27 Jun 19

Priorslee Lake [with Woodhouse Lane] and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:40 // 06:40 – 09:30
[Woodhouse Lane:  07:10 – 08:05]
The Flash:  05:45 – 06:35

11.0°C > 15.0°C:  Early overcast began to break at 05:00 and only completely clear after 09:00. Light E wind. Good visibility, becoming very good.

Sunrise: 04:47 BST

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:40 // 06:40 – 09:30

(160th visit of the year)

With the sun eventually breaking through there were many insects out later including four species of butterfly new for the year, as detailed below.

Bird notes from today
- At least some geese still have enough flight feathers to get around. The Greylag Geese looked smart as if they might have finished their moult. The Canada Geese, in contrast, were very scruffy.
- With better weather all the Coots seemed to be out and about with more adults and more juveniles than for many days.
- Two Black-headed Gulls were sitting on buoys by 04:20 and may well have roosted here. One was a full adult and this may have been the bird seen c.05:10 on the ‘football’ field.
- Song is really winding down now especially amongst the Blackcaps.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 8 Greylag Geese (4 outbound; same 4? inbound)
- 3 Canada Geese (outbound)
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Stock Dove
- 21 Wood Pigeons
- 48 Jackdaws
- 21 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- >15 Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 8 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 8 (6) Chiffchaffs
- 12 (9) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler again
- 3 (1) (Common) Whitethroats
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler yet again
- 7 (7) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 14 (11♂) + 2 (1 brood) Mallard
- 5 + >2 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 + 2 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 32 + 34 (8? broods) Coots
- 2 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Nothing on the lamp poles pre-dawn:

Seen later:
The usual multitude of flies of various species that I cannot begin to identify. Plus:
- The following butterflies (* = new for 2019 here)
- >5 *Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)
- 2 Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- >30 *Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- >5 *Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- 2 *Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
- The following moths
- 1 Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- 1 Silver-ground Carpet moth (Xanthorhoe montanata)
- 1 Shaded Broad-bar moth (Scotopteryx chenopodiata): my 31st moth species here this year
- The following dragon- / damsel flies (many 100s in total)
- Azure Damselfly
- Blue-tailed Damselfly
- Common Blue Damselfly
- at least 1 Red-eyed Damselfly
- The following hoverflies
- 1 Chrysotoxum bicinctum: my first since 2014
- >10 Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade hoverfly)
- >10 Melanostoma scalare (Chequered Hoverfly)
- >20 Syrphus sp. hoverflies
- 2 Volucella bombylans (Bee Hoverfly)
And
- 5 Harlequin Ladybirds adults: also 4 larvae
- >10 Black Snipe flies (Chrysopilus cristatus)

Look! Sun!!! As the cloud started to break up at last c.05:20.

The duck Mallard with her now well-grown ducklings bask on the dam-face.

Two Stock Doves on the ‘football’ field. They only ever seem to land here before any of the joggers and dog-walkers are active so the light is not great. We can see they are smaller, darker and short-tailed than Wood Pigeons, lacking the white neck-patch but having a dark band on the folded wing.

At the W end there were a couple of very noisy Chiffchaffs, calling continually. Here is one of them. We see the yellowish tones of a juvenile. The bill at this age is all dark. A juvenile Willow Warbler calls differently and would be more yellow overall.

And again.

Probably my best shot of a Silver-ground Carpet moth (Xanthorhoe montanata) and a rather atypical one at that. The centre ‘bar’ is more prominent than on many and the dark spot in the paler area is more pronounced. Most noticeable at the time were the two rather dark marks toward the outer edge of the wing which coincide with the marks that give the two species of twin-spot carpet their name. However the shape of the centre bar only fits Silver-ground Carpet and since it is in the same genus as one of the twin-spots perhaps the markings are not too surprising.

A rather splendid Large Skipper butterfly (Ochlodes sylvanus). Scarcely larger than Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) and identified by the dark marks on the wing spreading away from the trailing wing-edge. Small Skipper has a neat dark border only. A first here this year.

You wait for ages then two come along together! Another Large Skipper butterfly. 

And another! This a rather less-marked specimen. Note that all three are males – the diagonal black-streak in the wing is the males scent-gland for detecting the pheromones given off by the females.

This butterfly was my first Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) of the year.

While this butterfly is showing the markings that give it the name Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus). Also my first of the year.

Most specimens were happy to bask with wings akimbo when the name is not so appropriate.

