) Mute Swans
- 15 (14♂) Mallard
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Moorhen
- 34 + 19 (10 broods) Coots
- 1 Common Tern again

More insects in the sheltered areas, especially in any sun. Those identified
- butterflies seen
- 1 Large Skipper
- 2 Speckled Woods
- 3 Ringlets [first of year: sun went in before I could photo them]
- moths flushed from the vegetation
- >10 Yellow-barred Longhorn (Nemophora degeerella)
- 1 grass moth to be identified
- 3 Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)
- 1 Silver-ground Carpet
- damselflies / dragonflies
- >100 Common Blue Damselflies
- >100 Blue-tailed Damselflies
- other possible ‘blues’ not all examined
- 1 probable Broad-bodied Chaser
- hoverflies identified
- >10 Eristalis sp. (drone-flies)
- >1 Volucella pellucens (Pellucid Fly)
- >1 Episyrphus balteatus
- >1 Syrphus sp. (see photos)
- > my first ever Tropidia scita
- flies identified
- >>100 Black Snipe flies (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- at least 1 different Snipe-fly, probably Rhagio lineola
- >5 Rhogogaster viridis (saw fly)
- >20 Poecilobothrus nobilitatus, (‘Semaphore Fly’)
- lacewing sp., possibly Nineta flava
- several other species of Muscid flies remain unidentified
- beetles and bugs
- 1 Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)
- 1 Gastrophysa viridula (Dock Green Beetle)
- 1 female Oedemera nobilis
- no spiders noted
- many slugs and snails

New species of flowering plants
- Marsh Thistle (Cirsium palustre) or a Brook Thistle (Cirsium rivulare) – to be resolved

One of the three Grey Wagtails that were together in the Wesley Brook.

And one of them then flew in to a tree. When did you ever see a Grey Wagtail up a tree? On the branches hanging over water perhaps: up a tree? I cannot recall seeing one do this.

Greenfinches were not very approachable in Spring to show a singing male in its finest plumage. Here the colour is not as bright nor is the mask as dark as it would have been then, but will have to suffice.

A splendid Large Skipper butterfly.

Sitting quietly on a lamp-post allowed me to take what is possibly my best-ever photo of a grass moth. This is my first Chrysoteuchia culmella (Garden Grass-veneer) of the year.

This hoverfly is the very common Episyrphus balteatus.

This hoverfly is Syrphus sp. probably Syrphus vitripennis, but could be Syrphus torvus which can be identified by its hairy eyes – but not from this photo!

Hoverfly is my first ever Tropidia scita. The key identification feature of this hoverfly is the arched and swollen hind femur. It also has a large triangular projection on its lower surface near the apex but that is not really visible from this angle.

One of a number of mainly unidentified flies from this morning: the rather glossy red-eyed individual was in the tunnel under Telford Way near The Flash.

And what seems to be the same species around the lake.

This is certainly a Muscid fly sp. – the House Fly genus: but ... It may be a Phaonia sp. but there are many very similar species.

Very similar in marking is this fly. But I am sure a different species.

A different species again – much more slender and iridescent. Same red eyes: why is that so prevalent? Must give them some advantage.

With its stripes it looks rather like a small hoverfly but the marking in the wing indicates it is a Snipe-fly, probably Rhagio lineola.

These flies were rather sweet as they were flashing the white tips of their wings and periodically dancing around. It is the males that do this. They are Poecilobothrus nobilitatus sometimes called the Semaphore Fly. I see I first recorded them on exactly the same date in 2017.

A Green Dock Beetle (Gastrophysa viridula).

I think this is a female Oedemera nobilis beetle: it lacks the swollen hind femur of the male.

From this angle easy to see the white face that is a good clue this is a Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis). While a few other ladybirds have a white face none of these has a pattern like this – though not all Harlequins have quite so extensive white.

A lacewing sp. This group is not easy to identify but on the basis of the prominent long antenna and the rather unusually bright colour I think it may be a Nineta flava – no common name.

The head of a Rhogogaster viridis – a saw fly.

Just opening are these thistles: not Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare) as I thought but from this photo I cannot tell whether it is a Marsh Thistle (Cirsium palustre) or a Brook Thistle (Cirsium rivulare) – as usual I forgot to photo the leaves and the way the flowers are attached to the top of the stem.

Most of the Giant Hogweeds (Heracleum mantegazzianum) near the Wesley Brook bridge have been felled – with good reason, though the stems left are still weeping the irritant sap. This was too far away to be cut and it now in flower – a huge umbel.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 07:15 – 07:40

(61st visit of the year)

Notes from today
- I was told that a pair of Mute Swans with 5 new cygnets was seen on the water yesterday (17th)
- party of 9 geese (8 Canada + 1 Greylag) flew straight over
- just one group of Mallard ducklings with all 7 present
- breezy conditions may have kept some of the juvenile Coots in cover but there did seem to be rather fewer

Birds noted flying over or flying near The Flash
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 8 Canada Geese
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. seen today
- 3 Swifts again
- 1 Barn Swallow to the N
- 4 House Martin again

Warblers noted
None

The counts from the water
- 1 Mute Swan: the cob again (but see notes)
- 2 + H Greylag Geese
- 72 Canada Geese
- 11 (9♂) + 7 (1 brood) Mallard
- 10 (7♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Great Crested Grebe again
- no Moorhens
- 17 + 7 (4 broods) Coots

Nothing of interest between the lake and The Flash

(Ed Wilson)

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

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2010 
Trench Lock Pool 
4 drake Pochard 
(Ed Wilson)