29 Jun 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

12.0°C > 17.0°C: Mostly clear to start. Broken cloud soon arrived from the West. Later it became even more cloudy. Light / moderate south-westerly breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:49 BST again

* = a species photographed today
! = a first sighting of the species this year
$ = a new species for me in this area

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 04:45– 05:55 // 07:05 – 10:00

(149th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the seven Greylag Geese goslings with two extra adults present.
- *a new brood of Mallard ducklings: just two!
- as yesterday seven adult Great Crested Grebes with two trios of juvenile.
- an adult Black-headed Gull was hawking insects along with a recently fledged juvenile when I arrived: they did not stay. A few adults came and went later.
- *at least 30 Swifts were in a swirling party over the East end early. Fewer later when they were joined by at least eight House Martins. Just one Barn Swallow noted
- the warbler update:
no Cetti's Warbler again.
the Garden Warbler was in full song at c.09:25 in the same location as yesterday.
a Common Whitethroat at the West end sang briefly c.09:35.
- more Jackdaws today as I arrive earlier in "sun time" and see more of the roost dispersal passing over.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 49 Wood Pigeons
- 37 Jackdaws
- 3 Rooks again

Counts from the lake area:
- 4 + 7 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- *2 Mute Swans
- *30 (?♂) + 2 (1 brood) Mallard
- 3 Moorhens
- 48 adult and immature Coots
- *7 + 6 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes: as yesterday
- 6 + 1 juvenile Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1 Grey Heron: early only

Hirundines etc. noted:
- *c.30 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 8 House Martin

Warblers noted (the number in brackets refers to birds singing):
- 9 (9) Chiffchaffs
- 10 (10) Reed Warblers
- 13 (10) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat

Also noted:
Again not too much in the cloudy and then drizzly conditions

Butterflies:
- *1 Green-veined White Pieris napi
- *14 Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus
- 1 Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta

Moths:
- *1 Italian Bark Moth Metalampra italica [previously Italian Tubic]
- 1 Garden Straw Agapeta hamana [was Common Yellow Conch; Hook-marked Straw-moth]
- 1 Common Marble Celypha lacunana
- 11 Garden Grass-moth Chrysoteuchia culmella [was Garden Grass-veneer]
- 1 White-banded Grass-moth Crambus pascuella [was Inlaid Grass-veneer]
- *4 Shaded Broad-bar Scotopteryx chenopodiata

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *$? mining bee Andrena sp., just possibly Wilke's Mining Bee A. wilkella
- Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- *! Willow Mason Wasp Symmorphus bifasciatus
- ichneumon wasp Amblyteles armatorius

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
- Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
- Migrant Field Syrph Eupeodes corollae [Migrant Hoverfly; Migrant Aphideater]
- Meadow Field Syrph Eupeodes latifasciatus [Broad-banded Aphideater]
- *!? possible Variable Duskyface Melanostoma mellinum [Short Melanostoma]
- *! White-clubbed Glasswing Scaeva pyrastri [White-bowed Smoothwing] [was Pied Hoverfly]
- Common Twist-tail Sphaerophoria scripta [Long Hoverfly; Common Globetail]
- Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis / S. torvus

Damsel / Dragon-flies:
again most damselflies not checked
- Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]
- Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans [Common Bluetail]

Other flies:
a range of species including...
- soldier fly Broad Centurian Chloromyia formosa
- Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus
- long-legged fly Dolichopus ungulatus or similar
- greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- *$ soldier fly Pachygaster leachii
- *semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus
- Marsh Snipefly Rhagio tringarius
other unidentified flies

Bugs:
- *Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius

Beetles:
- 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata
- Rough-haired Lagria Beetle Lagria hirta
- Common Red Soldier Beetle Rhagonycha fulva [Hogweed Bonking-beetle]

New flower:
- *$ Amphibious Bistort Persicaria amphibia

On the West end street lamp poles around dawn:

Moths:
- 1 Ghost Moth Hepialus humuli: yesterday's female trussed up in a web.
That's all.

