8 Aug 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 17.0°C: A clear start; then an area of medium level cloud; that dispersed after 08:00 and sunny for a while before puffy clouds developed. Early light south-westerly wind increasing moderate. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 05:41 BST

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

The un-forecast deluge yesterday afternoon has impacted the Balancing Lake but not made significant difference at The Flash. The Wesley Brook has a few wet areas but is not flowing. The sluices that empty in to the brook by the Teece Drive gate were clearly in spate as the Wesley Brook bridge shows signs of having been over-topped. The exit sluice by Castle Farm Way is also noisily flowing for the first time in ages.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:05 – 06:35 // 07:40 – 10:05

(193rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- no Canada Geese on the water at dawn. 108 flew outbound in 12 groups. 45 flew inbound in four groups. 95 more pitched in to the water..
- the usual single Greylag Goose was again present throughout. A group of four was again present at dawn before flying off East. Nine flew outbound in four groups and four inbound in two group. Two landed on the lake.
- neither yesterday's duck Gadwall nor yesterday's duck Pochard were noted.
- yet another late brood of Coots was noted.
- just two Swifts were confirmed after 05:45. They stayed low and mostly below tree-top height so difficult to be sure.
- single Barn Swallows were noted at 05:45 and 08:30.
- three House Martins were over the football field c.09:50.
- the Jackdaws and Rooks passed over earlier than recently and much higher with the Jackdaws hard to see.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 153 Canada Geese: 108 outbound; 45 inbound: see notes
- 13 Greylag Geese: nine outbound; four inbound: see notes
- 109 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Herring Gulls
- 14 Lesser Black-baked Gulls
- 72 Jackdaws
- 121 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 95 Canada Geese: see notes
- >5 Greylag Geese: see notes
- 2 Mute Swans
- 31 (♂?) Mallard
- no Pochard
- 12 + 4 (2 dependent broods) Moorhens
- 118 adult and juvenile Coots
- *6 + 5 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 38 Black-headed Gulls: at least one juvenile – many flew off when still too dark to age them
- no Herring Gulls
- 10 Lesser Black-baked Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Swifts: see notes
- 2 Barn Swallows again
- 3 House Martins

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 16 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (0) Reed Warblers
- 4 (0) Blackcaps

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

Nothing

Noted later:

Butterflies:
Large White Pieris brassicae
Green-veined White Pieris napi
*Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria
*Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina
Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus
*Holly Blue Celastrina argiolus

Moths
3 Straw Grass-moths Agriphila straminella [previously Straw Grass-veneer]
1 Mother of Pearl Patania ruralis [was Pleuroptya ruralis]

Bees, wasps etc.:
*Honey Bee Apis mellifera
*Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
*Bumblebee Blacklet Cheilosia illustrata
Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
*Furry Dronefly Eristalis intricaria
Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
*Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
*Superb Ant-hill Hoverfly Xanthogramma pedissequum [Superb Dayglower]

Damsel- /Dragon- flies:
*Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]
*Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans [Common Bluetail]
hawker-type in flight only

Other flies:
Greenbottle Lucilia caesar or similar
*other Lucilia sp.
*Sarcophaga sp.
and the usual many unidentified fly species
*** thanks to Martin Adlam I now know that yesterday's fly Opomyza florum is known as Yellow Cereal Fly.

Bugs:
*an instar of a Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina

Beetles:
7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata
*** I wrongly yesterday's sighting to being a Bug and not a Beetle. Just because Americans call them "ladybugs" doesn't mean they are correct!

Let's start with a few cloud photos from this morning. A sort of sunrise.

Not smoke but what caused the black shapes?

Fair weather clouds later.

An adult Great Crested Grebe has caught a fish...

...and probably killed (or stunned) it. It dropped the fish back in the water for one of the youngster to dive after it - a stage in teaching them how to catch their own food.

One of the local Common Buzzards. I note birds perched in several different locations around the area and I did hear a juvenile begging for food. I am not sure whether they nested in their usual site in the Ricoh copse after the council "thinned" the trees alongside Teece Drive.

Not a brilliant photo of a flying Stock Dove. The point I wanted make is that this species often glides, as here, and when it does so the wings are slightly raised in a dihedral. Wood Pigeons never do this. Feral Pigeons do but usually with a greater angle. They also show a white rump.

A washed-out looking Speckled Wood butterfly Pararge aegeria.

A fresh-looking Meadow Brown butterfly Maniola jurtina. I had thought it was coming to the end of their flight season.

I have done my best to show this Holly Blue butterfly Celastrina argiolus which was sitting in a very contrasting position.

