2 Jun 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 08:00
The Flash:  08:05 – 08:55

15.0°C > 16.0°C:  Cloudy at medium / high level. Some spots of rain after 07:00. Light SE breeze. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:51 BST

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 08:00

(144th visit of the year)

Spoke too soon. The remaining verges have more or less been mown (on a Saturday!). If it is an attempt to make the place look tidy (wildlife hates tidy) then it has failed. There are several bits missed and the ‘difficult’ bits left. Grass cuttings are all over the paths as well lying on the grass. Perhaps a man with a strimmer will yet destroy the rest of the flowers?

Bird notes from today
- Six House Martins seen over the estate and a pair(?) of these seen inspecting the under-apex of a roof along Teece Drive, presumably as a possible nest site.
- House Sparrows seem to have taken up residence in the Holy Trinity Academy grounds. How will they react to ‘back to school’ tomorrow?
- Family party of Reed Buntings seen with two barely fledged juveniles more or less running along the ground, wings flapping hard without yet achieving lift-off.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 2 Canada Geese (outbound)
- 2 Cormorants
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 11 Feral Pigeons
- 11 Wood Pigeons
- 46 Jackdaws
- 51 Rooks
- 4 Starlings

Hirundines etc. noted:
- >8 Swifts
- 3 Barn Swallows
- 5 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 6 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 19 (18) Blackcaps again
- 5 (4) Garden Warblers
- [no (Common) Whitethroats]
- 1 Sedge Warbler
- 7 (7) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 4 Greylag Geese (arrived and departed)
- 11 (10♂) + 2 (1 brood) Mallard
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes still
- 2 Moorhens
- 22 + 17 (7 broods) Coots
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull (both briefly)

Again nothing on the lamp poles pre-dawn. The LED lights are not attracting anything much – moths or other creatures

Seen later:
- >10 Timothy Tortrix moths (Zelotherses paleana)
- 8 Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata) [my highest-ever day-total]
- 1 Yellow-barred Longhorn moth (Nemophora degeerella)
- 1 female Black Snipe fly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- 1 Garden Snail (Cornu aspersum aka Helix aspersa)
- >8 pipistrelle-type bats
- >2 noctule-type bats
- >3 bats of a third species: larger than pipistrelle with twisting flight between trees
I need a bat detector to sort these out. Anyone got one?
- 1 Grey Squirrel

A flotilla of cygnets with mum following on behind. 

This male Reed Bunting had just ushered two barely-fledged juveniles out of harm’s way. 

Yellow-barred Longhorn seems an appropriate name for this small moth (Nemophora degeerella). The breeze was rather blowing the long antenna around – as well as the grass-stem on which the moth was resting. My 24th moth species here in 2019.

Here is a female of what is sometimes called Black Snipe fly (Chrysopilus cristatus). The male is all-black but as we see here the female has a creamy belly – the eyes do not meet indicating it is a female. The interweb has failed to tell me why in most flies only female eyes are ‘dichoptic’. (In some other families of flies both males and females are dichoptic.)

Nothing too exciting – a Garden Snail (Cornu aspersum aka Helix aspersa). Exciting or not, I do not see these very often. Not sure whether anyone is home.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  08:05 – 08:55

(137th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- Last year’s cygnet IS still here: it took a long while to find so it is clearly hiding much of the time.
- Greylag Geese were coming and going. At least 12 birds involved.
- Tufted Duck still getting hassle from one of the Coots.
and
- 1 Lunar Marbled Brown moth (Drymonia ruficornis) on a lamp pole.
- 1 Terrapin sp. (Yellow-bellied Slider?).
- 2 Grey Squirrels.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 4 Swifts
- 6 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 2 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (2) Blackcaps

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 4 Mute Swans
- 12 Greylag Geese
- 18 Canada Geese
- 20 (15♂) + 13 (2 broods) Mallard
- 5 (3♂) Tufted Ducks again
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Moorhens only
- 19 + 9 (3 broods) Coots

As yesterday one of the Coots was getting very aggressive with the Tufted Ducks – here chasing a drake Tuftie away. The Canada Goose remains unimpressed or aloof – or both.

The Coot rather got its comeuppance when the cob Mute Swan came along with the cygnets. 

Here we see a Lunar Marbled Brown moth (Drymonia ruficornis). Strangely this is in almost the same position on the same lamp pole as I noted one between 30 March and 02 April this year. Since this species has only one generation each year could it be the same specimen? Separate from the closely-related Marbled Brown moth by the dark mark in the white band across the wing – this mark is often shaped rather like a crescent moon.

The local character – a terrapin sp., likely a Yellow-bellied Slider. Its previous sunbathing spot was usurped by the swan’s nest. I relocated the terrapin this morning at a site where it is unlikely to get much direct sunlight.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2006
Priorslee Lake
Cuckoo