7 Jun 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

9.0°C > 13.0°C: Early rain, sometimes heavy. Stayed mostly cloudy with a few bright but not sunny periods. Light south-westerly wind. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 04:46 BST

* = a species photographed today
$ = my first sighting of the species for this year
$$ = my first ever recorded sighting of the species

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:35 – 05:55 // 06:45 – 10:25

(140th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the Canada and Greylag goslings all still present and correct.
- *the pen Mute Swan left the nest site again for a few minutes. Her partner did not seem interested.
- the duck Mallard now has just two small ducklings. However the other duck Mallard still has two well-grown ducklings
- *the duck Pochard still here.
- a Little Grebe called once from the North side reeds. I was within earshot for at least 20 minutes and only noted a single call.
- *the Great Crested Grebes were formed as two pairs, each with a single juvenile; and two other pairs keeping close together.
- a Common Whitethroat was heard singing just once from its usual breeding area. I could not locate the bird and I did not hear it sing again.
- *I counted 35 Starlings on the football field c.06:55 many of which were juveniles. A few adults were taking food away to late nests around the area.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Canada Goose: flew South
- 11 Greylag Geese: a pair outbound; two pairs and a quintet inbound, separately
- 5 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Herring Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Jackdaws

Counts from the lake area:
- 5 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- *2 Mute Swans: see notes
- *8 (5♂) + 4 (2 brood)s Mallard
- *1 (0♂) Pochard
- 3 Moorhens
- 42 + 17 (7 broods) Coots
- *8 + 2 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 9 Herring Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant: arrived

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Swift
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 1 House Martin

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 15 (11) Chiffchaffs
- 11 (9) Reed Warblers
- 9 (8) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat

Noted on the West end street lamp poles around-dawn:

Moths:
*1 Brimstone Moth Opisthograptis luteolata

Noted later:
It was hard doing with very wet vegetation

Butterflies:
none

Moths
*5 Common Nettle-taps Anthophila fabriciana: six of these on one plant
3 Common Marble Celypha lacunana
*1 $$ Bramble Blotch-miner Coptotriche marginea
2 Silver-ground Carpets Xanthorhoe montanata

Bees, wasps etc.:
Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum
Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
*Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum
*Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris
*small braconid wasp

Hoverflies:
Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
*Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis
Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans [Bumblebee Plumehorn]

Dragon-/Damsel-flies:
Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]
*Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans [Common Bluetail]

Other flies:
Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus
dagger fly Empis tessellata
*cranefly Erioptera sp., perhaps E. lutea
*Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria
plus
usual other boring and / or strange flies

Bugs:
Dock Bug Coreus marginatus
*$ nymph of Red Bug Deraeocoris ruber

Beetles:
larvae of Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis: >50 again
pupae of Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis: >10

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
none

New flowers for the year

None

The pen Mute Swan leaving the nest site for a while. The blue Darvic ring "7JUE" identifies it as one born here four years ago to the previous resident pair.

Only two small Mallard ducklings remain from this brood.

While these two from a different brood are now acquiring some adult type feathers and have substantial bills.

The long-staying duck Pochard. Looking closely I think she has a damaged left wing which is why she has not flown away. Still she seems happy and surviving well.

An adult Great Crested Grebe with its lone stripey juvenile. This is the second family, the first manages to keep the juvenile out of camera range.

A Common Buzzard sitting on a street lamp pole in Teece Drive. It stayed until a dog-walker with two dogs was almost underneath and then flew...

   ...only a short distance before...

...flying on again.

Whether this is the same Common Buzzard I am unsure. Earlier when I had been walking down the concrete ramp toward the ducklings a buzzard swooped over my head and tried to grab one of the ducklings. It failed. Here it had glided overhead and suddenly twisted and dived down on another attempt being chased off by Carrion Crows. Here it is leaving...

...as far as I can tell "empty clawed".

Two juvenile Starlings braving the rain, one wiping its beak.

One of five Common Nettle-tap moths Anthophila fabriciana I noted today. I only noted three of this species last year and I have already seen over 30 this year. The species is continuously brooded throughout summer so I may see many more. Strange how years vary.

Thanks to the Shropshire recorder for confirming Obsidentify's suggestion that this is a Bramble Blotch-miner moth Coptotriche marginea. A new species for me and moth species #35 for me at the lake this year. The larvae will indeed soon be creating large white blotches on bramble leaves.

Amazing: a sharp (for me) photo of a Brimstone Moth Opisthograptis luteolata.

A pale-looking Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum

This is a Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Note the thin buff area between the white tail and the black of the abdomen which is a hard-to-see separation feature from White-tailed Bumblebee B. lucorum. Perhaps easier is that the bands on the White-tail are more yellow rather than orange (as here).

No chance of going further than "small braconid wasp" with this.

This is a male Syrphus hoverfly so the fact that the rear femur is (more or less) visible does not help with the identification. Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis it stays.

A Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans sitting on grass-head for scale. Obsidentify calls this species Common Bluetail.

This small rufous cranefly with a pale head and dark eyes seems to be one of the Erioptera species, perhaps E. lutea.