Here with wings akimbo illustrating that it is a female. This species might be called the "Holly and the Ivy Blue". It has two generations each year the larvae of the first feeding on Holly and the larvae of the second on Ivy. This is a second brood adult (imago) characterised by more extensive dark markings.

A Honey Bee Apis mellifera. Not as sharp as I would have liked. It was the only photo that showed pollen being carried on the middle leg as well as in the pollen basket on the hind leg. Mr. Google's AI tells me "A bee with pollen on its middle legs is likely a solitary bee species, as honeybees and bumblebees primarily carry pollen on their hind legs". I guess "primarily" is the key word to let AI off the hook of being incorrect.

A Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum thrashing its way through a Common Knapweed flower Centaurea nigra to get at the nectar.

This Common Carder Bee is attacking a flower of Bittersweet Solanum dulcamara also known as Woody Nightshade. I assume the bee is unaffected by the toxins in this plant that will probably not kill you if you eat the berries but might make you unwell.

A Bumblebee Blacklet hoverfly Cheilosia illustrata. Not seen one for over a week.

The orange marks on the abdomen provide the clue that this is a dronefly Eristalis sp. It is a Furry Dronefly E. intricaria which otherwise looks rather different from the other members of the family...

... such as this Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax

I had to include today's Superb Ant-hill Hoverfly Xanthogramma pedissequum.

An immature male Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum yet to get any hint of blue. Some females remain this colour but females have mostly black abdominal segments.

A male Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans resting on the dead head of a Knapweed flower.

Not all Lucilia species of fly are greenbottles. This otherwise unidentified one is, for instance.

One of the flesh flies Sarcophaga sp. They cannot be specifically identified from photos.

Another, perhaps the same species.

An instar of a Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths: [39 species here before today; no addition]
*1 Double-striped Pug Gymnoscelis rufifasciata
*1 Yellow Shell Camptogramma bilineata: as yesterday, though gone later

Flies:
4 moth flies Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
5 only midges of various species

Arthropods:
no White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
1 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

One of the few pug moths I am happy to ID without help (though I did check!). A Double-striped Pug Gymnoscelis rufifasciata.

The Yellow Shell moth Camptogramma bilineata looking down at me again. When I checked as I walked back from The Flash it had gone.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:40 – 07:35

(189th visit of the year)

My Merlin app is spooky. Every day it give me a challenge of a species to find. On 24 July the target species was Shelduck. "How likely is that at this date" I thought before one was on the water here. Then on 01 August the target species was a Great (White) Egret which I had not seen for some days. Sure enough one was present then and not since. The target today was Marsh Tit. Guess what was calling in the trees by the medical centre: a Marsh Tit! Mind you when the target was Gannet...!

Bird notes:
- Mallard back in some number. In addition to the single well-grown duckling another duck had four ducklings that I would judge to be about a week old.
- all nine Tufted Duck looked to be drakes but at this time of the year I am not prepared to commit myself!

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Sparrowhawk

Noted on / around the water:
- 18 Canada Geese again
- 1 dead Greylag Goose
- 8 Mute Swans
- 29 (?♂) + 4 (2 broods) Mallard
- 9 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 9 Moorhens
- 84 Coots: no dependent birds noted
- *4 + 5 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Black-headed Gull: arrived, saw no-one else present and departed
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 4 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (0) Blackcap again

Noted around the area:

Moths:
*1 Chevron Grass Moth Agriphila geniculea [previously Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer]
1 Marbled Beauty Bryophila domestica: same as yesterday

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
3 harvestmen Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus: where have they gone?

One of the juvenile Great Crested Grebes shows it knows what its wings are for though it won't get far without feathers. The parent looks unimpressed.

Feeding time for another juvenile Great Crested Grebe.

A small moth at the top of a street lamp pole does not make a great photo. It is a Chevron Grass Moth Agriphila geniculea previously known as an Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer.

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Wheatear
(Ed Wilson)

7 Aug 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 19.0°C: Clearing after overnight rain though remaining largely cloudy at high level. Early light south-westerly wind increasing fresh at times. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:38 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:05 – 06:35 // 07:50 – 10:10

(191st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- no Canada Geese on the water at dawn. only 20 seen flying outbound in three groups. 18 inbound together ahead of just 25 flying in.
- the usual single Greylag Goose was again present throughout. A group of four was also present at dawn before flying off East. A single flew outbound. Later a group of 54 flew inbound.
- a duck Gadwall flushed from among a group of resting Mallard. I wonder how often this has been hiding in plain sight previously.
- the duck Pochard was visible early only. Where does she hide?
- the recent windier conditions have blown much of the weed to the East end where it is jammed against the dam. As a result most of the Coots (and some of the Mallard) have abandoned the south-west grass to feed by the dam.
- many more large gulls were noted with many of them dropping in for a bathe and drink.
- what I presume were the same trio of late Swifts as seen on the previous two days, arriving c.06:00 and gone by c.06:10.
- four House Martins were over the football field c.06:10. One, perhaps of these was over the lake at the same time as one of two Barn Swallows.
- another high total of Jackdaws and Rooks as they passed over from their roosts. Today most flew more or less directly overhead the dam area.
- a Cetti's Warbler was heard in spluttering song from the South end of the dam where it is not normally seen or heard..

