11 Jul 18

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake: 05:25 – 06:30 // 07:20 – 09:40
The Flash: 06:35 – 07:10

12°C > 18°C: Cloudless. Light ENE wind. Good visibility with some haze
Sunrise: 04:58 BST

Absolute highlight was the Cuckoo that flew SE across the lake at 08:20 leaving me too ‘speechless’ to get a grab shot with the camera. My first sighting here for many, many years. Some 20 years ago this species could be heard on Spring passage most years here or at The Flash. More recently there have been a few observations at Nedge Hill. None of the records has been this late in the year. I guess if the country saying is correct – ‘in July away he flies’ – then this bird was off to Africa

Priorslee Lake: 05:25 – 06:30 // 07:20 – 09:40

(82nd visit of the year)

Another highlight here this morning: a dead Mole was found on the grass path at the W end. The first animal I can recall seeing here even if it was dead. Hard to know why it had died – just a small amount of blood but no obvious lesions. Perhaps the ground is too hard even for its prodigious feet!

Bird notes from today:
- again only the ‘new’ pair of Mute Swans and their cygnets seen today. These did not emerge until 08:20. So where are the residents
- the party of Mallard ducklings was a surprise
- 2 Swifts raced through at 05:30 and then presumably the same two at c.05:45. No more sightings
- >20 House Martins were high over the estate to the NW at 06:30. It is assumed that some of these were the birds over the W end of the water at c.09:00

Today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull again
- 1 Stock Dove
- 15 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Jackdaws
- 4 Starlings
- 1 Cuckoo

Hirundines etc. seen today
- 2 Swifts again
-1 Barn Swallow
- >20 House Martins

Warblers noted: figure in brackets is singing birds
- 3 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 12 (10) Blackcaps
- 1 (0) Garden Warblers
- 2 (1) (Common) Whitethroats
- 3 (2) Reed Warblers

The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 3 (1) Mute Swans again (see notes)
- 15 (14♂) + 7 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 Grey Heron, briefly
- 5 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes again
- 3 + 1 Moorhens again
- 49 + 25 (13? broods) Coots
- 12 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Interesting insects, at least partly identified

Notes
- the fine weather brought out many butterflies with my first Essex Skippers, Large White and Gatekeepers here this year. Surprisingly no Meadow Browns as yet
- a good morning for dragonflies with Emperor and Black-tailed Skimmer both new for the year
- many bees and hoverflies on the knapweed

- butterflies seen
- 2 Essex Skippers
- several other skipper sp.
- 1 Large White
- >20 Green-veined Whites
- 1 Red Admiral
- 2 Speckled Woods
- 2 Gatekeepers
- 3 Ringlets
- moths flushed from the vegetation [both new species for the year here]
- 1 unidentified grass moth
- >15 Olive Pearl (Udea olivalis)
- 1 Shaded Broad-bar
- >10 Cinnabar moth caterpillars
- damselflies / dragonflies
- >50 Common Blue Damselflies
- >3 Blue-tailed Damselflies
- 3 Emperor Dragonflies
- 1 Black-tailed Skimmer
- hoverflies
- >20 Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade Hoverfly)
- 1 Eristalis pertinax (Tapered Drone-fly)
- >2 other Eristalis sp.
- >2 Melanostoma scalare (Chequered Hoverfly)
- 2 Volucella pellucens (Pellucid Fly)
- 1 possible Scaeva pyrastri (Pied Hoverfly) [would be new for me]
- no flies etc. specifically identified today
- several bee sps. including
- >1 Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- possible Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
- beetles and bugs
- >30 Rhagonycha fulva (Hogweed Bonking-beetle / Common Red Soldier Beetle)
- 1 Common Green Shield Bug (Palomena prasina) instar
- ‘pill’ bug sp.
- spiders noted
- 1 black spider sp
- the same Leiobunum rotundum (harvestman)

New species of flowering plants
- White Campion (Silene latifolia formerly Melandrium album)
- Common (or Perforate) St. John's-wort (Hypericum perforatum)

At last: now I have transport again to see the sunrise over the lake.

The duck Mallard any two of her brood of seven. Could not get closer without flushing them from their resting place.

The early light makes the colour a bit strange: one of the adult Great Crested Grebes (with freshly gelled hair?) and two juveniles.

One juvenile aboard and another scrambling on.

A species surprisingly difficult to photograph. While apparently bold, Magpies are at the same time wary and at the first sign of a camera are usually tail-on going away. This rather scruffy juvenile has yet to learn.

This rather scruffy male Blackcap was signing away. Looks to have had a busy breeding season.

A juvenile Whitethroat. Note the ‘blurry’ plumage and loose feather. Also a hint of a yellow gape and the incomplete eye-ring. Adults have redder eyes. Not sure about the ‘zip’ down the front. On all my photos of this bird.