I think they are great in their gruesomeness! A Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria.

I can't identify these flies. I surmise it is a female at the top as the other one sidled up to here and rapidly opened and closes its wings (in display?) before they both flew off. It does mean that the female of the species is larger which tends to be less common.

A confused Dock Bug Coreus marginatus – its a buttercup not a dock plant!

The nymph of a Red Bug Deraeocoris ruber.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies
*1 Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata
*1 cranefly Nephrotoma quadrifaria
18 midges of various species.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
2 other unidentified spiders

A female Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata – a female because it has the proboscis. Males have feathered antennae – all the better to smell the females with.

The dark triangular markings on the abdomen and the dark wing markings identify this cranefly as Nephrotoma quadrifaria.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:00 – 06:40

(138th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- fewer Canada Geese. Possibly due to fishermen blocking their exit from the water to feed on the grass and necessitating them flying to feed.
- the sixth adult Mute Swan still in exactly the same place as yesterday.
- the duck Gadwall still here.
- my first juvenile Moorhens of the year noted.
- only one Great Crested Grebe found.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Jackdaw

Noted on / around the water:
- 74 Canada Geese
- 34 Greylag Geese
- 1 mainly white feral goose
- 1 (0♂) Gadwall
- 6 + 1 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 23 (20♂) Mallard
- 5 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 18 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Swifts

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 5 (4) Chiffchaffs again
- 3 (3) Blackcaps

Noted around the area:

Moths
*1 Treble Brown Spot Idaea trigeminata

Bees, wasps etc.:
Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum
Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum
Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
none

Other flies:
only numerous different midges and flies

Bugs:
*nymph of the mirid bug Deraeocoris flavilinea

Beetles:
I could not find any Alder Leaf Beetles again.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
*female harvestman Leiobunum rotundum

This Treble Brown Spot moth Idaea trigeminata had found a spot on a street lamp pole where it was not being rained upon.

A nymph of the mirid bug Deraeocoris flavilinea.

This is a female harvestman Leiobunum rotundum. It is very strange as in the last three days in more or less exactly the same position on the same street lamp pole I have found firstly a female harvestman Leiobunum blackwalli: the day after a male of that species: and now a female of the other species in the genus.

(Ed Wilson)

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2009
Priorslee Lake
15 House Martins
15 Swifts
2 Chiffchaffs
Willow Warbler
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
1 Tufted Duck
(Ed Wilson)

6 Jun 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 13.0°C: Early showery rain, sometimes heavy. Cleared with sunny spells after c.08:00. Light / moderate westerly wind. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 04:49 BST

* = a species photographed today
$ = my first sighting of the species for this year
$$ = my first ever recorded sighting of the species

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:00 – 06:15 // 07:15 – 09:50

(139th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the Canada and Greylag goslings all still present and correct.
- what I assume was the pen Mute Swan left the nest site in to the adjacent water for at least 15 minutes. Her partner stayed at the other end of the water.
- *the duck Mallard now has just five small ducklings.
- the duck Pochard still here.
- a Common Kestrel was hovering to the North of the water c.05:25. Was it really over estate or is there some open ground somewhere?
- Reed Warblers continue to sing from unlikely / new locations. One was in the hedge between the lake and Ricoh (where I have heard them previously); and another near the Teece Drive gate where the sluices feed in to the Wesley Brook.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Wood Pigeons only
- 1 Collared Dove
- 1 Herring Gull again
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls again
- 1 Common Kestrel
- 7 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook

Counts from the lake area:
- 2+ 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 2 Mute Swans: see notes
- *8 (6♂) + 5 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Pochard
- no Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 33 + 17 (8 broods) Coots
- 6 + 2 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Cormorant: arrived
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 6 Swifts

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 18 (15) Chiffchaffs
- 12 (11) Reed Warblers
- *10 (8) Blackcaps

On the West end street lamp poles around-dawn:
Nothing noted

Noted later:

Butterflies:
none

Moths
1 Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana: six of these on one plant
2 Silver-ground Carpets Xanthorhoe montanata
*$ 1 Cinnabar Tyria jacobaeae

Bees, wasps etc.:
Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum
Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
*Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius
Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum
Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
*Bumblebee Blacklet Cheilosia illustrata [Bumblebee Blacklet]
Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
*Stripe-faced Dronefly Eristalis nemorum [Stripe-faced Drone Fly]
Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
Meadow Field Syrph Eupeodes latifasciatus [Broad-banded Aphideater]
Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
Hairy-eyed Syrphus Syrphus torvus
Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans [Bumblebee Plumehorn]
Orange-belted Leaf Licker Xylota segnis [Orange-belted Leafwalker]

Dragon-/Damsel-flies:
Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella [Azure Bluet]
*Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]
*Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma najas [Large Redeye]
Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans

Lacewings:
lacewing Chrysopa perla

Other flies:
*Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus
*dagger fly Empis tessellata
*Scorpion Fly Panorpa sp.
*phantom cranefly Ptychoptera contaminata
Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria
Common Crane-fly Tipula oleracea
plus
usual other boring and / or strange flies

Bugs:
Red-and-Black Froghopper Cercopis vulnerata
*Dock Bug Coreus marginatus

Beetles:
7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata
*larvae of Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis: >50 again
*pupae of Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis: at least three
adult Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea
Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis [False Oil Beetle or Thick-legged Flower Beetle]

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.

