16 Jul 18

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake: 05:15 – 06:10 // 07:15 – 09:20
The Flash: 06:15 – 07:10

15°C > 21°C: Layer of barely broken medium/high cloud had spread almost all the way from the W late in the night and eventually covered all the sky. Light and variable wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:04 BST

Priorslee Lake: 05:15 – 06:10 // 07:15 – 09:20

(87th visit of the year)

Bird notes from today:
- the 2 Tufted Ducks flushed soon after I arrived: unable to sex them against the light
- my first Sparrowhawk record here since 27 May
- many fewer juvenile Coots for no obvious reason
- many more Wood Pigeons overhead today
- the Common Swifts sped W far to the N
- Green Woodpecker seen on the ground in the SE corner
- Jays seem to have a very successful breeding season with at least 7 individuals seen and possibly more heard
- Carrion Crows have nested successfully at both end of the lake. Several of the juveniles at the E end have very white / pale wings. It is not unknown for crows (never Rooks) to have white wing bars that usually wear off quickly (white feathers wear faster than black). But such extensive white / pale areas shown by these birds is unusual
- at least one of Barn Swallows was a juvenile

Today’s bird totals

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 2 Stock Doves
- 82 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Rooks

Hirundines etc. seen today
- 6 Common Swifts
- 3 Barn Swallows
- >18 House Martins

Warblers noted: figure in brackets is singing birds
- 4 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 12 (8) Blackcaps
- 3 (2) (Common) Whitethroat
- 5 (3) Reed Warblers

The counts from the lake area
- 2 + 3 (1) Mute Swans
- 25 (22♂) + 7 (1 brood) Mallard
- 2 (?♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron
- 6 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 5 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 49 + 21 (? broods) Coots
- 1 Common Sandpiper yet again
- 7 Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gull

And: interesting insects, at least partly identified
NB: the dull weather and making the circuit anti-clockwise both resulted in fewer insects
- butterflies seen
- 1 Large Whites
- 3 Green-veined Whites
- 1 Speckled Wood
- 2 Gatekeepers
- moths on the lamps
- 1 female Ghost Moth
- moths flushed from the vegetation
- many Agriphila straminella (Straw Grass-veneer) [grass moths]
- 3 Pale Straw Pearl (Udea lutealis)
- damselflies / dragonflies
- 5 Common Blue damselflies (again no other ‘blues’ noted)
- 1 hawker sp. dragonfly
- hoverflies
- 100s of Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade Hoverfly)
- a few Eristalis sp. (Drone flies), at least 1 a Eristalis pertinax (Tapered Drone-fly) again
- the only fly etc. specifically identified today
- 1 crane fly Nephrotoma flavipalpis
- several bee sps. not identified but
- beetles and bugs
- 3 Rhagonycha fulva (Hogweed Bonking-beetle / Common Red Soldier Beetle)
- 1 black-and-white legged bug sp
- no spiders noted
- snails etc
- empty shell of Smooth Glass Snail (Aegopinella nitidula)
- a Grey Squirrel along the N side and then heard cracking Hazel nuts

Two new species of flowering plant
- Gypsywort (Lycopus europaeus)
- Water Mint (Mentha aquatica)

At this time of year the sun rises well N of E and it is not easy to get a shot with the sunrise reflected in the water.

This morning the early view was almost better ‘the other way’ from the dam looking W.

Vestigial wings on the Mallard ducklings are just about visible. Mum gets some sleep.

Here we see one of the moulting drake Mallards and see just how ‘short’ the wings are. All the flight-feathers are dropped at the same time leaving the bird flightless – hence the rather drab plumage (the so-called eclipse plumage) at this time of year.

These two Tufted Ducks soon departed.

Moorhens do not often bring their young out on to open water.

‘Eyes left’ for the Lesser Black-backed Gulls! An adult and a worn probably 3rd summer bird.

Little and large #1: The Lesser Black-backed Gulls is perhaps thinking the Common Sandpiper might make a nice snack?

Here is that Common Sandpiper. The pale fringes to the back and coverts suggest this is a juvenile bird, hatched this summer somewhere north of us.

Still rather fluffy this juvenile Pied Wagtail.

One of those pesky grass moths: always a challenge – firstly to see them as they lurk in the grass; and then to separate several very similar species. The absence of any real markings suggests this is an Agriphila straminella (Straw Grass-veneer).

Another pesky grass moth. And I believe another Agriphila straminella (Straw Grass-veneer).

A rather better shot of a female Ghost Moth at rest on one of the lamps.

This bee sp. – perhaps ‘just’ a Honey Bee (Apis sp.) – was caught in a spider web. I did the decent thing and prevented the spider getting stung by releasing the bee.

The dark stigma in the wings separates this crane fly Nephrotoma flavipalpis from the otherwise similar Tiger Cranefly (Nephrotoma flavescens).

On the face of it this bug ought to be easy to identify: almost all black body; long antenna which it waved around as it ran around the vegetation; and striped legs. On the face of it ... Despite searching the myriad of (and myrid) bugs Here, I am no nearer a conclusion.

Nobody at home but I think the shell of a Smooth Glass Snail (Aegopinella nitidula).

Another ‘new’ flower with a square stem and rings of flowers where the leaves meet the stems.

The flowers are attractive in close-up. This is Gypsywort (Lycopus europaeus).

And another plant new for the year. This is Water Mint (Mentha aquatica).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:15 – 07:10

(70th visit of the year)

A Green Woodpecker was heard calling from the copse next to the dentist surgery and became my 65th species here this year

Other notes from today
- the pen Mute Swan was with the cygnets on the island with the youngsters all huddled up asleep: certainly I could make out 3, but ...
- probably this will be the last time I can separate the original group of 7 Mallard ducklings – they are now so advanced that it is only because they are still keeping together with their mother that they can they be identified
- a Grey Heron seen: probably not the bird that left the lake: that flew off E
- the Little Grebe seems to have gone
- the party of 32 Feral Pigeons were in a tight group, probably Racing Pigeons, headed S
also
- a Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) running along the N end

Birds noted flying over or flying near The Flash
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 32 Feral Pigeons
- 8 Wood Pigeons

Hirundines etc. seen today
- 6 Common Swifts
- 12 House Martins

Warblers noted: (singing birds in brackets)
- 1 (0) Chiffchaff once more

The counts from the water
- 2 + 3? Mute Swans
- 65 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose
- 110 Canada Geese
- 14 (11♂) + 14 (3 broods) Mallard
- 19 (?♂) + 8 (1 brood) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes still
- 3 Moorhens
- 17 + 13 (6? broods) Coots
- 22 (no juveniles) Black-headed Gulls

'Little and large’ #2: Wood Pigeon and Goldfinch share a TV antenna.

Of interest between the lake and The Flash
- juvenile Moorhen seen on the upper pool
- in addition to all the Jays seen at the lake there were two more on roofs of houses in the estate alongside the path
- two Blackcaps heard calling around the pools
- no fewer than three moths on the roof of the tunnel: a Grey Pug; a Willow Beauty and a Riband Wave

In the estate alongside the path between the lake and The Flash I noted this Jay on a house roof. Not something you see every day. There were very many Jays flying around today.

This is the Willow Beauty moth on the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel.

I could not get too much detail from this small moth but I am almost certain it is a Grey Pug.

Safer ground here: this is a Riband Wave moth. It is a rather unusual specimen in that the middle wing band is rather indistinct, especially on the left wing. Normally the band is either present or not – more often not in Midlands populations.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's report Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Report Here

2013
Priorslee Flash
Oystercatcher
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 drake Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)