2 Aug 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake:  04:15 – 06:00 // 06:55 – 09:20
The Flash:  06:05 – 06:50

15.0°C > 16.0°C:  Area of medium cloud moved away to S leaving it clear if hazy. Low cloud / mist in vicinity later. Light and variable wind. Mainly good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:29 BST

Priorslee Lake:  04:15 – 06:00 // 06:55 – 09:20

(189th visit of the year)

Bird notes from today
- Two Tufted Ducks on the water at 04:50. Not seen thereafter.
- In addition to the usual resident Great Crested Grebes a new and obviously fledged well-grown juvenile was present
- A Hobby flew N at 07:00 causing consternation among the Barn Swallows and flushing all the Black-headed Gulls on the football field.
- A single Swift shot over at 05:55. All records after the end of July are worth recording as many birds have already left.
- Still no corvids passing early. They must be feeding elsewhere at the moment. A single Jackdaw later.
- No fewer than five Coal Tits logged with four of them in song. Unusually high number.
- Today’s Pied Wagtail count on the football field at 09:15 was just 11 birds, though several of these had only just flown in. Perhaps more were on the way (from where?).

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 4 Greylag Geese (all outbound)
- 27 Canada Geese (again: today in 5 separate groups outbound)
- 1 Hobby again
- 3 Stock Doves
- 156 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Jackdaw
- no Rooks again

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Swift
- 12 Barn Swallows
- 6 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
multiple feeding groups: accurate numbers hard to ascertain
- 13 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (1) Willow Warbler
- 5 (0) Blackcaps
- 5 (0) Common Whitethroats
- 3 (0) Sedge Warblers
- 9 (1) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 1 Greylag Goose (throughout)
- 4 Canada Geese (arrived and departed)
- 11 (?♂) Mallard
- 2 (?♂) Tufted Duck (departed)
- 1 Grey Heron
- 6 + 4 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens (un-aged)
- 41 adult and juvenile Coots: also both small juveniles from the newest brood
- 1 Common Tern (arrived)
- 33 Black-headed Gulls (1 juvenile)
- 1 Kingfisher

On the lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 Common Plume moth (Emmelina monodactyla)
- 1 Single-dotted Wave moth (Idaea dimidiata)
- 1 Dun-bar moth (Cosmia trapezina)
- 4 Common Green Lacewings (Chrysoperia carnea)

The following logged later:
- Butterflies (in species order : no totals)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
- Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
- Peacock (Aglais io)
- Moths (in species order):
- 1 Olive Pearl (Udea olivalis)
- many unidentified grass moths
- Damselflies etc:
Despite an obvious recent hatch with larvae cases all over the sluice exit platform there were very few flying around: only Common Blue Damselflies noted
- Hoverflies:
- <<to be supplied>>
And other things:
- many Honey Bees again (Apis mellifera)
- 3+ White-tailed Bumblebees (Bombus lucorum)
- 1 pipistrelle-type bat
- 1 Grey Squirrel: the same eating Hazel nuts?

A calm morning with a hint of mist and rather hazy

A juvenile Long-tailed Tit having moulted at least some of its first and very downy feathers.

Not a very helpful angle. The extensive brown in the wing identify this as a Common Whitethroat.

A perky Sedge Warbler showing its obvious wide creamy supercilium.

With a twig across its face – but we can see the hint of a pale crown stripe from this angle.

A young Blackbird peers at me over the vegetation. Juveniles are rather more rufous-brown than adult females. The streaking in the plumage is just visible on the back.

A young Greenfinch – not very ‘green’. A fresh juvenile would show streaking on the breast: an adult would show a hint of a face-mask – a small area of black between the bill and the eye.

A Dun-bar moth (Cosmia trapezina). A rather more obviously ‘barred’ specimen but still not very ‘dun’-coloured. This one on the lamps pre-dawn.

This specimen flew out of the vegetation and landed on the right arm of my blue sweat-shirt. When you are right-handed and the camera is closed down it is quite difficult to get a photograph ... It looks somewhat different when the wings are partly open.

It was quite well-behaved and after the contortions to get the previous photo it allowed itself to be picked up and placed in my left hand. Looks more ‘normal’ with the wings mostly closed.

 A crisp image (for once) of the underside of a Meadow Brown butterfly (Maniola jurtina)

The upper side of a female Gatekeeper butterfly (Pyronia tithonus) ....

.... and a rather battle-scarred male. Only males show the dark are in the centre of the forewing.

A bumper year for this species this year – a Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui)

Do I need to say this is a Peacock butterfly (Aglais io). The ‘eyes’ on the wing-tips always look slightly ‘blurred’ as if they are not quite in focus.

On the right what is clearly a Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax). On the left is what appears to be a wasp-waisted insect. I cannot match any wasp with the pattern shown here, the black vertical central band does not occur in any of my references.

The same Tapered Drone-fly with a Syrphus sp. hoverfly – only females of this genus are separable and then only if you can clearly see the colour of the whole of the hind tarsus.

A rather distinctive hoverfly. This is a female Migrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae) – and yes it does mean this insect has flown from the Continent. There is a somewhat similar resident species where the yellow marks do not reach the side of the body. A species I see most years.

Posing in the sun is this Dead-head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea). Named after the (rather variable) markings on the thorax, though to me it requires a vivid (morbid?) imagination to think it looks like a death-head.

Feasting deep in a convolvulus flower is this a species of mining bee (Andrena sp.). Smaller than any of the usual bumblebees and lacking any tail colour. Most likely Andrena bicolor.

These ‘tight’ clustered umbels belong to Wild Angelica (Angelica sylvestris). The leaves can be chopped in salads – are supposed to taste carroty (Wild Carrot is a close relative). It is the stems that can be candied in sugar. If you want to try then take care with identification as other members of the family – Hemlock Water Dropwort for instance – are extremely poisonous.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  06:05 – 06:50

(182nd visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- I think we must assume the cygnets have perished.
- Many of the Mallard seen (and probably many more unseen) were tucked away inside the island and impossible to sex: logged as ‘not drakes’.
- Five Cormorants circled around as if about to land. If they did so they were behind the island for me. I did not see them again.
- A group of 6 Stock Doves together overhead was unusual.
and, moth on a lamp pole
- 1 Little Grey (Eudonia lacustrata).

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 6 Stock Doves
- 4 Wood Pigeons

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 4 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 3 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Willow Warbler
- 1 (0) Blackcap

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans again
- 17 Greylag Geese
- 20 Canada Geese
- 20 (>7♂) Mallard
- 24 (16♂) Tufted Ducks
- 5 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens again
- 16 + 4 (2? broods) Coots
- no Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Kingfisher

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- Moorhen(s) heard at both pools: sounded like very new juveniles at the lower pool.
- 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker near each pool.
and
- 1 pug moth on the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2012
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
4 Common Tern
Yellow Wagtail
(Ed Wilson)