23 May 20

Priorslee Lake: 04:37 – 05:45 // 06:55 – 09:18
The Flash: 05:50 – 06:50

10.0°C > 12.0°C: Variable cloud with a few light passing showers. Fresh and gusty SW wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:00 BST

The recent winds have left much small twigs and leaves strewn around. Just a few larger branches.

Priorslee Lake:

(90th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I am sure Little Grebe is breeding here. Generally quiet and hiding in the reeds. Heard calling once today.
- Coot numbers, and especially the count of juveniles, affected by the strong wind.
- The House Sparrows that invaded the area three weeks ago all seem to have left.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 14 Canada Geese (trio and a single outbound; four inbound; six ‘cross bound’!)
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Cormorant
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all (near) adults
- 1 Stock Dove
- 1 Wood Pigeon only
- 2 Jackdaws
- 3 Rooks

Birds noted on the ‘football’ field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded]:
- 11 Starlings
A rather strange increase. All seemed to be adults collecting food to take to nests.

Birds noted on the academy playing field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded here too]:
- 2 (1♂) Mallard
- 1 Jackdaw only again

Count of hirundines etc logged:
- c.30 Swifts
- 4 Barn Swallows
- c.10 House Martins

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 13 (8) Chiffchaffs
several juveniles seen
- 17 (16) Blackcaps
- 4 (4) Garden Warblers
- 4 (3) Common Whitethroats
- 9 (9) Reed Warblers
two new singing locations: fewer heard at W end

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 7 (6♂) Mallard
- Little Grebe heard
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens again
- 19 + 5 (2 broods) Coots
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: two (near) adults, one second year, all briefly

On / around the street lights:
Nothing

Insects / other things etc noted later:

Damselflies
- Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Butterflies / moths
- Plain Gold moth (Micropterix calthella)

Bees
- presumed Field Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus campestris)
- Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
- Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)

Hoverflies
- Cheilosia sp.
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Drone-fly sp. (Eristalis sp.)
- The Footballer (Helophilus pendulus)
- Narcissus Bulb Fly (Merodon equestris)
- Xanthogramma pedissequum sensu lato

Other things
- a very small bug likely Issus coleoptratus.
- the Mirid bug Dryophilocoris flavoquadrimaculatus
- Red-and-Black Froghoppers (Cercopis vulnerata)
- The cranefly Tipula lunata
- The Dagger Fly Empis tessellata
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): both var. succinea; and var. conspicua
- 14 Spot Ladybird (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata)
- Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis)
- Common Stretch-spider (Tetragnatha extensa)

Additional plant species recorded for the year at this site:
None

A pair of Mallard. The male looks less than pristine now as it starts to lose its breeding plumage.

Video of Great Crested Grebes; I am sure this species should be nesting by now. These two still seem intent on displaying and show little interest in going inside the reeds to build a nest or brood eggs.

I set the camera to ‘sports mode’ to freeze the wings of the hovering Common Kestrel. Sadly the bird stayed rather distant and was not helpfully lit.

Note how the alula – the small feather on the bend of the wing – is extended to help with the control of the hover.

An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. The lack of any black on the bill indicates it is a full adult. So why don’t the legs look more yellow? Here, unusually, sitting on the sluice exit.

This very small bug is likely to be Issus coleoptratus.

This is another bug – a Mirid bug. Wait for it .... Dryophilocoris flavoquadrimaculatus. Now you know!

This small moth is another Meadow Long-horn (Cauchas rufimitrella).

A tiny, tiny fly – just look at the leaf veins for comparison. I am sure it is one of the fruit fly complex (Tephritidae). I cannot match this to anything on the web.

This is a Cheilosia sp. hoverfly. No way of specifically identifying it from this photo.

I do not think I have ever seen such an orange-looking Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus). The markings cannot be confused with any other species.

Not a bee – short antennae – the Narcissus Bulb Fly (a hoverfly) (Merodon equestris).

The brown at the base of the wings help identify this dagger fly as Empis tessellata.

Despite its scruffy appearance this is not a Common Carder Bee: the all-black body, apart from the white tail means it is a Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)

This must be a Field Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus campestris), though none of the illustrations I can find show quite such an extensive and ‘fluffy’ tail.

Very similar, but this shows a faint mid-abdomen orange band which makes it an Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum). Perhaps the previous bee is as well.

One of the most stunning individuals I have ever seen. This most certainly is a very fresh specimen of Early Bumblebee.

This ladybird is less than half the size of a typical ‘red’ ladybird - a 14 Spot Ladybird (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata).

A slightly better photo of a Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis).

A Common Stretch-spider (Tetragnatha extensa) sets off. The top row of the eight-eyes are clearly seen here.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:

(77th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- One of the cygnets must have been hiding yesterday: eight present today.
- I assume that most of the Mallard families were still sheltering from the wind. Many fewer than late morning yesterday.
- Most of the Coots were still brooding their young.
- 2 Sparrowhawks as I arrived at the S end of the area – apparently both males. Later a bird glimpsed which seemed to be a larger female, but ...?

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 2 (3?) Sparrowhawks
- 2 Starlings

Hirundines etc logged:
- 12 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 4 House Martins

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 5 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (3) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Reed Warbler still

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 8 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 12 + 3 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 20 (14♂) + 5 (1 brood) Mallard
- 14 (8♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens
- 16 + >2 (>1 brood) Coots

Nothing else of note:

It’s tough being the pen Mute Swan when the youngsters demand a ride!

There are still eight cygnets.

This is one of the apparent male Sparrowhawks over the S end of the area. The inner primaries are still growing. There is a hint of the undertail coverts being puffed up.

I was at the time sure this was the other of the two birds circling around. The wing-moult situation looks identical so perhaps I was confused? The undertail coverts are certainly puffed up here.

A Collared Dove takes the morning sun.

Well. The best I have been able to do with the Reed Warbler so far! Staying well hidden whenever the camera is ready. Been here over a week now.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

Noteworthy
- Moorhens heard at both pools
- 1 Goldcrest singing at the lower pool
- 1 Blackcap singing at the upper pool

(Ed Wilson)

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

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2006
Priorslee Lake
Mink seen by locals
(Ed Wilson)