4 Jun 18

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  07:35 – 09:40
The Flash:  07:15 – 07:30 // 09:45 – 10:05

c.15.0C > c.16.0°C:  Had been a clear but hazy blue sky at Newport: not here – low cloud yet again. Light N / NE wind. Moderate visibility.

Sunrise: 04:49 BST

Priorslee Lake:  07:35 – 09:40

(68th visit of the year)

One of the anglers told me that the weed will be cut in the water this week. I have rather mixed views about this. Certainly the weed needs management. As the chemicals previously used are now banned by the EU, then cutting seems the only option. Making the water more navigable due to less fouling of the speedboat propellers is something the wildlife could probably do without

Notes from today:
- Buzzard seen circling low over carrying prey – perhaps a rat sp. as it seemed to have a long tail
- just 5 Great Crested Grebes today. Some possibly left due to the weekend disturbance on the water
- juvenile Blue and Great Tits seen and, mainly, heard
- scolding noises from a Common Whitethroat suggested juveniles nearby: not seen
- another new singing location for a Reed Warbler today: some are close-enough that it is hard to establish exactly how many different birds involved
- three Reed Bunting territories with male seen carrying food at one of them
and
- a Painted Lady butterfly warming on the stones of the dam: a species I failed to log here last year
- a Figure of Eighty moth on one of the lamps
- the following moths flushed from the vegetation
- >5 Yellow-barred Longhorn (Nemophora degeerella)
- 1 Straw Dot
- 1 Timothy Tortrix (Aphelia paleana)
- 1 Silver-ground Carpet
- many damselflies with the following species identified
- Common Blue Damselfly
- Blue-tailed Damselfly
- the following hoverfly
- Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade hoverfly)
- several species of beetle including
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)
- Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis)
- several species of crane fly
- Common Crane-fly (Tipula oleracea)
- Limonia phragmitidis
- Tiger Cranefly (Nephrotoma flavescens)
- Epiphragma ocellare
with
- 100's of Black Snipe flies (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- a presumed Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)
- Bramble Sawfly (Arge cyanocrocea)
- a digger wasp sp
- the usual Common stretch-spiders (Tetragnatha extensa)
- plenty of slugs and snails including a possible Glossy Glass Snail (Oxychilus navarricus)
- a dead Common Carp in the water: a frequent occurrence from natural causes after the exertion of spawning
- too many mosquitoes!!!

New species of flowering plants noted today
- Woody Nightshade or Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara)
- probable Broad-leaved Willowherb (Epilobium montanum) just opening
- presumed Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa)
also worth noting is that while not new Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) is now taking over as the dominant umbellifer as the flowers of Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) fade

Today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over / near the lake:
- 12 Canada Geese [2 outbound; 10 inbound]
- 1 Herring Gull
- 3 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Starlings

Hirundines seen today
- 3 Common Swifts
- 3 House Martins

Warblers noted: figure in brackets is singing birds (not all the males seen might have been singing)
- 8 (7) Chiffchaffs
- 10 (9) Blackcaps
- 2 (2) Garden Warblers
- 3 (2) (Common) Whitethroats
- 8 (8) Reed Warblers

The counts from the lake area
- 4 + 8 (2) Mute Swans
- 1 Canada Goose
- 8 (8?) Mallard
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- no Moorhens again
- 19 + 3 (2 broods) Coots

Much under exposed and much over-enlarged but I think we can see that this Buzzard is likely carrying a rat – the tail hanging down seems too long for any sort of vole.

One day it will be bright-enough to get a decent shot: meanwhile another singing Garden Warbler in the gloom.

A Painted Lady butterfly warming itself on a stone.

Here we see the underwing pattern as well – it was not entirely happy with my presence and kept closing its wings.

This is a Figure of Eighty moth on one of the lamps. I recall that in South America there is a genus of butterfly with the generic name ‘88’ after a very similar wing marking. Perhaps a ‘print through’ from a camouflage of the caterpillar?

