2 Jun 18

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake: 07:35 – 10:10
The Flash: 07:10 – 07:30 // 10:15 – 10:35

c.15.0°C > c.16.0°C: Mainly cloudy at much higher-level than recent days: even a few blue bits early. Drizzle until c.07:45. Light W wind. Very good visibility

Sunrise: 04:51 BST

Neither yesterday’s afternoon thunderstorm that flooded Newport and Telford nor this morning’s heavy shower in Newport had affected Priorslee at all

Priorslee Lake: 07:35 – 10:10

(67th visit of the year)

Notes from today:
- very confused about the number of Great Crested Grebes today. The same two pairs as yesterday throughout. Single birds near the usual nest sites in the NW and N. One bird seen in flight leaving and then returning was in addition. Also two other(?) birds seen in flight and apparently leaving
- two parties of juvenile Coots seen, both new for me. One party with a single well-grown individual; and another with three small juveniles. The better weather encouraged birds to come out of the reeds today
- a party of 5 Black-headed Gulls flew noisily W at 08:20; another 2 were circling high over at 08:50. This is rather early for birds to be moving back from their breeding areas
- a Lesser Whitethroat singing from along the S side. This could be a new arrival but I think more likely the re-establishment of a breeding territory between broods. These birds can be very quiet once paired
- the number of Reed Warblers continues to increase with new territories with singing birds

and
- the following moths flushed from the vegetation
- >5 Yellow-barred Longhorn (Nemophora degeerella)
- >2 Straw Dots (new for the year)
- >5 Timothy Tortrix (Aphelia paleana) (also new for the year)
- 4 Silver-ground Carpets
- 1 Blood-vein
- 1 Burnet Companion
with
- white seemed to be a Silver Y moth wrapped in a spider-web
- many 100s of damselflies with the following species identified
- Common Blue Damselfly
- Blue-tailed Damselfly
- Azure Damselfly
with
- a big hatch of unidentified tenerals
- the following hoverflies
- Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade hoverfly)
- Volucella pellucens (Pellucid Fly)
- Eristalis sp. (drone fly not specifically identified)
- two species of bumblebee
- Bombus hortorum (Garden Bumblebee)
- Bombus lapidarius (Red-tailed Bumblebee)
- two species of beetle, both new for me
- Cantharis rustica (Sailor Beetle)
- Clytus arietis (Wasp Beetle)
with
- Black Snipe flies (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis): new for me this year
- the usual Common stretch-spiders (Tetragnatha extensa)
- a crab spider, apparently a completely different morph of Misumena vatia
- several mosquitoes enjoying me again

New species of flowering plants noted today
- Common Spotted Orchid (Orchis (Dactylorhiza) fuchsii)
- Cleavers (Galium aparine)

Today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over / near the lake:
- 7 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Jackdaws

Hirundines seen today
- 2 Common Swifts
- 2 House Martins again

Warblers noted: figure in brackets is singing birds (not all the males seen might have been singing)
- 6 (6) Chiffchaffs
- 13 (11) Blackcaps
- 3 (3) Garden Warblers still
- 1 (1) Lesser Whitethroat
- 1 (1) (Common) Whitethroat
- 10 (8) Reed Warblers

The counts from the lake area
- 4 + 8 (2) Mute Swans again
- 10 (10♂) Mallard
- >7 Great Crested Grebes (see notes)
- no Moorhens
- 22 + 4 (2 broods) Coots

A family portrait of the new brood of three cygnets with a foot-waving adult.

As noted in the narrative several Great Crested Grebes went a-flying. Here is one of them.

A Mistle Thrush collecting food – left side.

And the right side!

Another view of a Yellow-barred Longhorn (Nemophora degeerella) moth. Not quite sure why this shows ‘cow horn’ antenna.

A plain moth with a yellow suffusion around the ‘shoulders’ identifies Timothy Tortrix (Aphelia paleana): new for the year.

One of the Straw Dot moths in the vegetation: also new for the year.

This is a Burnet Companion moth so-called because this day-flying moth flies at a similar date to burnet moths. It is several years since I have see burnet moths here. Only my second record here.

Hard to be sure but this seems to be a Silver Y moth having been wrapped up by a Common stretch-spider (Tetragnatha extensa). Its a jungle out there.

