Priorslee Lake and The Flash:
12.0°C > 14.0°C: Overcast again with spells of drizzle and light rain out of low cloud. Occasional dryer and brighter spells. Calm start; light W breeze later. Moderate visibility in drizzle, otherwise good.
Sunrise: 05:05 BST
NB: * means there is a photo today.
Priorslee Lake: 04:11 – 05:45 // 06:45 – 08:57
(138th visit of the year)
With the drizzle, mist and damp vegetation there was very little singing apart from nine Song Thrushes! Even the Blackbirds have more or less wound-down.
Bird notes:
- I noted previously that the cygnets seemed to be usually two with one parent and three with the other. The last two days one cygnet has been with dad and the other four with mum.
- A duck Tufted Duck with the Mallard again at 04:30 but not seen later.
- A pair (one assumes) of Great Crested Grebes were doing their full weed-dance display.
- Two of the Coots were very new juveniles from a brood not previously noted.
- The early gull arrival at the lake comprised six Black-headed Gulls, an adult and immature Lesser Black-backed Gull and an immature Herring Gull. The Black-headed Gulls were commuting back and forth to the fields with a maximum count of 12 on the football field and a further 17 on the academy playing field. Just one of these was a juvenile and one other an obvious first-summer bird. All the others apparently adults. Poor breeding this year? I read that low water levels during the May drought allowed a Fox on to the gull and tern breeding island at Belvide and all the young were lost.
- Plenty of Goldfinches around including a few recently fledged juveniles.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
In the poor conditions early only birds passing directly overhead were visible.
- 10 Cormorants (single group)
- 2 Feral Pigeons (duo)
- 36 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Jackdaws
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 3 Swifts: late arrivals at 07:50
- 8 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
What singing?! All hiding in the vegetation.
- 5 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (1) Blackcaps
- 3 (1) Common Whitethroats
- 12 (5) Reed Warblers
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 17 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 *Cormorant
- 2 Grey Herons: one flew off
- 1 Little Grebe heard
- 10 Great Crested Grebes again
- 5 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 53 adult and juvenile Coots
- 27 Black-headed Gulls (but see notes)
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: two adults; one immature
- 1 Herring Gull: immature
- 1 Kingfisher
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
- 2 unidentified grass moths
- *2 orb-web spider perhaps Larinioides cornutus
- 1 Stretch-spider (Tetragnatha sp.)
Yesterday's unidentified micro moth is confirmed as a Barred Marble (Celypha striana)
On the wall of the academy beside the security lights:
- 2 unidentified grass moths
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
Between the spells of rain and drizzle:
The full list of things noted:
Butterflies:
- *Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
Moths:
- *Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)
-* Nettle-tap Moth (Anthophila fabriciana)
Bees / wasps:
- Field Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus campestris)
- *Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- *Ichneumon, probably Amblyteles armatorius
Damsel-/Dragon-flies:
None
Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- Bumblebee Hoverfly (Volucella bombylans)
- Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens)
Mammals:
None
Other things:
- Common European Earwig (Forficula auricularia)
- Red Bug (Deraeocoris ruber)
- Semaphore Fly (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus)
- Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- *White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
- Brown-lipped Snail (Cepaea nemoralis)
Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:
None
Excuses in early! A long way away in poor light. My first Cormorant at the lake since 27th June.
This is a Common Marble moth (Celypha lacunana). It is almost two weeks since I last saw any of this common moth. Despite today's poor conditions I logged three. Perhaps a new emergence?
This one puzzled me greatly as I know I have seen it before and I have a sneaking suspicion it is not a micro even though the shape, if not the colour, suggests Water Veneer. In fact it is one I have seen before and the confusion has come about. as it is a very worn Nettle-tap Moth (Anthophila fabriciana)
My new Field Guide to Bees was supposed to help. The more I read the more confused I get with the queens, males and workers of each species often very different from each other and often variable and similar to other species. I would have called this a Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) and indeed that is what I think it is. I decided to double-check because of the pale band ahead of the red tail. The combination of red tail, a short even pile (the hairs on the thorax) and the black-haired hind tibia seem to prove it.
This ichneumon was dashing around waving its antennae in usual fashion. It is most likely Amblyteles armatorius, the most common of several similar species. I would have needed a clear view of the abdomen pattern to confirm.
Yesterday I thought I had my best-ever view of an orb-web spider most likely Larinioides sclopetarius. Well here we are again. Or perhaps not. As the prosoma (the cephalothorax on spiders) is brown then it should be L. cornutus. Strange. The one yesterday seemed to have a grey prosoma. I am surprised that two similar species co-exist. This was on a different lamp but only yards away.
A White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis). The recent damp weather has brought many snails in to view. Strangely almost no slugs.
I wish I knew what was going on here. Well I know that a spider has caught something and is making a bloody meal of it. But what has it caught?
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 05:50 – 06:40
(124th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- A juvenile Moorhen from a brood I had not previously noted. After a blank day yesterday Moorhens all over the place today. Odd.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 4 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Jackdaw
Hirundines etc. logged:
None
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 4 (3) Chiffchaff
- 1 (1) Blackcap
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 63 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose
- 130 + 2 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 18 (?♂) Mallard
- 18 (14♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 7 + 2 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 27 adult and juvenile Coots
On various lamp poles:
- 1 Common Grey moth (Scoparia ambigualis)
- 2 Common Wasps (Paravespula vulgaris)
- 1 Stretch-spider (Tetragnatha sp.)
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the lake and The Flash:
Of note
- One second-brood juvenile Moorhen on the lower pool. My first sighting of a second-brood here – hard to see in!
and on lamp poles:
- 1 Common Grey moth (Scoparia ambigualis)
- 1 Riband Wave moth (Idaea aversata)
(Ed Wilson)