5 Jul 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:45 // 06:45 – 09:10
The Flash:  05:50 – 06:40

13.0°C > 18.0°C:  Large area of cloud to N / NE otherwise clear. Light mainly W wind. Very good visibility

Sunrise: 04:52 BST

Priorslee Lake:  04:10 – 05:45 // 06:45 – 09:10

(167th visit of the year)

Bird notes from today
- The new brood of small Mallard ducklings now down to one.
- An adult Little Grebe seen flying out of the NW area where I have heard them recently to land along the S side. No others seen and none heard.
- After my comment on Wednesday about the Coot juveniles being old-enough to be safe three broods were not seen at all today: I hope they were hiding in the reeds.
- Three adult Black-headed Gulls by 04:45 but gone by 05:00; another briefly at 05:10. Then after 07:00 a trio stayed, with a fourth by 08:45.
- The Herring Gull, an adult, stopped for a drink at 05:00 and moved on.
- The Common Tern arrived by 07:00 and stayed.
- One Starling seemed to leave a roost around the lake. Later just five on the ‘football’ field

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 2 Greylag Geese (outbound)
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 adult Black-headed Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 17 Wood Pigeons
- 27 Jackdaws
- 83 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- c.20 Swifts again
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 8 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 10 (7) Chiffchaffs again
- 12 (11) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler still
- 1 (1) (Common) Whitethroat
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
- 4 (2) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 17 (15♂) + 1 (1 brood) Mallard
- 3 (2♂) Tufted Duck: left
- 1 Little Grebe
- 6 + 3? (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 + 3 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 25 + 19 (? broods) Coots
- 8 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull: ‘gas and go’
- 1 Common Tern

On the lamp poles pre-dawn singles of a wealth of moths for a change
- Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata)
- Light Emerald (Campaea margaritaria)
- Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata)
- Common Emerald (Hemithea aestivaria)
- Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis) (this would not behave for a photo)
and
- 2 presumed Daddy Long-legs Spiders (Pholcus phalangioides)

Seen later:
The following insects logged
- Butterflies (in species order):
- >5 Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)
        - 1 Green-veined White (Pieris napi): first of year here
- 3 Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- >10 Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- 2 Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- Moths (in species order):
- >5 Garden Grass-veneers (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- 1 Small Purple & Gold (Pyrausta aurata): species #41 here in 2019
- Damselflies etc. (alphabetic order of vernacular name):
- The usual trio of damselflies
- 1 Emperor Dragonfly
Also
- 1 unidentified dragonfly chased off by the Emperor Dragonfly
- Again the usual hoverfly suspects were not investigated but no unusual species noted

Other things:
- 1 larva and 1 pupa of Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis)
- 1 x 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- 2 Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
- a few Black Snipe flies (Chrysopilus cristatus)

There was a big cloudy area to the N and NE and this seemed likely to prevent a decent sunrise. Not so. For a very short time there was this very deep red area.

With it quickly fading.

Today’s Common Tern on fly-by. Black tip to the orange-red bill and dark in the outer primaries. Seems to be in wing-moult with inner primaries and / or outer secondaries missing.

A young Blue Tit feeding on the umbellifers – mostly Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium).

A rather different view of a Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus) showing the underside of the closed wing.

At first glance this looks like a Riband Wave moth. However it is smaller and the four ‘dots’ in the forewing and the wavy outer cross line suggest otherwise. It is a Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata). Species #36 for me here this year.

This moth is a Light Emerald (Campaea margaritaria). In real life it is pale green with light cross lines. It was hiding away and I needed flash to get to it, washing out much of the colour. Species #37 for me here this year.

Another moth new for the year - #38. This is a Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata).

And another - #39. This is a Common Emerald (Hemithea aestivaria) – much brighter green than the Light Emerald, smaller, with distinctive checker-board wing-edging and obvious red spot in the middle of the body.

As so often there are several species of moth similar to this. It seems to be a Small Purple & Gold (Pyrausta aurata). Which makes it species #40 here this year.

Not a brilliant shot of a Honey Bee (Apis mellifera), included as it shows a good-sized pollen basket as well as the insect drinking nectar.

This looks to me like a Daddy Long-legs Spider (Pholcus phalangioides). Slight doubt as the literature suggests this species favours out-buildings and not lamp posts. Perhaps there are other ‘similar species’!

I have not recorded this Welsh Poppy (Meconopsis cambrica) previously. Perhaps I thought it a garden escape. This specimen was in ‘wild habitat’ alongside the Wesley Brook and is probably naturally occurring.

Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  05:50 – 06:40

(160th visit of the year)

I finally caught up with the Kingfisher, seen by many of the dog-walkers in the last few days. Birds species #74 for The Flash in 2019. Still need to see one at the lake.

Other notes from here:
- So: where were all the Mallard? Hiding away while they are moulting and flightless?
- Conversely where have all the Tufted Duck come from? Mainly very scruffy-looking birds that seemed, with one exception, to be drakes.
- Only one Great Crested Grebe juvenile seen though I did not get a definitive view.
also
- 2 Riband Wave moths (Idaea aversata) on lamp poles: 1 around the lake; the other in squirrel alley.
- 1 Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella) unusually on a lamp pool.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Herring Gull
- 8 Feral Pigeons
- 2 Jackdaws again
- 2 Starlings

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Swift

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

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 4 Mute Swans still
- 43 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose still
- 154 Canada Geese
- 16 (3♂) + 2 (2 broods) Mallard
- 17 (16♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 Grey Herons
- 2 + 1? (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens again
- 20 + 9 (3 broods) Coots
- 2 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Kingfisher

A strange colour cast on this otherwise quite ordinary Riband Wave (Idaea aversata). This form without the dark band between the outer pair of cross lines is known as f. remutata.

Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- again no Moorhens noted
- Great Spotted Woodpecker heard near both pools: same bird?
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff near the upper pool
- 1 (1) Blackcap still at the lower pool
and
- 1 probable Grey Pug moth (Eupithecia subfuscata) in the tunnel under Priorslee Avenue

On the roof of the tunnel under Priorslee Avenue was this moth. It is an inconvenient height as it is too low for me to use the zoom lens for a close-up but too far away to get a decent-sized image otherwise. Also I have to use flash and the contrast with the ‘white’ roof means losing much of any detail there is to be seen. I think is a Grey Pug (Eupithecia subfuscata) – well it certainly is a pug species, I am just not 100% sure of which, so will let it go.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2012
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
Grasshopper Warbler singing
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
2 Green Sandpipers seen flying from the lake towards Priorslee Flash: these were my first here for c.10 years 
1 Common Sandpiper
House Sparrow unusual here
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
Possible Crossbills close-by
(Ed Wilson)