To complete the butterfly list for today here is a Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria). Continuously brooded throughout the Spring, Summer and Autumn can be found from April to November.

This is a Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum). Note the long antenna.

This hoverfly is Chrysotoxum bicinctum: my first since 2014 and only my third-ever.

I have no idea what this insect is eating. It looks like a bumblebee but the dark marks in the (rather battered) wings tell us it is a Bee Hoverfly (Volucella bombylans). Had it not had a mouthful we would have been able to see the short antenna.

Share and share alike. Two Syrphus sp. – as usual I cannot tell which species even though there is a male (the eyes meet) and a female (the eyes do not meet).

It has been my best-ever year for Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma najas). Previous years I have seen them on at most two days. This year I saw my first on 30 May and this is my fifth sighting day.

A Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis), this ‘17-spot’ succinea form showing rather larger spots than is usual. It occurs to me that while the appearance of this invader and its ability to out-compete our resident species then as an aphid control it is doing quite well – I see many more ladybirds since the invasion of Harlequins than I have since I was a child.

Rather better than my attempt last week on a specimen up a lamp-pole here is a close-up of a Harlequin Ladybird larva.

This forget-me-not was growing right next to the lake and in boggy ground. I assumed it would be Water Forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpioides) but checking the literature the petals are the wrong shape. It seems most likely to be Wood Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica) which is more tolerant of wet conditions than Field Forget-me-not (Myosotis arvensis).

(Ed Wilson)

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Notes from Woodhouse Lane (07:10 – 08:05)

(20th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- >60 Wood Pigeons flushed out of fields as I entered the area.
- 2 non-singing Common Whitethroats near the sluice exit and some distance away from any nest site I am aware of. Dispersing juveniles? Was unable to get close-enough to check on age.
- A Greenfinch ‘singing’ again
also
- At least 1 Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui)
- Rosebay Willowherb or Fireweed flowers (Chamerion angustifolium) new for this year

Totals of ‘interesting’ species (singing birds)
- 1 (1) Coal Tit
- 3 (3) Skylarks
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff
- 1 (1) Blackcap
- 4 (2) (Common) Whitethroats
- no Song Thrushes
- 1 Pied Wagtail over
- 4 (3) Chaffinches
- 1 (1) Greenfinch
- 3 Goldfinches
- 2 Linnets over
- 6 (3) Yellowhammers again

Some view across from Woodhouse Lane. This is looking NNE towards the distant A5. 

Here we are looking more or less E to what is on some maps as Ward’s Rough – the distant trees. 

And here looking more to the S down the ’3-ply’ that is Woodhouse Lane itself. 

I pursued a Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) along the road until it eventually settled on the road. Just as I was preparing to take a photo a cyclist on his way to work came along and flushed it and it flew well away. Amazingly a few moments later it (or another) came and landed quite literally at my feet. It was my first this year.

Time to remind ourselves what a typical Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) looks like. Most look like this, though there are some darker specimens. This one is handily holding its wings open (one is partly obscured). Often ....

 ...........they do this when they land and seeing the body markings is then not easy.

A good view of a White-tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus lucorum).

Flower head of the very common Rosebay Willowherb or Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium). 

All along the roadside there are masses of Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  05:45 – 06:35

(153rd visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- One of the cygnets was on the water with geese and ducks when I arrived with the parents and other three cygnets asleep on the island. Later all four cygnets with the adults in the water: even then one of the cygnets veered off and joined some of the Canada Geese for a while.
- Should not really complain about the sun but ... many of the Mallard were ‘against the light’. With most in eclipse plumage it was impossible to see the bill colour to sex them all.
- one adult Coot with the latest brood was taking time out from feeding them to add yet more material to its nest.
also
- first flowers this year of Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) here

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Collared Dove
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc. noted.
None

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 3 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 5 (5) Blackcaps

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 4 Mute Swans
- 40 Greylag Geese again
- 96 Canada Geese
- 26 (>10♂) Mallard
- 4 (3♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 + ? (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes again
- 1 Moorhen
- 21 + 10 (4 broods) Coots

A female (the eyes do not meet) Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare). 

This is Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica). I noted this in the log as ‘first of the year here’: checking I find I have not previously logged it here at all – probably an oversight.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 (1) Goldcrest at the lower pool
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff between the pools
- 1 (1) Blackcap at the lower pool
- 1 (1) Coal Tit at the upper pool
- at least one Bullfinch near the upper pool

(Ed Wilson)

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

2012
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
2 Redshank
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)