22 Jul 19

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

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:55 // 06:45 – 06:55 // 08:35 – 10:15
The Flash:  06:00 – 06:40
Trench Lock Pool:  07:05 – 07:10 // 07:50 – 08:25
Trench Middle Pool:  07:15 – 07:45

19.0°C > 23.0°C:  Low overcast started to break c.09:00 and then in earnest after 09:30. Moderate, even fresh, SW breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:12 BST

My now customary summer early visit to Trench with split visits to the lake.

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:55 // 06:45 – 06:55 // 08:35 – 10:15

(181st visit of the year)

If I thought yesterday was quiet for songs and calls ...

Bird notes from today
- Yesterday’s ‘extra’ pair of Great Crested Grebes seemed not to be present. Hard to be certain as none of the birds is staying on territory and any can appear anywhere.
- Three large gulls flew W overhead at 04:50 when it was too dark to specifically identify them.
- Just six Swifts arrived. These left. Scattered singles / pairs / trio later – same birds?
- No juvenile House Martins heard in with the group of 14 birds high over. Second(?) brood birds are calling over my Newport house.
- no Pied Wagtails at all today after good numbers for a few days.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 6 Greylag Geese (2 groups outbound)
- 2 Canada Geese (outbound)
- 1 Grey Heron
- 4 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 3 unidentified large gulls
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 2 Stock Doves
- 33 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Collared Doves
- 22 Jackdaws
- 61 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 6 Swifts
- 4 Barn Swallows
- 14 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 7 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (0) Blackcaps
- 1 (0) (Common) Whitethroat
- 6 (2) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 2 Greylag Geese (came and went)
- 6 Canada Geese (came and went)
- 18 (17?♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Cormorants
- 2 Grey Herons
- 6 + 3 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Moorhen
- 58 adult and juvenile Coots: + 2 more juveniles in very new brood
- 19 Black-headed Gulls

On the lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 Ghost Moth (Hepialus humuli)
- 1 possible Common Clothes Moth (Tineola bisselliella)
- 1 Little Grey moth (Eudonia lacustrata)
- 1 Dingy Footman moth (Eilema griseola)
- 2 Chironomus plumosus (plumed midges)
- 2 wasps (Vespa sp.)

The following logged later:
- 4 pipistrelle-type bats
- 1 noctule-type bat
- Butterflies (in species order) (numbers not recorded):
- Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola)
- Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
- Moths (in species order):
- 1 Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata)
- Damselflies etc. (alphabetic order of vernacular name):
- many Blue-tailed Damselflies
- very many Common Blue Damselflies
- 1 Southern Hawker dragonfly
- The usual hoverflies with no species of note
And other things:
- 1 Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)
- one 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- a few Hogweed Bonking beetles (Rhagonycha fulva)
- many Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
- a few wasps (Vespa sp.)
- a mass of Semaphore flies (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus)
- 1 female Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis).

The Common Buzzard in a more natural surrounding than the Teece Drive lamp-posts. Here it manages to stand on one leg.

It obviously felt safer in its woodland habitat and allowed a closer approach – somewhat enlarged of course.

With a grey wing complete with a yellow stripe along the leading edge this has to be a footman moth. I had assumed Common Footman (Manulea lurideola). However checking various web sites and the literature the wing shape is too curved making the outline wider than that species and it is therefore my first Shropshire record of a Dingy Footman (Eilema griseola). Dingy Footman is a very common species. My 49th species at the lake this year.

This is my 50th species: it is a Ghost Moth (Hepialus humuli). Why ‘ghost’? This a female: the males are white and are attracted to light where they fly around as ghostly shapes.

Not sure about this. At first glance it looks like a grass moth. Note however the wings are pointed and held apart at the end. It looks awfully like a Common Clothes Moth (Tineola bisselliella). But what is that doing on a lamp-post? And why does it have red-eye? I think the use of flash may have given it the red eye effect. Not going to add this to the list.

Black-tips to the antenna mean this is a Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola).

Clearly a ‘white’ butterfly and as there are no markings along the veins it is not a Green-veined White. But Small or Large? Sadly with the wings closed the extent of the black around the wing-tip cannot be ascertained. So you will have to take my word for it that it was ‘large’ – a Large White (Pieris brassicae). My first sighting here this year. The scientific name suggests this might be the ‘cabbage white’. Not really so: that name is popularly applied to all three species.

At last! I managed to find a hawker dragonfly at rest and, for once, also approachable. It is an immature male Southern Hawker – adult males are blue rather than green. The main clinching feature is the two thick yellow (or green if mature) anti-humeral stripes – the bit behind behind the head.

