30 May 18

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake: 07:35 – 09:00
The Flash: 07:10 – 07:30 // 09:05 – 09:25

c.13.0°C > c.14.0°C: Yet again a complete low overcast. Light N breeze. Poor visibility, moderate later.

Sunrise: 04:53 BST

Transport difficulties meant I was consigned to the mercies of Mr. Arriva and the times and routes of his buses. A late start and an abbreviated watch

Priorslee Lake: 07:35 – 09:00

(64th visit of the year)

Notes from today:
- the pair of Mute Swans in the NE area put 4 new cygnets in the water this morning. We will see how the two breeding pairs get on
- where do they all come from: another two Great Crested Grebes today
- no Common Terns
- new juvenile Blue Tits heard but not seen
- my later and shorter visit this morning was probably responsible for fewer Blackcaps heard singing
- probably a 2nd (Common) Whitethroat in song today. This was singing at a site where a bird was singing when this species first arrived. However it was not that far from the long-term bird and that bird remains rather restless and continues to sing, suggesting it has no mate
- Tree Creepers have been heard several days recently: today I saw an obvious adult and heard at least one other possible begging juvenile
- no Starlings around this morning: they do seem to leave the nesting areas for the countryside very soon after juveniles fledge. Against this I heard juveniles calling from nests in St. Georges

and
- at last: a moth on the lamps: my first-ever Grey Birch
- at least two Silver-ground Carpet moths flushed
- the usual horde of Common stretch-spiders (Tetragnatha extensa)
- two Larinioides cornutus spiders
- at least one Dusky Slug (Arion subfuscus)

The following plants added to previous sightings this month
- a single yet-to-open spike of an orchid: possibly an Early Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata)

Today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over / near the lake:
- 5 Wood Pigeons only

Hirundines seen today
- 2 Common Swifts
- 7 House Martins high over estate to NW

Warblers noted: figure in brackets is singing birds (not all the males seen might have been singing)
- 5 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 7 (7) Blackcaps
- 3 (3) Garden Warblers again
- 2 (2) (Common) Whitethroat
- 6 (6) Reed Warblers again

The counts from the lake area
- 6 + 9 (2) Mute Swans
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 7 Great Crested Grebes
- no Moorhens
- 18 + 1 (1 brood) Coots

This Silver-ground Carpet moth had the decency to land somewhere where I could photograph it. Not only that it was about as pristine a specimen as you could find.

I am fairly certain this is a Grey Birch moth – a new species for me, so I am not familiar with it.

Rather easier to see features of this stretch-spider against the background of a lamp-post than when amongst the nettles. However it reveals a different pattern on the back from the Common stretch-spider (Tetragnatha extensa) so it will have to remain spider sp.

A close-up of this spider which appears to be another Larinioides cornutus.

Damp conditions mean slugs and snails: here is a Dusky Slug (Arion subfuscus).

Positive ID of this orchid sp. will have to wait a few days until the spike opens. My first this year.

I spoke to the driver of this vehicle parked in the entrance to the lake. Seems that the drains under the academy and adjacent fields that drain in to the Wesley Brook (and hence the lake) at this point need some work. The driver was still awaiting further instructions. There was a pollution incident here some years ago though there is no obvious smell to suggest any further contamination.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 07:10 – 07:30 // 09:05 – 09:25

(47th visit of the year)

Notes from today
- the yellow-ring cob Mute Swan in the water today. Try as I might I cannot spot any mate on a nest inside the island
- duck Mallard still with 7 ducklings
- three broods of Coots in the water today. Still several birds sitting with the adult on the nest alongside Derwent Drive brooding protesting juveniles in a 4th brood
- >10 Swifts overhead with 4 House Martins above them – I think would have expected Swifts above the House Martins
- 2 Barn Swallows seen to N: in previous years this species seems to have bred in the smallholding alongside the A5 but I did not note them last year. Perhaps they are back

Birds noted flying over
- 1 Cormorant

Hirundines etc. seen today
- >10 Common Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows to N
- 4 House Martins

Warblers noted: figures in brackets is singing birds (not all the males seen might have been singing)
- 2 (1) Willow Warblers
- 1 (1) Blackcaps

The counts from the water
- 1 Mute Swan again
- 31 Canada Geese
- 10 (8♂) + 7 (1 brood) Mallard
- 5 (3♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Great Crested Grebe again
- no Moorhens again
- 17 + >8 (4 broods) Coots

Now the breeding season for them is more or less at the end these drake Mallard were loafing on the grass. Note that the left-most bird has already started to moult in to its ’eclipse’ plumage – a more cryptic plumage worn for a short while when it moults all its flight-feathers simultaneously and is therefore flightless.
Noted between the lake and The Flash
- 2 House Martins overhead
- 2 Blackcaps singing again: one at the lower lake; one above the upper pool

(Ed Wilson)

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

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Long Lane, Wellington
13 Ringed Plover
2 Dunlin
(JW Reeves)