19 May 20

Priorslee Lake: 04:47 – 06:05 // 07:50 – 09:40
The Flash: 06:15 – 07:40

12.0°C > 16.0°C: Broken cloud after rain; cloud gradually clearing. Moderate WSW wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:05 BST

Priorslee Lake:

(86th visit of the year)

Contractors were on-site to replace the broken / worn-out planks on the Wesley Brook bridge.

Other bird notes:
- No idea where the Gadwall was. After failing to find it here or at The Flash it ‘appeared’ at 09:30.
- A trio of drake Tufted Ducks dropped in for a few minutes. Only saw them circling as they landed and then as they prepared to depart so unsure of their direction.
- Initially I located seven Great Crested Grebes. Much later when I did the Coot count I could only see a single bird on the water.
- Two Moorhens were, not altogether unusually, on top of the dam early. What was unusual was that they wandered off in to the trees alongside the Castle Farm Interchange.
- Sedge Warbler neither heard nor seen.
- Two juvenile Pied Wagtails on the dam face with an adult. Later an adult male was, unusually, on the N side path between trees and bushes. I think of this species as an ‘open area’ bird.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 2 Canada Geese (pair outbound)
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: (near) adult
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 1 Stock Dove
- 3 Wood Pigeons only again
- 5 Jackdaws
- 2 Rooks

Birds noted on the ‘football’ field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded]:
- 1 Feral Pigeon – the rather sad-looking semi-resident, briefly
- 3 Starlings only

Birds noted on the academy playing field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded here too]:
- 1 Pheasant: female
- 2 Jackdaws

Count of hirundines etc logged:
- 9 Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 2 House Martins

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 9 (9) Chiffchaffs
- 17 (17) Blackcaps
- 3 (3) Garden Warblers
- 2 (2) Common Whitethroats
- 11 (11) Reed Warblers again

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall: only noted after 09:30
- 5 (4♂) Mallard
- 3 (3♂) Tufted Ducks: briefly at 05:30
- 2 Grey Heron,: both departed before 05:00
- 1 Little Grebe heard
- 7 Great Crested Grebes
- 7 Moorhens
- 21 + 8 (3 broods) Coots
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: (near) adult, briefly

On / around the street lights:
- The spider Larinioides cornutus
A ‘carpet moth’ was seen but flew off as I approached and remained unidentified

Insects / other things etc noted later:
Damselflies:
- Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Bees / wasps etc:
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- A sawfly, most likely Tenthredo mesomela
- An unidentified spider-hunting wasp or sawfly

Butterflies / moths:
- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Plain Gold moths (Micropterix calthella)

Hoverflies:
- The Footballer (Helophilus pendulus)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- Parhelophilus sp. perhaps P. versicolor
- Syrphus sp.

Other notable flies:
- Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis)
- Alder Fly (Sialis lutaria)

Other things:
- Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata)
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) of the variety succinea
- Tetragnatha sp. stretch spider

Additional plant species recorded for the year at this site:
- Hop Trefoil (Trifolium campestre)

Not so much a sunrise photo ... it was cloudy to the east but good light on a cloudscape looking west.

A local Common Buzzard passes by. Seems to have prey in its talons.

The upper surface view.

What a cooperative pose. A young Pied Wagtail, yellow on the gape just discernible.

A male Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella).

This is the rufescens form of a Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) – without a blue tail. Identify by the two short dark lines on the side of the thorax. Other than male Blue-tails I almost always have to resort to the camera to sort out the ‘blues’.

Running around in this buttercup are no fewer than six Plain Gold (Micropterix calthella) moths. Tiny moths with metallic bronze wings and yellow tufts on the head. Unusual in that they feed on the pollen, having fully developed mouthparts. I am sure I have noticed these before bit never identified them.

By standing on tip-toe I was just able to photograph enough of the wing tip of this ‘white’ butterfly to confirm it as a Small White (Pieris rapae). On Large White the inner edge of the black on the wing-tip is obviously curved. It flew away precluding any better illustration.