A closer view of the head also shows the amazing structure of the wings. Who designed that?

Not seen too many so-called mating-wheels of damselflies this year. Here is one comprising Common Blue Damselflies.

These are Semaphore flies (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus). A large number were jumping around on a muddy patch at the edge of the lake. Here we see five. Only the one at top-middle has been captured with the white patches at the ends of the wings displayed. I attempted a closer approach and they all disappeared.

A fine, indeed noble, Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis). This is a female – only the males have the swollen hind femur.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  06:00 – 06:40

(174th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- I was informed that the fourth cygnet was taken in to care after snagging a fishing hook. The remaining three cygnets were with last year’s remaining juvenile when I arrived. Later they were on their own again. Their parents were asleep on the island throughout.
- The geese have mainly finished moulting and are flying again so numbers much reduced as they move to the fields to feed.
- Higher proportion of obvious non-drake Tufted Ducks. These probably all ducks as immatures seem unlikely to have fledged yet.
and
- 1 Grey Squirrel

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 2 Feral Pigeons
- 4 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Jackdaw
- 2 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Swift in the distance again
- 2 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 1 (0) Chiffchaff only

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 3 Mute Swans
- 42 Greylag Geese
- 57 Canada Geese
- 31 (19♂) Mallard
- 24 (15♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- no  Moorhens
- 17 + 5 (? broods) Coots
- 21 Black-headed Gulls: no juveniles

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- no birds of note
and
- 1 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata) on a lamp pole.

This moth is clearly a ‘wave’: but which. It looked very pale compared with specimens of Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata) that I have recorded recently. Checking the literature then that species is the only ‘wave’ with the four spots in the wing (apart from Dotted-border Wave which has – a dotted border!). So a rather worn Small Fan-footed Wave is what it is.

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Lock Pool:  07:05 – 07:10 // 07:50 – 08:25

(35th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- The lone juvenile Great Crested Grebe continues to thrive unaided. There is a bird sitting on what I assume is a nest – for 2 weeks at least. No indication there are any juveniles as yet.
- 51 of the Black-headed Gulls arrived together. Almost all landed at one time or another as they swirled around. Some soon moved off W.
- The Peregrine flew fast NW and no birds in the area seemed to notice – no alarm calls; the gulls did not leave the water .... My first here since 11 May 2015 and bird species #56 here for me this year.
also
- 1 Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta). New for me here this year.

Birds noted flying over / near here [other than local Wood Pigeons and Jackdaws]:
- 1 Peregrine
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 11 Starlings

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 4 Swifts
- 1 House Martin again

Warblers noted.
None

Counts from the water:
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 18 Canada Geese
- 12 (12♂) Mallard
- Feral Mallard not seen
- 3 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Moorhen
- 25 adult and juvenile Coots
- 56 Black-headed Gulls: 1 juvenile only
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

(Ed Wilson)

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Trench Middle Pool:  07:15 – 07:45

(35th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- The Canada Geese goslings are not ‘new’ – just that with many fewer geese to get in the way the youngsters area easier to identify.
- A duck Mallard with nine well-grown ducklings, some of which could be sexed from bill colour. Not recorded this group on my previous visits.
- The second adult Great Crested Grebe not seen today either. The juvenile managing on its won.
- 1 Grey Wagtail.
and
- 1 Oak Eggar (Lasiocampa quercus) on a lamp pole.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 3 Feral Pigeons

Hirundines etc. noted.
None

Warblers noted.
None

Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 29 + 1 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 15 + 13 (3 broods) Canada Geese
- 25 (21♂) + 9 (1 brood) Mallard
- 5 (5♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes again
- 7 + 4 (4 broods) Moorhens
- 20 adult and juvenile Coots
- 11 Black-headed Gulls

A duck Mallard with her well-grown brood. It is quite hard to tell which is the adult. The one in the middle seems a likely candidate but the wings are not yet grown. I think it the one at the back left. Not sure why the one at the front left is quite so pale – a throwback to a ‘feral’ relationship in his genes?

A very large moth on a lamp here – so much so I almost overlooked it as leaf detritus caught in a web. It is an Oak Eggar (Lasiocampa quercus): a new moth for me at this site. It may even be new in Shropshire for me.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Report Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Report Here

2011
Priorslee Lake
1 Kingfisher
Female Ruddy Duck
(John Isherwood)

2009
Priorslee Lake
1 Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
A drake Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)