11 Jul 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:40 // 06:40 – 09:35
The Flash:  05:45 – 06:35

15.0°C > 19.0°C:  Mainly cloudy with a few sunny breaks. Light SW wind. Excellent visibility

Sunrise: 04:58 BST

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:40 // 06:40 – 09:35

(173rd visit of the year)

Bird notes from today
- A few geese seem to have got their flight feathers back in working order with a small mixed species group over at 05:00.
- No Little Grebe seen or heard in the NE area. An adult seen in flight twice in the NW / W area before typically diving to apparently never emerge. What might have been a juvenile glimpsed in the same area before it too disappeared.
- The Common Tern by 06:55. Climbed high overhead and seemed to be heading E at 08:00, though it (or another) still around at 08:15.
- 13 Black-headed Gulls arrived at 04:45 but gone by 05:00. Nine by 07:10 my have included some of these.
- The rather unhappy-looking and ringed juvenile Black-headed Gull seen for the last two days not noted today.
- At least Swifts by 05:00. None by 07:00.
- No early corvid passage noted: just a scatter of singles later.
- Song Thrushes heard singing from no fewer than 12 locations. I suspect one was a repositioned bird. Still 11 is a remarkable count. I see relatively few non-singing birds – just one carrying food this morning.
- A trio of juvenile Grey Wagtails on one of the piers.
- Four male Reed Buntings together on the SW grass collecting food. I was aware of four territories this year: but only two of them are close to here, so seems likely there are more breeding birds.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 12 Greylag Geese
- 1 Canada Goose
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 37 Feral / Racing Pigeons (one group)
- 57 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Collared Doves
- 5 Jackdaws only
- 6 Rooks only

Hirundines etc. noted:
- >20 Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 6 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 8 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 11 (9) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler still
- 2 (1) (Common) Whitethroats
- no Sedge Warbler again
- 7 (3) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 14 (12♂) + 2 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 Little Grebe at least
- 6 + 3 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 + 4 (3 broods) Moorhens
- 35 + 30 (? broods) Coots
- 1 Common Tern
- >13 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: gas ‘n’ go at 04:50

On the lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 Common Grey moth (Scoparia ambigualis)
- 1 Mottled Beauty moth (Alcis repandata)
- 1 Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus)

Seen later:
The following insects logged
- Butterflies (in species order):
- 1 Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- 5 Ringlets (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- Moths (in species order):
- 2 Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)
- 1 Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella) [plus many unidentified grass moths]
- 1 Pale Straw Pearl (Udea lutealis)
- 1 Riband Wave (Idaea aversata)
- 2 Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata)
- 1 Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata)
- 11 Cinnabar caterpillars (Tyria jacobaeae)
- The usual trio of damselflies etc. (alphabetic order of vernacular name):
- Azure Damselflies; Blue-tailed Damselflies; Common Blue Damselflies
- The usual hoverfly suspects: unusual species:
        - 1 Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)
And other things:
- 5 larvae and 1 adult Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis) (pupae yesterday: larvae today)
- >5 Hogweed Bonking-beetles (Rhagonycha fulva)
- >5 Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
- 1 unidentified bee sp.
- >2 Wasp sp.
- 1 black and yellow ichneumon
- 1 beetle, perhaps a Plum beetle (Tetrops praeustus)
- 1 bug – perhaps at shield-bug instar
- a hatch of shield-bug instars from eggs.
- 1 Signal fly, probably Poecilobothrus nobilitatus.
- first flowers of Bistort (Polygonum bistorta)
- also first flowers of Snowberry (Symphoricarpos sp. probably S. albus)
- and first flowers of Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor)

One of the two well-developed Great Crested Grebe juveniles. Has lost all the pink near the bill base and while there are still stripes on the face we can see brown marks where the head-plumes will develop. It seems to be largely independent now. Just as well ...

.... its parents seem more interested in whispering sweet nothings.

A Common Buzzard flies over. I have not seen so many recently and I am not sure they are nesting locally. Possibly the population has been affected by a shortage of food due to the outbreak of Rabbit haemorrhagic disease.

Some adult Black-headed Gulls are quickly losing their ‘black’ head as they moult in to non-breeding plumage...

... and some still have enough testosterone to make a noise and keep their breeding plumage a bit longer.

Not as sharp as I would like: this view of a hyperactive Reed Warbler shows the way the forehead slopes towards the rather long and grey bill of this species. Note too the pale grey legs.

Two juvenile Grey Wagtails chase after insects on one of the yacht club ‘piers’

A male Reed Bunting in contemplative mood also on one of the yacht club ‘piers’

This grass moth with the pale streak spreading outward is a Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella).

