30 May 20

Priorslee Lake, The Flash and Woodhouse Lane:

After a ‘down day’ recharging batteries the complete set of Priorslee Lake, The Flash and Woodhouse Lane

9.0°C > 17.0°C: Cloudless. Light SE breeze after calm start. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:51 BST

Priorslee Lake: 04:18 – 05:45 // 06:45 – 07:20 // 08:20 – 09:43

(96th visit of the year)

No progress since Wednesday on removing the Giant Hogweed (or the cut-down plants)

Bird notes:
- Four first year Black-headed Gulls were on buoys when I arrived. Been here all night? An early return for this species – usually reckon c.10 June.
- The seven Cormorants passed over in echelon. All seemed to be immatures and perhaps all juveniles- much white below.
- One Common Buzzard seen hovering where the Kestrel was seen doing the same thing earlier. Soon chased away by Magpies.
- Three broods of Coots with but a single juvenile noted. Last year was a particularly successful breeding season. Not so far this year but they will mostly have second broods yet.
- Numbers of Swifts hard to determine. Unusually just two raced through early. Thereafter sometime as many at 20; then again none; later up to 20 again – same?
- The Rooks have begun their annual flying ‘to and fro’ which I always assume is birds on feeding forays. The strange thing is that their crops are usually full on what I would presume is the ‘outbound’ leg.
- Several family parties of Blue Tits seen. Great Tit families presumed – only heard.
- The group of eleven Starlings on the football field only briefly. At least three juveniles.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 1 Black-headed Gull: adult
- 7 Cormorants
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: three first years; two second years; others not determined.
- 5 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 19 Jackdaws
- 47 Rooks

Birds noted on the ‘football’ field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded]:
None

Birds noted on the academy playing field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded here too]:
- 11 Starlings
The ‘Homing Pigeon’ had homed in on the roof of the academy once more

Count of hirundines etc logged:
- >20 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 3 House Martins

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 14 (12) Chiffchaffs
- 14 (13) Blackcaps
- 3 (3) Garden Warblers
- 3 (3) Common Whitethroats
- 7 (6) Reed Warblers
No sign of any Lesser Whitethroats.

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 7 (5♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Duck: flew in from E 04:45
- 7 Great Crested Grebes still
- 4 Moorhens
- 18 + 3 (3 broods) Coots
- 5 Black-headed Gulls: one adult; four first year birds
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: second year, briefly

On / around the street lights:
- Silver-ground Carpet moth (Xanthorhoe montanata)
At last: a moth on the lamps. Not new for the year but at least a start!

Insects / other things etc noted:

Butterflies:
- Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
- Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Moths:
- Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana)
- Common Purple & Gold (Pyrausta purpuralis)

Bees / wasps
- Mining Bee sp. (Andrena sp.)
- Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
- Ichneumon xanthorius

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

Hoverflies
- Cheilosia sp.
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax)

Other things:
- Plant bug Miris striatus (sometimes called Fine Streaked Bugkin)
- Red-and-Black Froghoppers (Cercopis vulnerata)
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis): forms spectabilis and succinea noted
- Oedemera nobilis (Thick-legged Flower Beetle or Swollen-thighed Beetle)
- Common Stretch-spiders (Tetragnatha extensa)
- Small green spider Nigma walckenaeri

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

Fine and clear weather does not make for stunning sunrises.

Not a good photo but they were a long way away. A Magpie seeing off a Common Buzzard.

These two fighting Wood Pigeons were lucky it was before 05:00 during Covid restrictions. Otherwise the middle of Castle Farm Way is not a good place to be.

In contrast a sunny and placid Wood Pigeon

“I can see you”. A Chiffchaff peers out.

A bird that gives beginners some confusion. Always look at the bill for a clue. This is a juvenile Starling without spots at this age.

As it turned around the ‘bandit mask’ is somewhat more obvious. The problem gets worse in a few weeks when the odd adult feather produces a very mottled effect. Remember the bandit mask.

A fine male Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) – its is the scent gland (dark line) in the centre of the fore-wing that identifies it as a male.

Best of the day for me. A delightful Common Purple & Gold moth (Pyrausta purpuralis). There are two similar species and all three can be relatively easily seen in daytime.

Not such a pretty moth. This is a Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana). A typical tortrix shape, almost unmarked and with a brown / yellow suffusion around the head and base of the wings. Very commonly disturbed but ‘goes to ground’ and can be hard to see well.

This is a Mining Bee sp. (Andrena sp.). These differ from Honey Bees in having no pollen basket on the hind leg. I cannot really be more specific – there are 40 to choose from and while many do not occur in this part of the country too many do!