A Greenfinch.

And a Goldfinch.

New for the year for me was this skipper. It is a female and so lacks the scent gland in the wing which helps separate Small from Essex Skipper. However I think the antenna tips are black-enough for this to be an Essex Skipper – a species no longer confined to the South-East.

And this is a male with the scent gland parallel with the wing-edge – on Small Skipper it is at an angle.

This is why the Ringlet butterfly is so-called.

A rather scruffy Speckled Wood.

New for the year was this Gatekeeper – the double white-spots in the ‘eye’ on the forewing is diagnostic.

A Large White butterfly. They are yellow-toned when fresh. From the underside this species can only be separated from Small White by size – not helpful in a photo.

A rather better shot of the macro moth Olive Pearl (Udea olivalis).

These rugby-shirted caterpillars will turn in to Cinnabar moths. Here eating their favourite food – Ragwort. Since this plant is somewhat poisonous to many species – not these caterpillars! – their colouration serves as a warning for anything that might want to eat them.

When they are as sharp and clear as this then another Common Blue Damselfly photo is called for.

A Black-tailed Skimmer at rest on the very dry grass.

A Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade hoverfly) feasting on the stamen / stigma (I wish I had paid attention in botany at school) of a Convolvulus sp. flower – probably Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis).

I am fairly certain this really small bug is an instar nymph of the Common Green Shield Bug (Palomena prasina).

Another unidentified bug.

This is a beetle rather than a bug. There are a number of small ‘pill’ bugs ranging from black through blue and green. The colour seen depends on the angle of light. ID is not possible from this photo.

Cannot make out much on this small black spider sp. or what it is doing. Is that a small moth ahead?

The dead mole: we see a small amount of blood but no real injury obvious.

Note those, relatively, huge digging claws.

I made a deliberate attempt to see what was feeding on the Common (or Black; or Lesser) Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) today. I cannot identify all the visitors but this seems to be that rather scruffy-looking species, the Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum).

 Here it is again.

Another bee – the length of the antenna means it cannot be a hoverfly. I think this might be a Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum). This species is a recent arrival in the UK and spreading north very quickly.

And another bee.

And another.

This is a Scaeva pyrastri (or Pied Hoverfly).

Another hoverfly – one of the Drone Flies (Eristalis sp.).

No mistaking that this drone fly is an Eristalis pertinax (Tapered Drone-fly) – though it is on Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium).

And here a Small Skipper butterfly poking its long tongue to get the nectar.

A very fresh Green-veined White still showing the ‘green’ edging to the veins.

A new flower for the year – Common (or Perforate) St. John's-wort (Hypericum perforatum).

And these too attract visitors: here an Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade hoverfly).

Also new for me this year was White Campion (Silene latifolia formerly Melandrium album).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:35 – 07:10

(65th visit of the year)

The large Ash tree at the bottom of squirrel alley has been suffering from Chalara dieback of Ash (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) for several years and this year just a few spindly branches carried any leaves. I suppose the tree has to go: any limbs that fall would do so on to a public path and potentially the school grounds of Priorslee Academy. That seems some years away yet to my inexpert eye. It has been exploited as a nesting and feeding site for Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and Tree Creepers

A report from one of the locals of ‘another dead goose’ with the Mute Swan the presumed culprit. However the cob seems to be taking little or no interest in the cygnets, leaving all the duties to the pen

Other notes from today
- just two groups of juvenile Mallards located this morning: many birds sitting on edge of island – with probably more inside. Also much overhanging vegetation for them to hide behind
and
- my first wasps of the year noted here

Birds noted flying over or flying near The Flash
- 4 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. seen today
- 4 House Martins again

Warblers noted: (singing birds in brackets)
- 1 (1) Blackcap

The counts from the water
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 100 Greylag Geese exactly
- 109 Canada Geese
- 14 (12♂) + 9 (2 broods) Mallard
- 13 (?♂) + 9 (1 brood) Tufted Ducks
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes again
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 20 + 11 (5 broods) Coots
- 6 Black-headed Gulls

The Mute Swan and four cygnets – certainly not the missing birds from the lake as the cygnets are too small.

A better (but not best shot) of the Tufted Duck with her nine ducklings. Note the water droplets on their backs – they seem to come out of the egg able to dive for food.

Continuing the ‘with juveniles’ theme here are the three Great Crested Grebe juveniles with a parent.

At extreme range the other parent brings a small fish while two of the juveniles sleep on.

The large Ash at the bottom of Squirrel alley is being taken down.

And here is the Nuthatch in the remnants of the tree – its nest site for many years.

Of interest between the lake and The Flash
- Moorhens heard calling from the lower pool only

(Ed Wilson)

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

2013
Nedge Hill
Redstart
(John Isherwood)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Sandwich Tern
Common Tern
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
5 Shelduck
(Ed Wilson)