Less trouble with identifying this as a Green-veined White (Pieris napi). Main problem was the contrast of the sun-lit moth and the dark background.

This is the cranefly Limonia phragmitidis. As its scientific name suggests it is found near reeds (Phragmites).

The rather scruffy ginger hair on the thorax immediately identifies this as a Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum).

Here showing the banded abdomen.

The long antennae on this insect suggest one of the species of spider-hunting wasps. These are similar, and closely related, to sawflies and it could be one of these. I cannot match it on the www though.

This IS a sawfly, most likely Tenthredo mesomela. I cannot see the colour of the stigma in the folded wing to separate this from another species. However the flight date fits this species better.

This rather bright and orange-looking hoverfly is one of the Parhelophilus sp. I think P. versicolor as on this female the hairs on tergite five look black. The species are that hard to separate!

A different specimen. This one also ...

... viewed head-on.

A Syrphus hoverfly – which species cannot usually be determined from a single photo (the leg markings are important and differ between males and females of each species). Here on the flowers of Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus).

On a lamp pole I found this spider. I think Larinioides cornutus, an orb-web spider.

Another new plant for me. This is Hop Trefoil (Trifolium campestre)

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:

(73rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Rather amazingly there was a fourth, smaller gosling with the previous trio of Canada Geese goslings. I always thought that all the eggs hatched more or less simultaneously.
- A well grown juvenile Coot seen being fed at what I thought was an abandoned nest. A new brood of four juveniles. Two other nests still being brooded with unconfirmed numbers of juveniles.
- Seemed to be Blackcaps everywhere – unlike at the lake where there were lower numbers.
- Both parent Nuthatches busy in and out of the nest, no doubt feeding young.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Stock Dove
- 6 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc logged:
- 16 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 2 House Martins

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 6 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 10 (7) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Reed Warbler

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 9 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 13 + 4 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 21 (18♂) + 0 (0 broods) Mallard
- 7 (5♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again
- 1 Moorhen only
- 15 + >5 (4? broods) Coots

Otherwise of note:
- The crane fly Dictenidia bimaculata
- Andrena sp (mining bee)
Other bees seen but no identification made

Two of the now four Canada Geese goslings. The one on the left is the ‘new’, smaller individual. Strange that one should appear several days later. I know that during this species’ moult a few older adults will crèche all the youngsters but that usually only happens when they are a lot older.

“Give me food”. A slightly less ugly and more grown juvenile Coot. It has just about lost the red head and is getting a white breast that it will have for three months or so before acquiring all-dark plumage.

Looks to have a rather soggy belly from swimming.

The parent seems unmoved, even disdainful.

An all-black crane fly I have not seen before – indeed a new genus. This is probably Dictenidia bimaculata: there are similar species only separable by experts ...

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

Noteworthy
- 1 Grey Heron flushed off lower pool: one from the lake?
- 1 adult Moorhen heard at the lower pool
- adult and juvenile Moorhens heard at the upper pool
- 1 Goldcrest singing at the lower pool
- Long-tailed Tit party at lower pool
- 1 Chiffchaff singing at the lower pool
- 1 Blackcap singing at the lower pool
- 1 Blackcap singing above the upper pool

(Ed Wilson)

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If you are on your daily exercise and keeping a safe distance from others, we would love to see any photos or sightings you have, from Priorslee Lake and The Flash, by emailing them to us at priorsleelake@hotmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you.😊

(Martin Adlam and Ed Wilson)

Note:
Here are a few Garden Sightings from Ed Wilson Here on our Readers Corner from the past few days

And

A few of Martin Adlam's Sightings from the Isle of Portland Here.

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

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
Curlew 
Grasshopper Warbler
(Ed Wilson)

Wrekin
5 Tree Pipits
2 Common Redstart
2 Spotted Flycatchers
5 Pied Flycatcher
5 Wood Warblers
Tawny Owl
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
Grasshopper Warbler
(Ed Wilson)

Wrekin
21 Crossbill
4 Wood Warbler
Pied Flycatcher
Common Redstart
Tree Pipit
(Glenn Bishton)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Ducks
(Ed Wilson)