This is a rather better photo of a more cooperative Straw Dot moth. There are in fact two dots in each wing marking. This species is smaller than many micro moths but is classified with the macro moths and hence has an established vernacular name.

A female Blue-tailed Damselfly

This seems to be the Black Snipe fly (Chrysopilus cristatus). There were 100s of them this morning.

I said there were a lot.

A Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) of the form succinea. This invasive species seems to be dominant almost everywhere these days.

This is a Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis). New species for me that is quite distinctive.

While this is a Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva).

With its yellow ‘shoulders’ this is the crane-fly Limonia phragmitidis.

This seems to be a Tiger Cranefly (Nephrotoma flavescens).

This is a not brilliant photo of the crane fly Epiphragma ocellare (no vernacular name). A new species for me.

After some helpful hints, I am now convinced this a Bramble Sawfly (Arge cyanocrocea). I was wondering why so many of the hawthorns look rather moth-eaten – not caterpillars but sawfly larvae.

This may be a Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria) though I would expect the thorax to be rather more marked than is shown here.

This looks like a digger wasp sp. but with the wings folded over its markings hard to say more. There seems to be a severed head of a nasty-looking fly on the leaf – a prey item?

These flowers just opening are from a willowherb. I think Broad-leaved Willowherb (Epilobium montanum) – must remember to photograph leaves in future!

The first flowers of Woody Nightshade or Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara). Toxic but not dangerously so.

Not sure I photographed this species earlier this year: all around the lake is Wood Avens (Geum urbanum).

I get very confused with orchids. Most of the spikes around the lake are on orchids with spotted leaves. Close to the S shore are a few of these orchids with plain leaves. I believe them to be Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa). (Previously I thought them Early Marsh Orchid but the lip of the flower is the wrong shape).

This seems to be a glass snail shell, perhaps the Glossy Glass Snail (Oxychilus navarricus) ....

... but as there is no-one home, identification is hard (my life-line on display for anyone who cares to read it!).

This deformity is caused by a rust fungus though by which species I am unsure.

Dead in the water. A not-infrequent occurrence post-spawning. A Common Carp.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  07:15 – 07:30 // 09:45 – 10:05(51st visit of the year)

notes from today
- when I passed by early there were three pairs of Tufted Duck. When I returned I could find only the 3 drakes and 2 ducks that I have noted for some days. Whether this means that the duck went back to sitting on eggs on the island (as I would hope); or whether there was an extra pair, time might tell
- 5 broods of Coots again this morning: one of these with 5 new juveniles was a newly-hatched brood with Saturday’s newly-hatched brood not located today
also
- a Small Phoenix moth on one of the lamps
- fish, presumably carp sp., were noted fighting and spawning
- I am told that at least two Terrapin sp. have emerged from their hibernation

birds noted flying over
- 3 Feral Pigeons
- 1 Wood Pigeon
- 2 Jackdaws

hirundines etc. seen today
- 2 Swifts to the N again
- 2 Barn Swallows remain on wires to the N
- 4 House Martins

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

the counts from the water
- 1 Mute Swan
- Greylag Geese heard from inside the island
- 42 Canada Geese seen: other(s) heard from inside the island
- 6 (5?) + 7 (1 brood) Mallard
- 6 (3?) Tufted Ducks (see notes)
- no Great Crested Grebes
- no Moorhens again
- 19 + 15 (5 broods) Coots

Not a great photo of a drake Tufted Duck, included to show that the white flanks are already being sullied with grey as the bird moults out of breeding plumage.

This different drake has less grey on the hind flanks but we see it has pretty much lost its ‘tuft’.

This moth is a Small Phoenix – a common moth whose caterpillars feed on willowherbs. My first here for many years.

Noted between the lake and The Flash
- an adult Moorhen with a well-grown juvenile on the grass by the upper pool
- 1 Blackcap singing above the upper pool
- a clump of fungus sp. alongside the upper part of the Wesley Brook

A fresh batch of fruiting bodies of an unidentified fungus. Well-eaten side-elevation

Plan view. Does not help me identify them.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2012
Holmer Lake
Black Swan
(Marilyn Morton)