Priorslee Lake: 04:05 – 05:45 // 06:40 – 09:30
[Woodhouse Lane: 07:20 – 08:15]
The Flash: 05:50 – 06:35
15.0°C > 20.0°C: Broken cloud clearing for a while. Calm start with light mainly NW breeze later. Good visibility. Rather hazy and feeling humid
Sunrise: 05:04 BST
Priorslee Lake: 04:05 – 05:45 // 06:40 – 09:30
(176th visit of the year)
Council contractors have been at it again and almost all the weedy areas alongside Teece Drive have been mown, including the edges of the ‘football’ field. I hope the cinnabar caterpillars had finished that part of their life cycle and were safely hidden on the ground somewhere.
Bird notes from today
- A duck Tufted Duck was on the water at 07:00 but was not seen before or after.
- A Cormorant again after c.08:50.
- A Grey Heron flushed off N at 04:33. What was presumably a different bird flew in from the E at 04:35. Neither seen again.
- What sounded like two young Buzzards begging to be fed from the Ricoh copse.
- The Common Tern by 07:00 and throughout thereafter.
- Of the 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls overhead 17 flew W together at 05:05 with another four a few minutes later.
- An adult Herring Gull dropped in for a wash and brush-up at 08:30.
- A presumed lost Racing Pigeon (not the one seen at The Flash this morning) circled low over the water c.08:20 – I guess looking for somewhere to land a take a drink. A few minutes later it crashed in to the water and got up and flew away.
- Typical group of c.15 Swifts arrived at 05:05. They passed quickly through. Occasional sightings of 1s and 2s later.
- A juvenile Garden Warbler and two juvenile Common Whitethroats seen. No song from either species.
- Very many Reed Warblers active today – newly fledged juveniles I expect. Whenever I looked at a patch of reeds there were birds zipping around.
- On Sunday there were 20 Pied Wagtails on the ‘football’ field. Yesterday only seven. Today a lone male. Whether this was a timing issue; disturbance from dog-walkers; or because the grass was freshly mown on Sunday is hard to say. Two others seen later on the SW grass.
- A Linnet in the trees at the W end c.05:10 flew off E. One flew W much later.
Bird totals:
Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 6 Greylag Geese (outbound)
- 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 3 Feral Pigeons
- 1 Stock Dove
- 42 Wood Pigeons
- 43 Jackdaws
- 18 Rooks
- 1 Starling
- 1 Linnet
Hirundines etc. noted:
- c.15 Swifts
- 12 House Martins
Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 7 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 9 (4) Blackcaps
- 1 (0) Garden Warbler
- 2 (0) (Common) Whitethroats
- 13 (5) Reed Warblers
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans as ever
- 17 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Cormorant
- 2 Grey Herons
- 6 + 3 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 24 + 26 (? broods) Coots
- 1 Common Tern
- 12 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
On the lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 3 presumed Common Grey moths (Scoparia ambigualis)
- 2 Grey Tortrix Agg. moths (Cnephasia sp.)
- five different spiders, of which I can provisionally identify
- 1 Common Candy-striped Spider (Enoplognatha ovata)
- 1 Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus)
Seen later:
- 2 pipistrelle-type bats. After a run of sightings in late May and early June bats have been scarce recently
The following insects logged
- Butterflies (in species order):
- 1 Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- 7 Ringlets (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- Moths (in species order):
- 3 Garden Grass-veneers (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- 1 Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)
- 1 Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata)
- Some of the usual species of damselflies etc. (alphabetic order of vernacular name):
- Blue-tailed Damselflies
- Common Blue Damselflies
only specifically noted
- The usual hoverfly suspects plus
- 1 Cheilosia illustrata (no vernacular name)
And other things:
- very many Hogweed Bonking-beetles (Rhagonycha fulva)
- 1 Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)
- 1 Wasp sp.
- 1 black and yellow ichneumon wasp sp,. likely Amblyteles armatorius
The sunrise – such as it was – over a tranquil lake.
Rather angry-looking sky for a while. Nothing came of it and much of the cloud melted away.
Against the light so not too much detail on this inbound Cormorant.
It even seemed to be pecking in to the leaves for small prey items.
This male Reed Bunting has found some more wriggly things to feed his second brood.
While this seems to be a Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus).
(Ed Wilson)
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Notes from Woodhouse Lane (07:20 – 08:15)
(23rd visit of the year)
Notes from here: rather quiet, as elsewhere
- A Raven flew over.
- No Blackcaps seen or heard.
- A singing Lesser Whitethroat at the bottom of Woodhouse Lane was a surprise – my first here. Seems a bit of a late date for it to be singing between broods. A dispersing juvenile trying its voice? It was not singing too confidently.
- The only Common Whitethroat was a juvenile.
also
- many hoverflies, mainly Marmalade hoverflies (Episyrphus balteatus)
- 1 Brown Hawker dragonfly
- 1 ‘White-tailed Bumblebee’, probably Bombus lucorum
- 1 black and yellow ichneumon wasp sp,. likely Amblyteles armatorius
- many hundred Hogweed Bonking-beetles (Rhagonycha fulva)
- one 7 Spot Ladybirds (Coccinella 7-punctata)
Totals of ‘interesting’ species (singing birds)
- 3 Pheasants heard
- 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers
- no Skylarks
- 1 Raven over
- 5 (3) Chiffchaffs
- no Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Lesser Whitethroat
- 1 (0) (Common) Whitethroat
- 1 (1) Song Thrush
- 5 (2) Greenfinch
- 5 Goldfinches
- 5 (3) Yellowhammers
- 1 Linnet over
- 1 male Reed Bunting
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 05:50 – 06:35
(169th visit of the year)
Notes from here:
- The pen Mute Swans and the cygnets had likely taken a walk in to the estate – locals say she regularly does this.
- One of the Greylag Geese flew in. With six seen over the lake earlier it seems that some of these have finished their moult, probably also explaining the slightly lower number today. It was very obvious that some of the Canada Geese are still very much in moult.
- So where did all the apparent duck Tufted Ducks appear from?
- A lost ‘Racing Pigeon’ on a roof in Derwent Drive. This, a very distinctive bird, has been around for some 10 days. Today was the first time I have seen it perch and it seemed to be ringed even if my photo failed to capture that.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 12 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Jackdaws
Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Swifts
- 2 House Martins
Warblers seen or heard.
None
Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 58 Greylag Geese
- 143 Canada Geese
- 22 (>5♂) + 3 (1 brood) Mallard
- 31 (24♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens
- 19 + 7 (2 broods) Coots
- 6 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Kingfisher
A Canada Goose in wing-moult. Note that the moult is synchronised in both wings.
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the Lake and The Flash:
- Moorhens heard from the upper pool.
- 1 Blackcap calling at the upper pool again.
- The almost regular party of Bullfinches between the upper pool and The Flash.
and
- 1 of the two Grey Tortrix Agg. moths (Cnephasia sp.) seen on a lamp pole yesterday was still present.
- 1 pupa of a Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis).
with
- 1 Brown House Moth (Hofmannophila pseudospretella) on the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel.
(Ed Wilson)
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