Fungus
*$ Common Jellyspot Dacrymyces stillatus

New flowers for the year:
*$ Common Ragwort Jacobaea vulgaris

The duck Mallard now with just five ducklings.

A pensive-looking female Blackcap. At least I think it is a female rather than a juvenile, both sexes of which initially have brown caps.

More alert here.

 Perhaps there is a trace of a gape line?

Until recently Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius has been the least common of the regularly occurring bumblebees.

The easy Cheilosia species of hoverfly in that it is not all black. A Bumblebee Blacklet C. illustrata.

A Stripe-faced Dronefly Eristalis nemorum showing pale lines between the tergites (abdomen segments).

Surely this has to be a Hairy-eyed Syrphus Syrphus torvus? It is a female and Steven Falk's Flickr site suggests that the hairy eyes are much easier to see on males. Perhaps what looks to be hair on the eyes is on the protruding face?

A pair of Common Blue Damselflies Enallagma cyathigerum. The male has the female firmly in his claspers (should this be allowed in 2025?]

Here she has swung her body up in attempt to get the sex organs to meet.

She seemed to be having difficulty reaching and, gentleman that he is, he arched his abdomen to make it easier for her. I averted my eyes at this stage.

An immature female Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma najas. Not very red eyes at this age but the top of the thorax is all black.

I gave up counting Black Snipeflies Chrysopilus cristatus when I got too 100. All the specimens I noted were males. This seems to be quite normal: females are unusual.

"The Creature from the Black Lagoon" come to life in Priorslee. Actually a head-on close-up of a dagger fly Empis tessellata. The last view a prey item would see.

A female Scorpion Fly Panorpa sp. Females of these two species are hard to separate and are also less common than males.

This must be my sixth phantom cranefly Ptychoptera contaminata of the year. I only recall seeing one previously which is confirmed from my logs.

A Dock Bug Coreus marginatus. This species has been scarce so far this year.

Not sure what is going on here: a larva of a Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis seems to be pushing underneath a pupa of the same species.

Eating away at the Teece Drive fence is what I believe to be Common Jellyspot fungus Dacrymyces stillatus.

The first flowers of Common Ragwort Jacobaea vulgaris which is good timing for this....

...Cinnabar moth Tyria jacobaeae whose rugby-hooped yellow and black caterpillars are able to eat the leaves which are toxic to most insects.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
*2 Common Marbled Carpets Chloroclysta truncata

Bees, wasps etc.:
1 unidentifiable bee trussed up in a web

Flies
1 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
16 midges of various species.

Common Marbled Carpet moth Chloroclysta truncata #1. Not making it easy by sitting on the grid protecting one of the strip lights that (vaguely) illuminate the tunnel.

Common Marbled Carpet #2 sitting, more helpfully, on part of the ceiling where the paint is not peeling.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:20 – 07:10

(137th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- all six adult Mute Swans plus the cygnet were present. However one of the adults was in the same place as Wednesday (behind overhanging branches near the sometime Great Crested Grebe nest site). It looked immobile and likely dead.
- the duck Gadwall still here.
- no Mallard ducklings seen.
- no Tufted Duck.
- after the higher number of adults Coots on my later visit yesterday it was back to a more typical number seen on the early visits.
- two Great Crested Grebes patrolling the water more or less as a pair.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 4 Jackdaws

Noted on / around the water:
- 138 Canada Geese
- 31 Greylag Geese
- 1 mainly white feral goose
- *1 (0♂) Gadwall
- 6 + 1 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 22 (18♂) Mallard
- no Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens
- 18 + 2 (1 brood) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Swifts
- 5 House Martins

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 5 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Blackcaps

Noted around the area:

Moths
*1 $$ Brindled Fungus Moth Triaxomera parasitella [aka Large Brindled Clothes Moth]
*1 Common Pug Eupithecia vulgata

Bees, wasps etc.:
Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum
Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum
Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
none

Other flies:
Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus
also numerous different midges and flies

Bugs:
none

Beetles:
I could not find a single Alder Leaf Beetle here today

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
male harvestman Leiobunum blackwalli

An only slightly better photo of the duck Gadwall. More obvious in this shot is the white speculum, showing well as she moults some of her flight feathers.

My "find of the day" and a new moth species for me. It is a Brindled Fungus Moth Triaxomera parasitella. It is also known as a Large Brindled Clothes Moth so if you have any large brindled clothes I should hide them away! The more common name refers to its host "plant" - various species of bracket fungus.

Despite the rufous in the wing I think this is just a Common Pug Eupithecia vulgata. A Tawny Speckled Pug E. icterata would show a bold spot in each forewing and also appear, surprise surprise, speckled.

(Ed Wilson)

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2012
Holmer Lake
Black Swan
(Martin Ryder)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Common Terns
(Ed Wilson)