This morning's sunrise. Cloud soon arrived from the West.

The new brood of just two Mallard ducklings with their mother.

Safety in numbers especially with the Mute Swans to deter wayward dogs. Fourteen of the thirty adult Mallard present at the lake are in this view (you have to look hard to see the 14th hiding behind Common Ragwort Jacobaea vulgaris).

"Feed me Mum!". An adult, I assume the female with the male a distance away fishing, from the second pair of Great Crested Grebe to produce young. A growing trio.

Swifts have fork-tails...

...or do they?! I have never seen one flare its tail like this before.

A Green-veined White butterfly Pieris napi showing its, er, "green" veins.

I noted no fewer than fourteen Ringlet butterflies Aphantopus hyperantus this morning. Smart.

What was most likely yesterday's female Ghost Moth Hepialus humuli now trussed up in a web.

An Italian Bark Moth Metalampra italica. A tiny moth, here on the "flowers" of Common or Stinging Nettle Urtica dioica. It was difficult to persuade the camera to focus on the moth – a recent (natural) invasive species from the Continent.

My first Shaded Broad-bar moth Scotopteryx chenopodiata of the year. A smart-looking specimen...

...unlike this one!

It is a mining bee in the Andrena genus: but which. It is just possible, thanks to Google Lens, it is a Wilke's Mining Bee A. wilkella though to be sure I would have needed to see the whole of the abdomen as see that the pale hairs between some of the body segments (tergites) were broken in the middle. It would be a new species for me of this very difficult group.

This is what Steven Falk calls a Willow Mason Wasp Symmorphus bifasciatus. I saw one here on the same date last year.

I have struggled with the identification of this apparently deceased hoverfly. My best call is a male Variable Duskyface Melanostoma mellinum also known as Short Melanostoma. I reached the conclusion because the wings look too short for a male Chequered Hoverfly M. scalare, also known as Long-winged Duskyface. I spent ages looking and comparing all the photos in Steven Falk's gallery and remain puzzled by the width of the black areas between the yellow spots on the abdomen. None of the examples for either species have such extensive black areas.

In flight this hoverfly had striking pale lemon yellow markings. It would not perch showing those marks and this was the only photo I managed before it flew off in to the far distance. Enough to identify it as a White-clubbed Glasswing Scaeva pyrastri which Obsidentify calls White-bowed Smoothwing.

Another fly species I have not recorded previously. It is the soldier fly Pachygaster leachii with clear wings and orange at the base of its antennae.

On the left a male semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus. I assume the fly on the right is a female with only a slight paleness to her wing tips. The different abdomen colour is due to the different angle of light on these metallic-looking insects.

A Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius for some reason resting ten feet up a street lamp pole. A ling way to hop.

Another Rough-haired Lagria Beetle Lagria hirta

A new flower for me but one I have likely overlooked. Growing in the water's edge is Amphibious Bistort Persicaria amphibia. I will have to recheck the species that grows in the damp areas around the lake and which I have previously identified as Bistort Polygonum bistorta.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 1 Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella
- *1 ! Small Fan-footed Wave Idaea biselata

Flies:
- 13 midges of several species
- 3 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]

My first Small Fan-footed Wave moth Idaea biselata of the year on the ceiling here.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:00 – 07:00 again

(146th visit of the year)

The path across the bridges still firmly shut.

Bird notes:
- just seven Mute Swans confirmed. The six visitors toward the top end. What I took to be the resident pen slumped in the same place on the edge of the island as yesterday. I did not see any others.
- the duck Mallard still has the six partly-grown ducklings. I did not see any other duckling.
- only two Great Crested Grebes confirmed.
- a Grey Heron was on the edge of the island

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Jackdaws

Noted on / around the water:
- 181 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 102 Greylag Geese
- 7 Mute Swans: see notes
- 25 (?♂) + 6 (1 brood) Mallard
- *8 (6♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens: one of these a well-grown juvenile
- 26 adult and immature Coots: one of these a small juvenile
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 7 House Martins
where have the Swifts gone?

