3 Sep 19

Priorslee Lake and The Flash.

Priorslee Lake:  05:10 – 06:50 // 07:40 – 09:45
The Flash:  06:55 – 07:35

14.0°C > 16.0°C:  Early broken cloud cleared away to the E leaving it clear with only a little high cloud. Moderate SW wind died away. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:23 BST

Priorslee Lake:  05:10 – 06:50 // 07:40 – 09:45

(213rd visit of the year)

Bird notes from today:
- The geese were better behaved today with all the Greylag Geese preceding the Canada Geese outbound. None of the Canadas was noted returning.
- I despair over the Great Crested Grebes! It transpires that two pairs – or at least two broods – are in close proximity in the NW area. Two juveniles that are on the water unaided while at least two smaller juveniles are still on a parent’s back. I could only find three adults sharing the workload here, though there were six other adults scattered about and one of the parents could have wandered off.
- No small juvenile Coots noted.
- Another Hobby dashed through at 06:50.
- The Common Kestrel was hovering over the fields to the E by 06:05.
- The large gulls mostly did not ‘gas and go’. Some had a wash and brush-up but most just sat around for a while and then left.
- At least 75 House Martins were in a group high over the ‘football’ field at 06:40. A few birds heard calling over the area later were probably some of these. At 08:35 a tight group of c.20 birds headed purposefully SE, presumably migrants.
- This morning’s ‘football’ field count gave me 59 Black-headed Gulls, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 23 Wood Pigeons, four Magpies, two Carrion Crows, 8 Starlings and 54 Pied Wagtails.

Bird totals:

Birds noted flying over or flying near the lake:
- 268 Greylag Geese (134 outbound in 11 groups; 131 inbound in seven groups)
- 117 Canada Geese (117 outbound in 11 groups; none inbound)
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Common Kestrel
- 1 Hobby
- 7 Black-headed Gulls
- 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gull: both first- winter
- 92 large gulls (too dark to ID)
- 9 Feral Pigeons
- 1 Stock Dove
- 55 Wood Pigeons
- 9 Jackdaws
- 90 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Barn Swallow
- >95 House Martins

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

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans as ever
- 17 (10♂) Mallard
- 2 (0♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 2 Little Grebes (age not determined)
- 9 + 4 +8 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes (see notes)
- 2 + 2 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 81 Coots
- 139 Black-headed Gulls
- 26 Lesser Black-backed Gulls : 25 of these first-winters
- 1 Herring Gull: first-winter

On the lamp poles pre-dawn:
a breezy night left just ...
- 1 small unidentified fly
but flushed from vegetation and located at rest was..
- 1 moth ‘The Snout’ (Hypena proboscidalis) ** moth species #66 here in 2019

The following logged later:
- Moths
        - Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis): ** moth species #67 here in 2019
- Butterflies:
        - Small White (Pieris rapae)
        - Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
- Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
- Dragonflies etc
        - Common Blue Damselfly
        - Common Darter: ** my first here in 2019
- Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Common Drone-fly (Eristalis tenax)
- Syrphus sp.
And other things:
- >5 Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
- 1 Tachina fera fly
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus harvestman
- 1 spider sp.
- 2 Grey Squirrels

I prefer the geese when they are inbound. There is enough light to photograph the groups and then count them at leisure as well as making sure there are no ‘strange’ geese amongst them. 14 here, all Greylags.

A drake Mallard comes in to land. Many drakes are just about in full breeding plumage now. Not this one that shows rather little green on the head. We can confirm it is an adult drake as these, at all times of the year, show a uniform greeny-yellow bill. Ducks have dark brown bills with narrow orange-brown edge-marks.

In this shot the drake shows some chestnut on the breast and the start of the white neck ring.

This helps explain some of my confusion over the Great Crested Grebe juveniles. Here are the two I also photographed yesterday when they were being fed. They seem quite happy to be left on their own as parents go off and get their food.

Meanwhile and close-by two smaller juveniles are riding on a parent’s back. It is possible there is a third juvenile lurking somewhere under the parent’s fluffed-up feathers.

Hey! Mind where you are putting that bill!

This moth flushed off vegetation as I was checking the lamps in the dark and settled ‘in range’. It is called The Snout (Hypena proboscidalis) for fairly obvious reasons. This is a second brood specimen, this brood being slightly smaller, more strongly marked and slightly darker.

This moth allowed just the one, badly lit, photograph before it was away. We can nevertheless see why it is called a Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis).

I know I showed a Small White butterfly (Pieris rapae) yesterday. This is a male – only two black spots in the wings (one on each forewing). It is enjoying the nectar of the bramble flower.with its long tongue stuck in.

A Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) of course. What struck me was the way the antennae stood out against the dark background. The biological separation of butterflies from moths has nothing to do with day and night and all to do with the antennae. All butterflies, and only butterflies, have clubbed antennae and this shot shows that well.

One of the almost impossible to separate Syrphus hoverflies – find a female and then examine the colour of the hind femur! This one not doing too good a job at camouflaging itself on a ragwort flower.

This one sitting on a convolvulus flower allows the wing venation to be seen more clearly.

One fly that is not too hard to identify. With an orange abdomen, complete with a broad black median line, and very obvious bristles it is quite distinctive. No-one has given it a vernacular name and we have to call it Tachina fera (some web sites call it ‘Tachnid Fly’ but there are many flies in the Tachina genus).

You want a front view? It is a rather splendid beast. 

I found this spider sitting quietly and looking as if it was waiting to pounce. With its two front pairs of legs held together and pointing forward it has some characteristics of a crab spider, though some orb-web spiders also rest in this position. No nearby web was apparent. Whatever I cannot find any photos or illustrations that match this rather handsome example.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  06:55 – 07:35

(203rd visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- Only one Great Crested Grebe located – an adult.
- 12 of the House Martins were likely birds from the big group seen earlier over the main ‘football’ field: these were noted to the S of The Flash. Three more were seen, briefly, low to the E of the water.
and
- 1 Flounced Rustic moth (Luperina testacea): the same on the same lamp pole in squirrel alley.
- 2 wasps sp.
- 3 Dicranopalpus ramosus harvestmen on the same lamp pole
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum harvestman on another lamp pole
- 1 Grey Squirrel

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 2 Stock Doves
- 6 Wood Pigeons
- 5 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 15 House Martins

Warblers noted (singing birds):
- 5 (1) Chiffchaffs

Counts from the water:
- 3 Mute Swans as usual
- 4 Greylag Geese (arrived)
- 1 Canada Goose
- 39 (22♂) + 1 (1 brood) Mallard
- 23 (7♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 2 Moorhens
- 16 Coots
- 2 Black-headed Gulls: no juvenile / 1st winters
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult ‘gas and go’
- 1 Kingfisher again

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 juvenile Moorhen beside the lower pool
- Moorhen(s) calling from the upper pool
and
- 1 Flame Carpet moth (Xanthorhoe designata) on a lamp pole

(Ed Wilson)

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

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's News Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Nedge Hill
2 Yellow Wagtails
(John Isherwood)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)