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 38 Canada Geese: 20 outbound in three groups; 18 inbound together
- 55 Greylag Geese: a single outbound; 54 inbound together
- 1 Stock Dove
- 141 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Herring Gull
- 33 Lesser Black-baked Gulls
- 161 Jackdaws
- 126 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 25 Canada Geese: see notes
- 5 Greylag Geese: see notes
- 2 Mute Swans
- 1 (0♂) Gadwall
- 27 (♂?) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Pochard
- 10 + 3 (2 dependent broods) Moorhens
- 106 Coots
- 6 + 5 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 35 Black-headed Gulls: one juvenile at least
- 3 Herring Gulls
- 56 Lesser Black-baked Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 3 Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 4 House Martins

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 12 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 5 (1) Reed Warblers
- 3 (0) Blackcaps
- no Common Whitethroat

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

Moths
none

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus
Also at this time I noted a Pipistrelle-type bat. Overnighting fisherman have reported seeing numerous bats in the evening. This was my first morning sighting for many weeks.

Noted later:
It was windy for insects around the lake. I found most of these insects in the sheltered area alongside Teece Drive where the Wesley Brook runs - when it has any water that is. To my surprise I added one robberfly first sighting and three new-for-the-year species of hoverfly.

Butterflies:
Large White Pieris brassicae
*Green-veined White Pieris napi
Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina

Moths
*4 Straw Grass-moths Agriphila straminella [previously Straw Grass-veneer]
*2 Common Nettle-taps Anthophila fabriciana
*1 Straw Dot Rivula sericealis

Bees, wasps etc.:
*Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
*Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris
*wasp Ectemnius sp.
*Turnip Sawfly Athalia rosae

Hoverflies:
*Dark-winged Wrinklehead Chrysogaster solstitialis
*Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
*Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
*Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus [Tiger Marsh Fly; Sun Fly]
Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
*$ Meadow Boxer Platycheirus peltatus [White-spotted Sedgesitter]
*$ White-clubbed Glasswing Scaeva pyrastri [White-bowed Smoothwing] [was Pied Hoverfly]
*Wasp Plumehorn Volucella inanis [was Lesser Hornet Hoverfly]
*$ Superb Ant-hill Hoverfly Xanthogramma pedissequum [Superb Dayglower]

Damsel- /Dragon- flies:
Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]
*Migrant Hawker Aeshna mixta seen in flight only

Other flies:
Greenbottle Lucilia caesar or similar
*$ fly Opomyza florum
*Scorpion Fly, probably Panorpa germanica
*$$ Kite-tailed Robberfly Tolmerus atricapillus [also as Machimus atricapillus]
and the usual many unidentified fly species

Bugs:
7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata

Perhaps too windy and overcast to tempt butterflies out. This Green-veined White Pieris napi was an exception.

A Straw Grass-moth Agriphila straminella misbehaving. They are supposed to rest head down (and no: I did not invert the photo – would I?)

It is some weeks since I last recorded any Common Nettle-tap moths Anthophila fabriciana. This very fresh-looking specimen was one of two I noted, almost certainly from a second generation this year.

And I think there must also be a new generation of Straw Dot moths Rivula sericealis. This one looks pristine.

A Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum with head buried to reach the nectar of the Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra

A more colourful and larger specimen, perhaps a queen.

Even showing a rufous tinge in the lower abdomen hairs.

The parallel-sided yellow area on the edges of the thorax identifies this as a Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris.

A wasp from the Ectemnius group, not specifically identifiable from photos.

A different view. They are often referred to as sand wasps. Where is the beach?

 I have seen more Turnip Sawflies Athalia rosae this year than I can recall in previous years.

This hoverfly is a Dark-winged Wrinklehead Chrysogaster solstitialis. "Dark wings": yes. "Wrinkle head": not too obvious here. This was a new species for me earlier this year and I must have seen a dozen or more over a two month period. Have I overlooked them in earlier years?

A busy male Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax, here on Wild Angelica Angelica sylvestris.