Warblers noted (the number in brackets refers to birds singing):
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff only again
- 3 (3) Blackcaps again

Noted around the area:
Generally fewer insects in the overcast conditions.

Moths:
a good range of moths on and around the street lamp poles...
- *1 Bird-cherry Ermine Yponomeuta evonymella
- *7 Garden Grass-moth Chrysoteuchia culmella [was Garden Grass-veneer]
- *1 White-banded Grass-moth Crambus pascuella [was Inlaid Grass-veneer]
- *1 ! Chevron Grass Moth Agriphila geniculea [was Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer]
- 1 Common Grey Scoparia ambigualis
- 1 Treble Brown Spot Idaea trigeminata
- *1 Riband Wave Idaea aversata form remutata

***********
An update on the moth I photographed last Thursday that Obsidentify was a 100% sure was a Giant Water-veneer Schoenobius gigantella but I thought more likely a Reed Veneer Chilo phragmitella. Both species are very rare in this part of the country so the Shropshire recorder tells me he has been casting around with others more familiar with the two species. The consensus is that it is NOT a Reed Veneer but because of its rarity the specimen would have needed examination for it to be accepted as a Giant Water-veneer. Sad but adds to the knowledge of what might be around.
************

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 2 Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris

Hoverflies:
- >5 Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus

Other flies:
- *1 larva of a mayfly Caenis sp.
- 1 Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus

It is becoming difficult to sex the Tufted Duck (as well as the Mallard) as they undertake their annual moult. This drake has lost his gleaming white flanks.

High up on a street lamp pole in squirrel alley I noted this Bird-cherry Ermine moth Yponomeuta evonymella.

A Garden Grass-moth Chrysoteuchia culmella. Apropos my comment yesterday on the white "fingers" I now realise this just indicates a worn specimen and not necessarily a different species.

A different "grass moth": this a White-banded Grass-moth Crambus pascuella that used to called Inlaid Grass-veneer.

Yet another species of "grass moth": the faint cross-line in the middle of the wing makes this a Chevron Grass Moth Agriphila geniculea. It used to be known as an Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer.

A Riband Wave moth Idaea aversata of the form remutata where the area between the two obvious cross-lines is not solid dark brown. This form seem to predominate in our area.

This is the larva of a mayfly Caenis sp. It seems unusual in having five tails rather than the normal three. I did not expect to find this at eye-level on a street lamp pole, albeit only a short distance from the water.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
15 Cormorants
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Juvenile Yellow Wagtail
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Siskin
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 drake Ruddy Ducks
(Ed Wilson)

28 Jun 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

18.0°C > 16.0°C: Cloudy with the lightest of drizzle to start. Brighter with sunny periods until c.09:00 when cloud and heavier drizzle returned. Moderate south-westerly breeze. Very good visibility, moderate in drizzle.

Sunrise: 04:49 BST

* = a species photographed today
! = a first sighting of the species this year
$ = a new species for me in this area

The last two days I have been helping set up and assist with the Hope House Charity Fly-in at Shirlowe farm strip airfield. Back to the usual round.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 04:40– 05:55 // 07:05 – 09:15

(148th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the seven Greylag Geese goslings with two extra adults still here and likely to be so until the adults moult in to their new wings and teach the youngster to fly. May be quite soon as there was a lone Greylag Goose flying over this morning.
- just five obvious Coot juveniles.
- seven adult Great Crested Grebes: two pairs, each with a trio of juveniles; one pair was just sitting around; the lone bird was perhaps one of the birds from the first pair to hatch young and which seemed to have perished. Could a partner be hidden on a nest making a second attempt? One of the family groups exhibited behaviour I have not noted before: as I surprised them by appearing at a gap in the reeds the juveniles all dived and repeatedly did so until they were some distance away with the adults remaining on the surface.
- *a pair of Black-headed Gulls arrived with two recently fledged juveniles. The youngster stayed on one of the boating piers begging to be fed as the adult went to find food. They did not stay long. I have never seen dependent juveniles here previously.
- an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was on the football field briefly c.05:40. Two others were separately seen on buoys in the water. A few overhead as well.
- the warbler update:
no Cetti's Warbler noted.
a Garden Warbler was in full song at 05:00 at a location where I have heard one earlier this year. I have no idea whether one bird has been singing very intermittently (unusual); or several birds have visited separately over many days (also unusual). Perhaps both?
no Common Whitethroats seen or heard.
- at least two family parties of Goldcrests heard and glimpsed. There seemed to be five breeding sites for this species around the lake this year.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Greylag Goose: flew East
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant
- 28 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Jackdaws
- 3 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 4 + 7 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 2 Mute Swans
- *18 (?♂) Mallard
- 2 Moorhen only
- 45 adult and immature Coots
- 7 + 6 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes: see notes
- *2 + 2 juvenile Black-headed Gulls: see notes
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gull: see notes

