3 Jun 19

Priorslee Lake, The Flash, Trench Lock Pool and Trench Middle Pool

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:30 // 06:20 – 08:55
The Flash:  05:35 – 06:15
Trench Lock Pool:  09:05 – 09:15 // 10:00 – 10:30
Trench Middle Pool:  09:20 – 09:55

11.0°C > 15.0°C:  Hazy high cloud cleared after 05:00 with clouds again after 09:00. Moderate plus SW breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:50 BST

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:30 // 06:20 – 08:55

(145th visit of the year)

Bird notes from today
- One or more Tufted Ducks flew over me calling at 04:10. Did not see how many or which way it / they were going. By 04:20 there were none visible on the water. A drake was first noted c.07:30 and stayed thereafter.
- An ‘extra’ adult Great Crested Grebe first thing – not noted later, though not seen to fly off. From its position in the water and its behaviour toward the residents this was not the ‘missing’ adult assumed to be sitting on a nest in the NW reeds.
- At least 50 Swifts by 04:50 and thereafter similar numbers present much of the time, mainly to the E, presumably taking insects blown off the water and upwards in to the air across the dam by the brisk SW wind.
- I have had my suspicions for some time: there are five singing Garden Warblers this year. Two are occupying adjacent bushes alongside the W end path – I had been unsure whether these were in fact separate birds. I saw both at the same time this morning. My best year ever for this species, perhaps a reflection of the increasing size of the many of the bushes?

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 30 Canada Geese (15 outbound; 15 inbound)
- 2 Cormorants again
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 5 Wood Pigeons
- 66 Jackdaws
- 30 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- >50 Swifts
- >3 Barn Swallows
- 4 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 4 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 19 (18) Blackcaps yet again
- 5 (5) Garden Warblers
- 3 (2) (Common) Whitethroats
- 1 Sedge Warbler again
- 5 (5) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 19 Canada Geese (arrived and departed)
- 10 (7♂) + 2 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck (see notes)
- 4 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- [no Moorhens]
- 26 + 23 (8 broods) Coots

The trick worked again: I wrote yesterday that nothing was on the lamp poles pre-dawn recently and lo and behold:
- 1 Common Swift moth (Hepialus lupulinus)

Seen later:
- 5 Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata).
- Three species of hoverfly new for me this year:
        - Dasysyrphus albostriatus
- Helophilus pendulus (‘The Footballer’)
- Volucella bombylans
- >6 Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis), all of the form succinea with c.19 spots.
- The first green beetle with the swollen thigh of the year – Oedemera nobilis.
- Still many Red-and-Black Froghoppers (Cercopis vulnerata). I had assumed that following the copious amount of cuckoo-spit now on the vegetation their work was done and they would have died off.
- All three bat sps. – pipistrelle-type; noctule-type; and the large bat around the trees.
- 1 Grey Squirrel yet again.

A Common Swift moth (Hepialus lupulinus). My 25th moth species here this year. I log singles most years – 28 May 2017; 06 June 2018: consistent emergence dates.

Another Large Red Damselfly. This is the first year I have recorded this species on more than one date – but then it is only the second year I have recorded it at all! This seems to be a female with the dark marks on each abdominal segment.

While I was photographing this insect it darted out and grabbed something – we see it in its jaws here, though I cannot make out what it is.

This Blue-tailed Damselfly is a female of the rufescens form – an early stage in the female life-cycle.

This hoverfly is Dasysyrphus albostriatus. Also known as Stripe-backed Dasysyrphus. The first of a trio of new hoverflies for me this year.

This may look like a bumblebee but the clues are the short antenna, the way the wings are held open when at rest and the dark mark in the wing. It is the hoverfly Volucella bombylans of the form bombylans with the ‘red tail’. There is a white-tailed form.

This hoverfly is Helophilus pendulus (‘The Footballer’). Very distinctive with the stripes down the thorax.

Here is the very common green beetle with the swollen thigh – Oedemera nobilis. Only the males have the swollen thighs.

A Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis), of the form succinea with c.19 spots (a few not visible here).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  05:35 – 06:15

(138th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- Why so many Canada Geese? Assembling prior to the moult when they become temporarily flightless?
- No Chiffchaffs heard or seen.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Cormorant

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Swift
- 3 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 3 (2) Blackcaps again

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 4 Mute Swans
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose
- 55 Canada Geese
- 27 (20♂) + 13 (2 broods) Mallard
- 9 (5♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 4 Moorhens
- 18 + 9 (3 broods) Coots

One of the hybrid geese that turn up from time to time. A Greylag Goose bill with mainly Canada Goose plumage, including the (almost) white chin-strap.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

At or around the lower pool (singing birds):
- 1 (1) Blackcap

At or around the upper pool (singing birds):
- 1 (1) Goldcrest

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Lock Pool:  09:05 – 09:15 // 10:00 – 10:30

(28th visit of the year)

Notes from here
- One of the two Mute Swans still sitting throughout.
- An extra pair of Great Crested Grebes asleep in the middle of the water. And another single, also asleep.
- Really poor number of Coots this year. No doubt some still sitting out of sight, but even so ... Perhaps as a result of the pool being drained last Autumn and birds moving away?
- Singles of both large gull sps. dropped in together but left separately after a few minutes.
- Singing Chiffchaff today. Have not recorded one here since 23 April.

Birds noted flying over / near here [other than local Wood Pigeons and Jackdaws]:
- 1 Buzzard
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull again

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 2 House Martins

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

Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Canada Geese again
- 6 (5♂) Mallard
- 5 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- [no Moorhens]
- 14 + 9 (2 broods) Coots
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Herring Gull

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Middle Pool:  09:20 – 09:55

(28th visit of the year)

Notes from here
- Mute Swans once again showing no inclination to nest.
- Only one adult and one juvenile Great Crested Grebe confirmed.
- Coots seem to be doing well here – in contrast to Trench Lock Pool.
and
- 1 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata) found in a spider web on a lamp pole (new species for me at this site)

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 1 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. noted:
None

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

Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 42 + 16 (5 broods) Greylag Geese
- 86 + 15 (4 broods) Canada Geese
- 13 (11♂) + 4 (1 brood) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Ducks again
- 1 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebe
- 2 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 22 + 27 (10 broods) Coots

(Ed Wilson)

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

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2009
Priorslee Lake
Oystercatcher
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Possible Marsh Harrier
11 Reed Warblers
(Ed Wilson)