17 Jun 16

The Flash: 07:00 – 07:20
Location

Sunrise: remains 04:44 BST

13°C – 14°C Initially some breaks, especially to E, but soon clouded. Light N wind again. Good visibility

(65th visit of the year)

Notes
- the geese were all around and inside the island: true numbers likely to be higher
- Coots included another new brood: no sign of any juveniles from the earlier broods
- two days since the Willow Warbler’s re-appearance: or was it just passing?
- 1 Grey Wagtail again – seemed to be a juvenile, but rather distant

Birds noted flying over
None

Hirundines etc. seen here today
- 3 Common Swifts
- 1 House Martin (heard only)

Warblers seen / heard around the water: numbers in brackets are singing birds
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff again
- 3 (3) Blackcaps

The counts from the water
- 2 + 6 Mute Swans
- 24 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose
- 167 Canada Geese
- 1 all white feral-goose
- 13 (13♂) Mallard
- 3 (2♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Great Crested Grebe remains
- 2 Moorhens
- 16 +3 (1 brood) Coots

(Ed Wilson)

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Priorslee Lake: 07:25 – 09:25
Location

(100th visit of the year!!!!)
Notes
- the over flying Lesser Black-backed Gull was stretching the definition somewhat: it was seen circling at extreme range
- no sign of either of the Great Crested Grebe adults with juveniles this morning – staying tucked up in the reeds?
- my first juvenile Moorhens of the year here
- the number of Rooks swelled by a loose group of 53 birds
- again small numbers of Swifts, Swallows and House Martins put in only fleeting and / or distant appearances
- a juvenile Blackcap seen
and
- better moth catch on the lamps: 3 moths all on the same lamp – Common Marbled Carpet, Riband Wave and the micro moth Udea olivalis (aka Olive Pearl): all new for the year
- another moth in the Priorslee Avenue foot-tunnel – a Grey Pug
- 5 Common Marble (Celypha lacunana) micro moths flushed
- 1 Anthophila fabriciana (Common Nettle-tap) at rest
- both Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselflies seen in small numbers
- Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis) seen
- new plants identified included Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica), and what seems to be White Mignonette (Reseda alba)

Counts of birds flying over the lake (in addition to those on / around lake)
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Feral Pigeon again
- 5 Wood Pigeons
- 7 Jackdaws
- 83 Rooks
- 2 Starlings
- 1 Goldfinch

Hirundines etc. seen here today
- 5 Swift
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 5 House Martins

Warblers seen / heard around the lake: numbers in brackets are singing birds
- 6 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 12 (10) Blackcaps
- 2 (2) Garden Warblers
- 6 (5) Reed Warblers again

The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 1 Mute Swans
- 14 (11♂) + 2 duckling Mallard
- 5 (3♂) Tufted Duck again
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 37 + 4 juveniles (3 broods) Coots

A Mistle Thrush: the extent of the pale edging on the wing coverts suggests this is a juvenile (the adults share the pale edges to the primaries)

Pug moths are always hard and this made more difficult both by location – on the roof of the foot-tunnel; and by its general scruffy and worn appearance. But I am pretty certain this is a Grey Pug.

This is easier: a Common Marbled Carpet of the typical brown form.

This is the first of this year’s Riband Wave moths: the leading cross-line is not usually so prominent and on most specimens it appears there are only two lines. On some specimens the area between these two lines is dark brown but in Shropshire this form is in the minority.

Rather over-flashed I am afraid: this is classified as a micro moth and is Udea olivalis (aka Olive Pearl).

Probably by best effort to date with the micro moth Celypha lacunana (Common Marble). The green blob in front of it seems to be an unrelated secretion.

Cannot really identify bees: its relatively small size (for a bumble bee) and the slightly different tone between the collar and the 2nd abdominal segment suggests Bombus pratorum though the collar looks rather too wide. Sadly we cannot see the ‘tail’ colour so I will pass. The specimen was apparently ‘at rest’ in the cool and cloudy conditions.

A fox-coloured bee: probably Bombus pascuorum. Often slightly scruffy-looking with rather thin and long hairs.

This stretch spider caught my attention as it seemed more brightly coloured than the specimens I am used to seeing. But it seems it is ‘just’ the regular Common stretch-spider (Tetragnatha extensa) [also known as Long-jawed Orb-web Spider] with the females in particular being very variable in appearance.

The Ragwort is not yet quite in flower, yet ...

 ... the ants are already busy ‘cultivating’ the aphids – they ‘milk’ these for their sweet secretions.

A male Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis).

When I took the photo I was sure this was Red Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) but no: it is Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) – at least I was in the right family.

A different clump of plants in the open and here we see the hairy square stem.

Why are flowers so hard? There are too many! This clump was growing alongside Teece Drive where the disturbance was during the reconstruction of the road to access the Academy. It appeared to be White Mignonette (Reseda alba), a plant which I cannot recall ever knowing about much less having forgotten where I saw it!

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day in ...........

2006
Priorslee Lake
Just a single cygnet left
(Martin Adlam)