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 6 Swifts
- 12 House Martin

Warblers noted (the number in brackets refers to birds singing):
- no Cetti's Warbler
- 9 (8) Chiffchaffs
- 7 (7) Reed Warblers again
- 14 (13) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
- no Common Whitethroat

Also noted:
Not too much in the cloudy and then drizzly conditions

Butterflies:
- 2 Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus
- *1 Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina
- 1 Painted Lady Vanessa cardui

Moths:
- *1 ! Ghost Moth Hepialus humuli
- 1 Common Marble Celypha lacunana
- 9 Garden Grass-moth Chrysoteuchia culmella [was Garden Grass-veneer]
- *1 unidentified grass moth
- *1 $ probable Lesser Cream Wave Scopula immutata

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius
- Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- wasp sp.: either German Wasp Vespula germanica or Common Wasp V. vulgaris
- *! ichneumon wasp Amblyteles armatorius

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
- *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
- Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis / S. torvus

Damsel / Dragon-flies:
many damselflies not checked
- Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]
- Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans [Common Bluetail]
- at least one species of dragonfly seen in flight only

Other flies:
fewer flies because of lack of sun: a range of species.
- *! Little Snipe Fly Chrysopilus asiliformis
- *Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus
- *long-legged fly Dolichopus ungulatus or similar
- *! probable spear-winged fly Lonchoptera sp.
- greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- *$ blowfly Melanomya nana
other unidentified flies

Bugs:
none

Beetles:
- 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata
- Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea
- *! Rough-haired Lagria Beetle Lagria hirta

On the West end street lamp poles around dawn:

Moths:
- 1 ! Bird-cherry Ermine Yponomeuta evonymella

Bugs:
- $ mirid bug, probably Phytocoris longipennis

From all the way across the water... On the left four sleeping and moulting Mallard. On the right an adult Black-headed Gull is feeding one of two recently-fledged juveniles. I have never seen dependent juveniles here previously and rarely any juveniles before the end of June.

I believe this small moth is a Bird-cherry Ermine Yponomeuta evonymella. There are several of these ermine moths with differing arrangement of spotting and they are not easy to separate. I am hoping that Obsidentify's pattern recognition is working 100% here.

The "brown" group of butterflies do not need sun to appear provided it is above about 15°C. Here is a Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina taking it easy. No point opening your wings to sunbathe when there is no sun.

Not sitting at a very helpful angle is this female Ghost Moth Hepialus humuli. Males are all-white (apart from yellow hairs on the head) and can be seen flying over vegetation at dusk – hence the "ghost" name.

A grass moth I am not able to identify. The white area that splits in to three "fingers" suggests one of the Agriphila species. Both of these should show a broad white or creamy-white area at the base of the wing. This doesn't!

I think this moth is a Lesser Cream Wave Scopula immutata which makes it a first in Shropshire for me. An uncommon species (at least according to the West Midlands Moths web site). There are numerous species of "wave" moths but only this species shows the combination of a black spot in each wing, three wavy lines toward the wing edges, another wavy line running almost through the black spots and a (faint) fifth line inboard.

This is the ichneumon wasp Amblyteles armatorius.

A close-up of a male Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax.

