5 Aug 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

Priorslee Lake: 04:20 – 06:10 // 07:00 – 09:30
The Flash: 06:15 – 06:55

15.0°C > 18.0°C: Cloudy start with light rain 05:30 and again 06:30. Cleared after 07:30. Moderate SW / W wind. Good visibility, very good later.

Sunrise: 05:34 BST

Priorslee Lake: 04:20 – 06:10 // 07:00 – 09:30

(192nd visit of the year)

Bird notes from today 
- One of the resident adult Great Crested Grebes not located again.
- Two Common Terns arrived c.07:45.
- Only 21 Black-headed Gulls (no juveniles) counted on the ‘football’ field at 06:00. More (but only 24) seen on the lake today. Assumed the same birds.
- At least 40 House Martins it a tight swirling group high over at 05:35. Probably the origin of scattered ones and twos later.
- Where are all the Blackcaps? There were as many as 21 singing males when they arrived and at least 12 males were singing throughout. Now there are almost no birds heard calling and very few seen.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 19 Greylag Geese (14 (3 groups) outbound; 5 (1 group) inbound)
- 47 Canada Geese (35 (4 groups) outbound; 12 (1 group) inbound)
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull again
- 102 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Jackdaws
- no Rooks again

Hirundines etc. noted:
- no Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow
- >40 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 10 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (1) Willow Warblers
- 2 (0) Blackcaps only
- 5 (0) Common Whitethroats
- 2 (0) Sedge Warblers
- 8 (0) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 2 Greylag Geese (throughout) again
- 11 (9♂) Mallard
- 1 Cormorant once more
- 2 Grey Herons once more
- 5 + 4 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 51 adult and juvenile Coots: also both small juveniles from the newest brood
- 2 Common Terns
- 24 Black-headed Gulls: no juveniles

Moths on the lamp poles pre-dawn 
- 1 Dingy Dowd (Blastobasis adustella)
- 1 Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
- 1 White-streak Grass-veneer (Agriphila latistria)** NEW for me
- 2 Single-dotted Waves (Idaea dimidiata)

The following logged later: 
- Butterflies (in species order : no totals)
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
- Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
- Peacock (Aglais io)
- Moths (in species order):
- Cinnabar caterpillars (Tyria jacobaeae).
- Damselflies etc:
- a few Blue-tailed Damselfly
- many Common Blue Damselflies
- 2 Southern Hawkers fighting
[Azure Damselflies ought to still be around but not noted any for a while]
- Hoverflies (in alphabetic order of scientific name): a bumper haul
- Marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Common Drone-fly (Eristalis tenax)
- Eupeodes luniger (provisional ID) ** NEW for me
- Helophilus pendulus (aka The Footballer)
- Leucozona laternaria ** NEW for me
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- Myathropa florea (aka Dead-head Hoverfly)
- Syrphus sp. 
- Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens)
And other things:
- several Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
- 1 probable Blue Mason Bee (Osmia caerulescens)
- 1 Wasp (Vespa sp.)
- 1 Fox again

A juvenile Common Whitethroat presumably waiting to be fed. Note the dark eye at this age – the yellow gape is not easy to see here. Typical fluffy plumage of a recently fledged bird.

While waiting for the whitethroats to get their act together and come out for a photograph this popped out of the hedge instead – a Reed Warbler.

 Amazing what a bit of sun can do to the colours. Here stretching up accentuating the sloping fore crown and relatively long bill on this species. Note too the red-brown uppertail.

A rather better specimen of and / or photograph of a Dingy Dowd moth (Blastobasis adustella).

A dreadful photo – the moth was sitting half out of the lamp-light and the camera was having difficulty ‘seeing’ it. It looked ‘different’ so I persevered and this was as good as it got. Good-enough to see that it is my first-ever White-streak Grass-veneer (Agriphila latistria).

The distinctive ‘rugby jersey’ of a Cinnabar moth caterpillar (Tyria jacobaeae)

This seems to be the hoverfly Eupeodes luniger though, as usual, there are a number of similar possibilities. I have little experience of this group with the ‘hooked’ lunules (yellow bars). The ID must be regarded as provisional.

I have recorded this hoverfly already this year. Not for some weeks though. It is Helophilus pendulus (aka The Footballer) with characteristically striped thorax. There are other species with similarly striped thorax so they all need checking carefully.

Another new species of hoverfly for me. This is Leucozona laternaria.

And another specimen.

Slightly safer ground here with no confusion species. This hoverfly is Myathropa florea sometimes called the Dead-head Hoverfly from the mark on the thorax (though it hard to see it as a ‘death head’ here where what you can seems to be a reflection of me taking the photograph!)

This is hard! With long antennae this is clearly a bee rather than a hoverfly. It is small as it wraps itself around the centre (stigma? style?) of a Ragwort flower. I think it is most likely a Blue Mason Bee (Osmia caerulescens).

This view allows the size to be judged against the small Marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus).

This is ‘just’ female Common Blue Damselfly. One form of females of this species are drab green, tending to brown with age – as here. I was unsure what I was seeing as the eyes look almost red-tinged and I knew that Red-eyed Damselfly should not be flying at this date.

A not very good photo of a Green-veined White butterfly. The point is that the three species of ‘white’ – Small, Large and Green-veined – can be separated from above by the shape and extent of the dark mark on the tip of the upper forewing. We can see this is a Green-veined White by the lines on the underwing. But we also see the upper wing markings are discontinuous along the outer edge.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:15 – 06:55 again

(185th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- 2 Canada Geese flew over without so much looking at the water
also
- 1 Dun-bar moth (Cosmia trapezina) on a lamp pole
- 1 Grey Squirrel

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 2 Canada Geese
- 14 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. noted.
None

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 4 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Willow Warblers
- 1 (0) Blackcap

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans
- 10 Greylag Geese
- 24 Canada Geese
- 27 (>11♂) Mallard
- 17 (10♂) Tufted Ducks
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes as usual
- 3 Moorhens again
- 17 adult and well-grown juvenile Coots
- 3 Black-headed Gulls: no juveniles

Not very ‘dun’ nor very ‘barred’ but the way the two cross lines are angled to be closest at the inner edge of the wing is diagnostic for the Dun-bar moth (Cosmia trapezina)

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 Little Grey moth (Eudonia lacustrata) on lamp near the upper pool.

(Ed Wilson)

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

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2012
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
A female Teal
(John Isherwood)

2009
Priorslee Lake
30 House Martins
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Little Grebe
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)