Priorslee Lake and The Flash:
11.0°C > 14.0°C: Cloud clearing from the NW with sun after 06:30. Moderate NW wind. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 05:10 BST
NB: * means there is a photo today.
Priorslee Lake: 04:22 – 06:00 // 06:55 – 08:48
(141st visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- The cob Mute Swan seemed to take little notice of the two Canada Geese that arrived. He arched his wings in threat but once they had moved on to the grass he lost interest.
- Most strange: yet again a single duck Tufted Duck present when I arrived but gone soon after. I don't think there was any immediate connection with the two birds that flew E – too dark to sex these at the time.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- Canada Geese heard only
- 6 Greylag Geese: trio and two singles outbound; single inbound
- 2 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Cormorant again
- *3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls again
- 5 unidentified large gulls: too dark to ID
- 1 Feral Pigeon again
- 9 Racing Pigeons (one group)
- 1 Stock Dove
- 116 Wood Pigeons
- 25 Jackdaws
- 24 Rooks
- 1 Starling
- 2 Greenfinches
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 12 Swifts
- 6 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
Better weather and more warblers visible. Any song very brief.
- 9 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 7 (2) Blackcaps
- 6 (0) Common Whitethroat
- *12 (4) Reed Warblers
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 2 Canada Geese: singles arrived
- 22 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Grey Herons: one chased away
- *8 + 2? (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 5 + 3 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 51 adult and juvenile Coots
- 42 Black-headed Gulls: no juveniles
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: near adult; briefly
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
- 1 Common Grey moth (Scoparia ambigualis)
- 1 Small Fan-footed Wave moth (Idaea biselata) on a lamp pole
- 1 Common Plume moth (Emmelina monodactyla)
- *1 London Dowd (a micro moth) (Blastobasis lacticolella)
- 1 as yet unidentified micro moth
- 1 Dicranopalpus sp. harvestman
Yesterday's unidentified moth has been confirmed as:
- 1 Round-winged Muslin (Thumatha senex)
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
The full list of things noted:
Butterflies:
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- *Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
- Comma (Polygonia c-album)
Moths:
Only unidentified grass moths noted
Bees / wasps:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
Damsel-/Dragon-flies:
None
Hoverflies:
- *Cheilosia illustrata
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
Mammals:
- 1 Noctule-type bat sp.
Other things:
- *1 unidentified caddis fly sp.
- *Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes)
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)
- Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:
None
A 'half and half' morning. The cloud gradually slipped away SE and after c.06:30 it was sunny.
A juvenile Reed Warbler waiting to be fed.
Perhaps if I look pensive I'll get fed.
Or if I look for Divine inspiration?
Oh well!
A fine example you are setting. Do you not know that eating unripe fruit gives you stomach ache? As a female Blackbird you should know better.
Another?!
Not easy from this angle and with its wings closed. Just possible to make out the two white spots in the black circle on the underside of the forewing. So it is...
... a male Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus). Good of it to open its wings.
This tiny micro moth is a London Dowd (Blastobasis lacticolella). This species arrived in the UK, apparently from Madeira, c.1945 and is now widespread and common.
Not a grass moth as it might seem. This is one of many species of caddis fly – there are over 200 in the UK. The unusual posture might indicate it is a Molanna sp. Then again....
Probably all the overnight rain and the brisk wind but I was struggling to find any hoverflies this morning. The Field Bindweed flowers (Convolvulus arvensis) are usually a haven for them. All I found was this pollen-covered Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris).
I did eventually find a few hoverflies – this is a Cheilosia illustrata. The only vernacular name I can find for this species is Bumblebee Cheilosia which is not particularly helpful or apposite since it doesn't look like a bumblebee.
Probably the same Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes) I have been finding. Today it wanted to know the time and came to look at my watch.
A seven-legged Dicranopalpus sp. harvestman. My second here this year and a species supposedly not around before August. Seems the harvest is getting earlier. With the very long palps this used to be an easy species to ID, but 'they' have now discovered that there are two almost identical species involved. Dissection needed to separate.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 06:05 – 06:50
(127th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- More geese seem to have departed this morning.
- Another adult Coot seen building / refurbishing a nest. Rather hopeful I feel at this date.
- Stock Dove heard calling from trees in NW area.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Wood Pigeon
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 11 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- no Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Blackcaps again
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 25 Greylag Geese
- 65 Canada Geese
- 12 (?♂) Mallard
- 16 (11♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 5 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 18 adult and juvenile Coots
On various lamp poles:
- 1 Common Grey moth (Scoparia ambigualis)
- 1 unidentified caddis fly sp.
- 2 Common Wasps (Paravespula vulgaris)
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the lake and The Flash:
Nothing of note
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day..........