2 Jul 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:40 // 06:30 – 09:05
The Flash:  05:45 – 06:25

10.0°C > 16.0°C:  Mainly clear start with a few thin low cloud patches soon melting away. Cloud developing after 08:30. Brisk, but light WNW wind. Very good visibility

Sunrise: 04:50 BST

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

(165th visit of the year)

Bird notes from today
- Initially a pair of Tufted Ducks (this after a lone unsexed bird flew W at 04:40). Later another duck noted.
- Quite a scrap between the long-term resident pair of Great Crested Grebes, parents of the older juveniles, and the pair without a nest. The pair with the newer juveniles did not put them in the water while I was watching. An additional adult on its own today.
- During the sunny period many young birds flying about – most seemed to be Chiffchaffs, Long-tailed Tits and Reed Buntings.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 1 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 adult Black-headed Gull
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull again
- 46 Wood Pigeons
- 43 Jackdaws
- 61 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- >40 Swifts
- 4 Barn Swallows
- 7 House Martins

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

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans as ever
- 16 (15♂) Mallard
- 3 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- Little Grebe(s) heard again
- 7 + 4? (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 + 5 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 27 + 32 (? broods) Coots

Nothing on the lamp poles pre-dawn.

Seen later:
- 1 pipistrelle-type bat
- 1 noctule-type bat

Before the sun went in the following insects logged
- Butterflies (in species order):
- 1 Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
- 4 Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)
- 7 Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- 1 Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- Moths (in species order):
- 3 Garden Grass-veneers (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- 1 Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata)
- 1 Latticed Heath (Chiasmia clathrata)
- Damselflies etc. (alphabetic order of vernacular name):
As usual
- Azure Damselflies
- Blue-tailed Damselflies
- Common Blue Damselflies
Also
- again 1 unidentified dragonfly sp. flushed
- Hoverflies (alphabetic order of scientific name):
- many Marmalade hoverflies (Episyrphus balteatus)
- 1 Common Drone-fly (Eristalis tenax)
- many Syrphus sp. hoverflies
- 2 Pellucid Flies (Volucella pellucens) again
And other things:
- my first (inaccessible) Rosebay Willowherb or Fireweed flowers here (Chamerion angustifolium)
- one 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- >20 larva and >5 pupa of Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis)
- 1 Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- 1 ichneumon (wasp), perhaps Ichneumon suspiciosus
- many Black Snipe flies (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- 1 Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis)
- several Semaphore flies, perhaps Poecilobothrus nobilitatus

The drake Tufted Duck present this morning. Whether it is the same individual I photographed a few days ago is hard to say. If it is then it has lost even more of its breeding condition white flanks.

While I was minding my own business on the N side this juvenile Moorhen strolled out of the undergrowth, looked at me and wandered off apparently unconcerned. This bird is too young to have acquired the white along the flanks and the undertail. A Coot at this age would have extensive white on the breast, easily visible from this angle; and a different coloured bill.

About time too – another Long-tailed Tit photo. Since they fledged this species has been rather hard to find, I think because birds from all the nests have joined together in one big roving party that is keeping well inside the vegetation much of the time.

They are certainly acrobatic.

A rather good portrait of an adult Chiffchaff that briefly used the metal sign as a vantage point to check for prey.

A pretty moth. It is a Latticed Heath (Chiasmia clathrata). My only previous records of this here were in 2016 when I initially misidentified it as the nationally rare Grizzled Skipper butterfly. It clearly is NOT a butterfly as it does not have clubbed antenna. My 34th species of moth at the lake in 2019.

So pretty we will have another look.

A real close-up of a Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens). One of the so-called bumblebee mimics (I hate that description as it implies they have made an active choice when of course they are born like it). Note the short antenna and more especially the ‘clouds’ in the wings, never shown by bees. A female with eyes that do not meet.

Not too often seen these days is a Honey Bee (Apis mellifera). There may be few, if any, true wild honey bees in the UK though there are many commercial and hobby hives from which insects roam widely.

This is an ichneumon (wasp) and perhaps Ichneumon suspiciosus or another of that common genus. There are thought to be 3000 species of ichneumon in the UK and there is no comprehensive guide.

I suspect I know what is going on between these two flies. In many flies the size of the eyes differs between males and females (as already noted often the eyes meet in the males). That perhaps does not apply to this unidentified species? Or perhaps they are just good friends?

This fly with a rather unusual white tip to its wings seems to be the Semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus. I usually see these in small groups waving their wings at each other, presumably to attract a mate / defend a territory – hence their vernacular name. There are many species ....

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  05:45 – 06:25

(158th visit of the year)

Highlight of the morning was a trio of returning Common Sandpipers on the sluice exit until flushed. It has already been my best-ever year for this species here. As far a I can recall this is my first Autumn passage record of this species here

Other notes from here:
- It would be interesting to note whether any geese are flying at the moment and therefore whether my variable counts are correct: or whether I just can’t count.
- Yesterday’s brood of seven Mallard ducklings reduced to six. Another group of two small ducklings seen with the mother still brooding them and possibly more hidden.
- Tufted Duck numbers continue to be variable – all drakes today.
- The Great Crested Grebe with an unseen number of juveniles this morning was patrolling the water. Its mate was at the nest-site throughout.
- A Grey Wagtail on the ground in Derwent Drive until early joggers arrived. Both species of wagtail have been very scarce here this year and this is in fact only my second record of a Grey here this year after a fly-over as far back as 16th January

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 4 Feral Pigeons

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 4 Swifts in the distance again

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

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 4 Mute Swans still
- 64 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose
- 131 Canada Geese
- 18 (8♂) + 8 (2 broods) Mallard
- 4 (4♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 + ? (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Moorhens
- 17 + 5 (3 broods) Coots
- 3 Common Sandpipers
- 1 adult Black-headed Gull

The trio of Common Sandpipers on the sluice exit. It was rather too dark and they flushed when they were still too distant to get enough detail to be able to tell whether any of these birds are juveniles. The middle bird looks larger and darker but I am not sure that has any significance. We need to see the feather detail.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- no Moorhens noted
- 1 (1) Blackcap at the lower pool once again

(Ed Wilson)

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

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
Hobby
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
3 Redshank
Hobby
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)