This is the wasp Ichneumon xanthorius. With only one folded-back antenna ....?

No: both present and correct. Cleaning its face with its front leg here. Only the male has long. black antennae. On the female they are shorter with the basal part yellow-toned. She also has yellow on the last tergite whereas it is black on the male.

My best yet of the bug Miris striatus (Fine Streaked Bugkin). This is the first year I have recorded this species and at the moment I am seeing it daily.

I am slightly mystified by this ladybird. I keep seeing individuals like this. The red ‘comma’ mark on the front of the elytra is wrongly orientated for a Pine Ladybird and I think it is too large. I am rather bemused by the red ‘tail’ and cannot find a good match. I suspect a variation of the spectabilis form of the Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)

Another male Oedemera nobilis (Thick-legged Flower Beetle or Swollen-thighed Beetle). Will I ever see a female without the swollen thighs?

This small green spider likes being underneath its web.

Trying to persuade the camera to focus on a small green spider amongst green vegetation not easy. The best I could do. The spider is Nigma walckenaeri, distinguished by the red tip to its abdomen.

The rather dense umbels of Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium). Note the outer petals are larger than all the others. Now the Cow Parsley is more or less over this is the dominant umbellifer.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  05:50 – 06:40

(82nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I think we are about to lose another cygnet. Seven were with the pen; one rather lethargic-looking cygnet was being looked after by the cob. He moved away and the pen came back to look at it. After a short while she too left to join the others and it was left all alone and (almost) motionless.
- I could not find either of the Great Crested Grebes. The nest is hard to find – you need to stand in exactly the right places to be able to make out the sitting bird.
- A Stock Dove calling from the trees near The Priorslee. Not common here.
- The Reed Warbler, or another, is back. Perhaps it never went away.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 2 Wood Pigeons.
- 2 Collared Doves – ‘express trains’ over
- 2 Starlings

Hirundines etc logged:
- >35 Swifts
- 2 House Martins

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

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 8 (1 brood) Mute Swans: see notes
- 1 Greylag Goose: arrived
- 10 Canada Geese
- 24 (18♂) Mallard
- 7 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- [Great Crested Grebes not located]
- 3 Moorhens
- 14 + 13 (5 broods) Coots

Nothing else of note

The adult Mute Swans with seven of their cygnets. The cob now seems minded to take part in family business. I assume it managed to get at and kill the goslings as they were nowhere to be seen again.

The rather forlorn eighth cygnet. Both parents had tried to gee it along with the others to no avail. I fear ....

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

Noteworthy
The upper pool is fast drying out.
- Moorhens heard only at both pools
- Great Spotted Woodpecker over
- 1 Blackcap singing at the lower pool

(Ed Wilson)

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Woodhouse Lane area: 07:20 – 08:20

(7th visit of the year)

Notes from here:
- No sight or sound of the Yellow Wagtail.
- At least 4 Linnets: flying to and fro all the while.
- Singing Reed Bunting was the first for several visits: they often nest in crops here.

Notable species counts (singing birds in brackets):
- 1 Common Buzzard: being hounded by Carrion Crows
- Stock Dove heard in wooded area by sluice exit.
- 3 (2) Skylarks
- 2 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Willow Warbler
- 3 (3) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
- 6 (5) Common Whitethroats
- 1 (1) Song Thrush
- 5 (5) Chaffinches
- 1 (0) Greenfinch
- 4 (0) Goldfinches
- 4 Linnets at least
- 4 (1) Yellowhammers
- 1 (1) Reed Bunting

Insects noted:

- Butterflies
Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
Brown sp., probably Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
Vanessid sp., probably Peacock (Aglais io)
- Hoverflies:
Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

Additional plant species recorded for the year at this site:
- Meadow Cranesbill (Geranium pratense)
- Scentless Mayweed (Matricaria perforata was Tripleurospermum inodorum)

After all the ‘bits of Common Whitethroats’ as they bring food to nest here is a portrait of a male. They grey head indicates a male

This is a Meadow Cranesbill flower (Geranium pratense). I seem not to have recorded this before – perhaps I assumed it was a garden escape?

I am pretty sure this is Scentless Mayweed (Matricaria perforata was Tripleurospermum inodorum). It certainly seemed ‘inodorum’ when I crushed the leaves. So why change the name? Don’t you just love taxonomists. Crushing the leaves is the only way I know of separating this from Scented Mayweed (Matricaria chamomilla).

(Ed Wilson)

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

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Long Lane, Wellington
13 Ringed Plover
2 Dunlin
(JW Reeves)