A micro-moth easily overlooked as a ‘grass moth’ when flushed is this nicely-marked Pale Straw Pearl (Udea lutealis).

A Mottled Beauty moth (Alcis repandata) on the lamp pole pre-dawn

After my first Yellow Shell moth (Camptogramma bilineata) for many years in Woodhouse Lane yesterday I found this – my first-ever at the lake.

At last: a cooperative Shaded Broad-bar moth (Scotopteryx chenopodiata). This species is easily and commonly flushed in daytime from long grass at this time of year but usually dives deep in to cover. On this specimen the ‘broad-bar’ is not particularly ‘shaded’ ....

... whereas on this fine specimen it is. Note the feathered antennae – a male. He uses these organs to detect female pheromones.

A common moth but for me not common in this form. It is a Riband Wave (Idaea aversata) showing the dark ‘ribbon’ across the wing. Most common here is the form remutata where only the cross lines show. This moth was found at rest in full sun on the wooden fence between Teece Drive and the Wesley Brook – the same fence that wasps are using for their nesting material.

I am delighted to say that the contractors did not mow the sides of the football field and these Cinnabar caterpillars (Tyria jacobaeae) have survived – indeed I noted 11 today.

And here is sunny clump of their food plant – Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris).

Not immediately obvious that this is a Common Blue Damselfly and a male at that – the mark on segment #2 tells us that. The colour indicates it is a teneral – a recently-emerged insect yet to acquire adult ‘plumage?’

This damselfly struck me as being rather pale and I wondered about White-legged Damselfly – a species I have yet to see. However the markings on the side of the thorax only fit Common Blue Damselfly. This is a female and also a teneral.

Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta) seems an appropriate name. My first log of this species was this same week last year. Never common but not rare.

This bee is well stuck-in on this thistle. 

Seen rather better here. Sadly the folded wing hides the body pattern. But I cannot find any species that seems to show the orange-toned belly – or is that a colour-cast from the flower?

This is a ‘signal fly’ Poecilobothrus nobilitatus. Only the males have the white wing-tips. The thorax is really lime-green: it appears reddish due to the angle of the light.

‘Three’s a crowd’. An ‘extra’ fly tries to make a threesome.

Even I know this is not Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) so this Rhagonycha fulva beetle needs to be given its other name of Common Red Soldier Beetle.

There are too many species of beetle .... This most closely resembles a Plum beetle (Tetrops praeustus), though that species usually shows a black tip to the elytra.

Bugs are no-easier to identify than beetles. I think this might be an instar of a shield-bug species, though I am rather mystified by the spikes ...

What ... If you look closely at the top left there seem to be a few white ‘eggs’. I think these are emergent instar shield-bugs, though which species ...?

A Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus) shows its ability to walk down vertical smooth surfaces – a lamp pole here.

The first flower I have noted of Bistort (Polygonum bistorta) this year. Will be abundant along the S side close to the shore. A Marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) investigates.

The first flowers of the Snowberry bush (Symphoricarpos sp. probably S. albus). 

I had Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor) in my log from some years back and have failed to find any since. I rather suspected that I was confusing this species with Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon) – a common spring flower. Whether my previous logs were correct or not this is certainly Yellow Rattle, so-called because once ripe the seeds rattle inside the seed-case.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  05:45 – 06:35

(166th visit of the year)

Notes from here:

- Yesterday’s (and Monday’s) two Pochard not seen. Fewer Tufted Duck too.

- An additional adult Great Crested Grebe.

- Swifts not in the distance for a change – overhead.

- Best House Martin count since Spring passage. None of these was calling as if they might be begging juveniles – I have had juveniles over my Newport house for about a week.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:

- 3 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. noted:

- 8 Swifts

- 12 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):

- 1 (1) Chiffchaff

- 1 (1) Blackcap

Counts from the water:

- 3 + 4 Mute Swans

- 72 Greylag Geese

- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose again

- 140 Canada Geese

- 29 (>6♂) + 3 (1 brood) Mallard

- 16 (16♂) Tufted Ducks

- 1 Grey Heron again

- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes

- 3 + 2 (2 broods) Moorhens

- 13 + 5 (2? broods) Coots

- 1 adult Black-headed Gull

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- Moorhens heard yet again from the upper pool

- 1 (1) Blackcap near the upper pool

and

- two Common Grey moths (Scoparia ambigualis) on separate lamp poles

(Ed Wilson)

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

2018

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2013

Nedge Hill

Redstart

(John Isherwood)

2008

Priorslee Lake

Sandwich Tern

Common Tern

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake

5 Shelduck

(Ed Wilson)