My what a long tongue you have. Another male Tapered Dronefly

And yet another male, this one well-posed. It is the leg colour that separates this species from Common Dronefly E. tenax, especially so in the females where the abdomen of neither species is tapered.

And here is a male Common Dronefly.

 This Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus looks somewhat drab against some of the star hoverflies of today.

Hands up time. I did invert this photo for easier viewing. Steven Falk calls this a Meadow Boxer Platycheirus peltatus while Obsidentify calls it a White-spotted Sedgesitter. The spots are certainly "whiter" than many species of hoverfly. It is the largest hoverfly in the genus. My first of the year, here on one of the willowherb species – not sure which.

Also new for the year is a hoverfly that Steven Falk calls White-clubbed Glasswing Scaeva pyrastri and Obsidentify calls White-bowed Smoothwing. It used be simply Pied Hoverfly.

Zoomed in to show the "white-clubbed" (antennae).

A Wasp Plumehorn hoverfly Volucella inanis. It used to be known as Lesser Hornet Hoverfly. Its new name is more apposite because the species has only yellow on the abdomen. The related species Hornet Hoverfly or Hornet Plumehorn V. zonaria shares with the real Hornet Vespa crabro an orange first abdominal segment.

The best hoverfly of the day and my third new-for-the-year species. It is a Superb Ant-hill Hoverfly Xanthogramma pedissequum which Obsidentify calls Superb Dayglower. The larvae of this species feed on aphids inside the nest of ants so the name is not entirely irrelevant. I think it is the hoverfly that is "superb" and not the "ant-hill"!

There is enough detail in this photo of a flying dragonfly for Obsidentify to be 97% confident it is a Migrant Hawker Aeshna mixta.

This is the fly Opomyza florum. New for the year but so small it is easy to overlook. There is no vernacular name for the family of this group much less any of the individual species.

A Scorpion Fly, probably Panorpa germanica. I thought this group has long-since finished their flight season

A new species of fly for me. It is a Kite-tailed Robberfly Tolmerus atricapillus here on one of the white bands of a Belisha beacon in Teece Drive. NatureSpot gives a different scientific name of Machimus atricapillus without suggesting they are synonyms though both appear on the internet without any clue as to which is favoured or why. From certain angles the pointed "tail" - actually stiff hairs – appears forked like that of a kite.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths: [38 species here before today; one addition]
*1 $ Yellow Shell Camptogramma bilineata

Flies:
1 mosquito Culex pipiens
2 moth flies Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
12 midges of various species.

Arthropods:
no White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
1 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

My first (and perhaps only) Yellow Shell moth Camptogramma bilineata of the year looking down on me from the ceiling. It is moth species #39 in the tunnel so far this year. Last year I only recorded 20 species all year.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:40 – 07:45

(188th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I had great difficulty confirming all eight Mute Swans were still present. Two were tucked up under vegetation hanging over from the island. Despite their size and white plumage they were hard to spot.
- very, very few Mallard with the single well-grown ducklings noted. Where have they all gone?
- it is difficult to be certain but I think there was an extra adult Great Crested Grebe. One was keeping close to cover at the bottom end while the two families were in the middle. With the adults spending much of their time underwater hunting fish it was never possible to see five adults at the same time.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 7 Jackdaws

Noted on / around the water:
- 18 Canada Geese: of these four flew in together
- 13 Greylag Geese: of these 12 flew in together
- 8 Mute Swans
- *3 (?♂) + 1 (1 brood) Mallard only!!
- *17 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 10 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 104 + 3 (3 dependent broods) Coots:
- 5 + 5 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 6 Black-headed Gulls again
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 2 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (0) Blackcap

Noted around the area:

Moths:
*1 Ermine moth Yponomeuta sp. to be identified
*1 Marbled Beauty Bryophila domestica

Bees, wasps etc.:
1 Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
7 harvestmen Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

It is not always easy to see birds by the island. The drake Mallard on the right (the yellow-green bill identifies the sex) is relatively easy on a photo taken on full zoom and then "edited". The duck Tufted Duck asleep on the left is less obvious.

A better specimen of one of the Ermine moths Yponomeuta sp. However the latest situation on the separation of the three main confusion species has been clarified by the Shropshire recorder who has told me "essentially, Yponomeuta padella, Y. malinellus and Y. cagnagella can only be identified with confidence from larval webs on the food plants. Only adults reared from the food plants can be identified. There are no consistent differences in the wing markings or genitalia between any of these three species."

On the overhang of a street lamp I found this Marbled Beauty moth Bryophila domestica. It is just about ten years since I saw my last: it was 01 September 2015 at the Balancing Lake.

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
2 Common Sandpipers
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Hobby
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Oystercatcher
(Martin Adlam)