This small critter is a Little Snipe Fly Chrysopilus asiliformis. Often the eyes appear a vivid green. Either the angle is wrong or it was the dull conditions in light drizzle that means it does not show well – a hint around the edges only.

With many other interesting things photographed recently it is a while since I showed a Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus. This is a male with an unusual amount of brown showing on the abdomen. It cannot be a female as she would have a much broader body with her eyes very well separated on each side of the head.

Another view of one of the long-legged flies Dolichopus ungulatus (or similar).

This is probably a spear-winged fly from the genus Lonchoptera. These are not well-depicted on the internet and noted as variable in colouration.

Another new(ly identified?) species for me. It is the smallest in blowfly group and Melanomya nana. The tapering and hairy abdomen, the dark leading edge to the wings and the, relatively, large eyes all point to this species.

On one of the West end street lamp poles around dawn was this mirid bug, probably Phytocoris longipennis. I have asked the Shropshire recorder to confirm. As usual there are similar species. This will be a new species for me whatever it is.

A Rough-haired Lagria Beetle Lagria hirta.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

The dreaded childish scribblers have defiled even more of the wall.

Moths:
- *1 Garden Grass-moth Chrysoteuchia culmella [was Garden Grass-veneer]

Flies:
- 12 midges of several species
- 1 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]

Arthropods:
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

On the ceiling of the tunnel I found this Garden Grass-moth Chrysoteuchia culmella. The wing markings here are as strong as any I can recall seeing on this variable species.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:00 – 07:00

(145th visit of the year)

The path across the bridges remains firmly shut.

Bird notes:
- many of the geese were moving around and with part of the path out of action it is very difficult to keep track of the them to give accurate counts,
- the Canada Goose gosling is now beginning to acquire the white chin-strap.
- eight Mute Swans noted. What I take to be the resident cob made a brief attempt to show the six visitors who was boss. They were largely unimpressed. The pen was just inside the island most of the time.
- *the duck Mallard with the six partly-grown ducklings was seen again. Another duck Mallard was noted with just one duckling, this also not a recent hatchling.
- three Great Crested Grebes with a pair seen displaying next to the reeds at the top end.

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 172 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese: see notes
- 89 Greylag Geese: see notes
- 8 Mute Swans: see notes
- *22 + 7 (2 broods) Mallard: see notes
- 9 (7♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 25 adult and immature Coots: one of these a small juvenile
- 3 Great Crested Grebes

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers noted (the number in brackets refers to birds singing):
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff only
- 3 (3) Blackcaps

Noted around the area:

Moths:
- 10 Garden Grass-moth Chrysoteuchia culmella [was Garden Grass-veneer]
- 1 Treble Brown Spot Idaea trigeminata

Hoverflies:
- >10 Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus

Other flies:
- *1 soldier fly Broad Centurian Chloromyia formosa
- 1 Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus
- *1 Tiger Cranefly Nephrotoma flavescens

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

Mrs. Mallard with all her six duck(ling)s in a row.

The lone duckling at the other end of the water. I could not work out which of a dozen scruffy-looking moulting Mallard might be this duckling's mother.

A small fly with a gleaming green thorax. It is the soldier fly Broad Centurian Chloromyia formosa. I tried to find out why the species scientific name is "formosa" - seems a long way from home. Apparently it is because the fly's larvae feed exclusively on the roots of Leycesteria formosa, a plant native to China and Tibet and widely grown in (and escaped from) gardens in the UK. Incidentally the genus name "Chloromyia" comes from Greek roots "chloros" (green) and "myia" (fly) [this illustrates why it is more correct to use the term "scientific name" rather than "Latin name" in species' nomenclature].

A female Tiger Cranefly Nephrotoma flavescens. Yes I know tigers are striped. I didn't name it!

A Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp. silhouetted against the identification label on one of the street lamp poles around the area. The contrast makes it difficult to show the abdomen markings.

(Ed Wilson)

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2009
Priorslee Lake
Yellow Wagtail
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Common Tern
(Ed Wilson)