29 Jun 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:45 // 06:35 – 07:50
The Flash:  05:50 – 06:30

15.0°C > 18.0°C:  Some cloud moving away. Light E wind. Good visibility if rather hazy.

Sunrise: 04:48 BST

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:45 // 06:35 – 07:50

(162nd visit of the year)

Bird notes from today
- A pair of Tufted Ducks flew off E at 04:40. Presumably it was the same pair seen flying low W at 05:10.
- There were two small juvenile Great Crested Grebes in the water with the pair in the NW area. The parent seemed to be giving them a ‘work out’ by paddling away and not allowing them on its back for a while. Could possibly be another still on its back. The two older juveniles from the earlier brood are now beginning to try and fish for themselves.
- At least 27 Starlings on the ‘football’ field included juveniles – I have not noted them using this resource so frequently in previous years. With them on the grass were 2 Stock Dove, 35 Wood Pigeons and 20 Magpies – until the dog-walkers flush them.
- The House Sparrow must have a good calendar. They seemed to have worked out it was a weekend and there was no school and so they were free to leave the estate and use the Holy Trinity Academy bushes – and all this before 06:00 and long before the caretaker would have arrived.
- There were three Sedge Warblers dashing about. One was sporadically singing. Could not get a clear view of the others to age them.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 1 adult Black-headed Gull
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 3 Stock Doves
- 10 Wood Pigeons
- 23 Jackdaws
- 10 Rooks

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

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 6 (6) Chiffchaffs
- 13 (11) Blackcaps
- 3 (3) Garden Warblers again
- 4 (2) (Common) Whitethroats
- 3 (1) Sedge Warblers
- 8 (7) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 15 (12♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Ducks
- Little Grebe possibly heard again
- 5 + 4 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 29 + 24 (? broods) Coots

On the lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 as yet unidentified Tortrix moth.

Seen later:
- 1 pipistrelle-type bat
Had to leave before many of the insects were about. I managed to confirm:
- The following butterflies
- 2 Ringlets (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- The following moths
- 2 Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana)
- 4 Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- The following damselflies (>20 of each)
- Azure Damselfly
- Blue-tailed Damselfly
- Common Blue Damselfly
- The following hoverflies
- >3 Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade hoverfly)
- >2 Melanostoma scalare (Chequered Hoverfly)
And
- >5 Wasp sp. all collecting wood by chewing the fence between Teece Drive and the Wesley Brook
- more Black Snipe flies (Chrysopilus cristatus)

The hazy sunrise ahead of the scorching day. 

Did I say hazy? 

The best of a rather poor bunch of photos of a juvenile Starling (well it was 05:10). Without spots and with brown edging to the flight feathers they look very different from adults other than the dark around the eye.

I think this is a Tortrix moth. However it is rather too worn to get much detail and will have to be consigned to the unknown bin.

More luck with this micro moth. It is a Common Marble (Celypha lacunana), a species frequently flushed during the day. It usually flies and hides away. It is rather small too. This one more cooperative.

This hoverfly matches almost exactly one labelled ‘female Sphaerophoria sp.’ on one of the photographic sites on the web. It seems that the number of species in the genus and their separation is still not fully worked out. So Sphaerophoria sp it stays.

A sad end for this Common Blue Damselfly. It was already dead so there was no point depriving the spider of its meal.

A wasp sp. on the fence between Teece Drive and the Wesley Brook opposite the Holy Trinity Academy. What is it doing ....?

... using its powerful jaws to chew the wood and take it away to help construct the nest. A work colleague of mine had wasps nesting in his roof space which he left until the nest became inactive in the late Autumn. He then discovered to his horror that it had been constructed from his eaves and he had to have them strengthened.

Well what is this all about? Looks like a spider? 

In close-up still not quite sure. There appears to be two spiders here but I cannot work out what is happening and what the large white object is. Is it the body of one of the spiders? Or a parcel of eggs?

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  05:50 – 06:30

(155th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- Another (and rather late) brood of four Mallard ducklings.
- No Tufted Ducks most unusual.
- Just one juvenile Great Crested Grebe seen peering from its parent’s back. Could have been other(s) still hidden.
- Plenty of adult Coots today – now the juveniles have gone in to hiding with just the latest brood of five seen.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Cormorant
- 3 Feral Pigeons
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc. noted.
None

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff
- 2 (2) Blackcaps

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 4 Mute Swans
- 43 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose again
- 144 Canada Geese
- 27 (11♂) + 7 (2 broods) Mallard
- no Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Moorhens
- 24 + 5 (1 brood) Coots

A trio of species mainly to show the single juvenile Great Crested Grebe peering out of the adult’s back. The Heron seems to have taken up semi-residence after being away for several moths – breeding in a nearby heronry no doubt.

Disappearing I’m afraid: here is the latest brood of Mallard ducklings with mum. Just four ducklings. 

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash

- 1 (1) Blackcap at the lower pool still
- at least two Bullfinches again near the upper pool

(Ed Wilson)

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

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's sightings Here

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's sighting Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
15 Cormorants
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Juvenile Yellow Wagtail
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Siskin
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 drake Ruddy Ducks
(Ed Wilson)