A male Common Blue Damselfly: just one line on the side of the thorax is the easiest ID feature in this view.

A male Azure Damselfly. We can just about make out two lines on the side of the thorax but the easier ID feature from this angle is the U-shape mark on segment 2.

Here is a male Blue-tailed Damselfly. Obviously smaller and weaker in flight than the two previous species. Also just visible here is the two-coloured pterostigma (the mark in one of the outer forewing segments).

And a female.

A mating pair.

One of the emergent damselflies this morning. Still in teneral stage and I cannot ID it.

A different specimen with pronounced green wings. Enough breeze to make photography difficult I persuaded this on to my finger and then shielded it from the wind.

A portrait gallery of the Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade hoverfly) today. Here is one hovering at a buttercup flower.

And (a different specimen) settled.

When they close their wings the body markings are not often as easy to see as here and separation from similar species can be hard.

Another specimen on Cow Parsley.

And a side-elevation of the same specimen.

Not a bee this is the hoverfly Volucella pellucens (or Pellucid Fly).

Another buttercup visitor: this bumblebee sp. is likely Bombus lapidarius. Sometimes called Red-tailed Bumblebee, though there are several other candidates to use that name.

This bumblebee is likely Bombus hortorum and has been visiting the Yellow Flag (Iris pseudacorus) flowers. It is emerging covered in pollen. This bumble bee is often called the Garden Bumblebee.

A Black Snipe Fly (Chrysopilus cristatus).

My first Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis) of the year.

This beetle looks like Cantharis rustica, sometimes called a Sailor Beetle – to separate it from the similar Soldier Beetle (Cantharis livida). New for me here.

Another new beetle for me. This is Clytus arietis or Wasp Beetle.

Not easy to see for two reasons: its not as sharp and I would have liked and the legs of this crab spider are well camouflaged. I think this a very differently-marked specimen of Misumena vatia from the almost all-white individual seen yesterday.

Another plant with inconspicuous flowers is Cleavers (Galium aparine). We see the spines all over the leaves that makes this plant so ‘sticky’ – one way it reproduces is to get attached to passing creatures and then dropped elsewhere where it will freely root.

When I last photographed Common Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) it was hardly open. Here it is again.

Looks good in close-up even if it is only Red Clover (Trifolium pratense).

The orchids are just opening. This specimen was identified by the spots on its leaves and is therefore a Common Spotted Orchid (Orchis (Dactylorhiza) fuchsii).

This is the next group of leaves of Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) ....

In a few days it will look like this. Last year one grew alongside the Wesley Brook bridge and was chopped by the anglers as it was impeding their access. This year there are at least three growing here. It is said that contact with the leaves can produce a prolonged and painful burning rash – whether this means just the touching the leaves or from the sap from broken leaves I am unsure. I do not intend to find out!

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 07:10 – 07:30 // 10:15 – 10:35

(50th visit of the year)

A Grey Wagtail seen flying off the E side was my first here this year (they have been scarce at the lake as well). Brings my 2018 site bird total to 63

Notes from today
- 34 Canada Geese on the water when I passed en route to the lake. A group of 19 more came in from the N, circled around and left again. Perhaps some of these came back later and boosted the number on the water to 51 by the time I passed the other way
- just one group of Mallard ducklings located today
- the better weather seemed to encourage the Coots to bring all their juveniles on the water. There are still adults sitting on three other nests
- the 2 Barn Swallows on wires in Ashley Road again
also
- yesterday’s ‘clump of orchids’ seen in passing turned out to be a clump of Red Clover – oops!

Birds noted flying over
- 19 Canada Geese (see notes)
- 3 Cormorants together
- 2 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. seen today
- 2 Swifts to the N
- 2 Barn Swallows still to the N
- 1 House Martin

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

The counts from the water
- 1 Mute Swan
- 3 Greylag Geese
- 34 > 51 Canada Geese (see notes)
- 11 (9♂) + 7 (1 brood) Mallard
- 5 (3♂) Tufted Ducks still
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- no Moorhens
- 20 + 16 (5 broods) Coots

Noted between the lake and The Flash
- a Beautiful Demoiselle near the lower pool: surprisingly this is my first-ever record in the Priorslee area

(Ed Wilson)

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

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2006
Priorslee Lake
Cuckoo