7 May 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash
The Flash again for my extended exercise walk today.

5.0°C > 13.0°C:  Clear and calm start again with light mist over water. High cloud from SW with light SE breeze developing . Good visibility and a bit hazy.

Sunrise: 05:25 BST

Priorslee Lake:  early

(74th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- A pair of Tufted Ducks throughout. A single drake flew high over.
- All eight Lesser Black-backed Gulls (two over and six on the water, all briefly) were within the first 20 minutes. Just one was obviously not a full adult. Perhaps a first-summer.
- Not sure about Willow Warbler today. I thought I may have heard it on the S side (it was in the NW area yesterday). If so it had stopped singing by the time I got there.
- The only Garden Warbler today was one heard calling from deep within bushes at the W end.
- Now seven Reed Warblers singing.
- Having looked again I think the groups of Reed Buntings seen in flight are adjacent adults having boundary disputes rather than any juveniles.

 Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 2 Greylag Geese (singles outbound)
- Canada Geese (heard only)
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Cormorant again
- 1 Kestrel
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: both (near) adults
- 1 Stock Dove
- 12 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 7 Jackdaws
- 6 Rooks

Birds noted on the academy playing field:
- 1 Jackdaw: most unusual on the ground in the area
the Starlings (25) again decamped to the ‘football’ field

Count of hirundines etc logged:
- 3 Swifts
- 1 Sand Martin
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 1 House Martin again

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 13 (12) Chiffchaffs again
- ? Willow Warbler: not sure!
- 28 (24) Blackcaps
- 1 (0) Garden Warbler only
- 5 (4) Common Whitethroats
- 7 (7) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 11 (10♂) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Ducks
- 1 Grey Heron briefly
- [no Little Grebes]
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Moorhens
- 16 Coots only
- 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: five (near) adults; one first(?) year

On / around the street lights:
- 3 spider of at least two species.

Insects / other things etc noted:
Bees
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- White-tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus lucorum)

Hoverflies
- Epistrophe elegans
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Leucozona lucorum

Other flies
- Alder Fly (Sialis lutaria)
- unidentified caddis fly
- Panorpa germanica (sometimes German Scorpionfly)

Other things
- Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata)
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): var. succinea
- Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus)
- several spiders
- one perhaps the money spider Macrargus rufu
- the other perhaps the crab spider Philodromus aureolus

New flower species recorded for the year at this site:
- probable Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca)
- an unidentified Brassica sp.
Looking the other way on the misty dawn this morning.

The immature Lesser Black-backed Gull. I am not sure I can age this bird. The extent of the black on the bill suggests that it is a first summer bird. However it has a pale eye, which at that age is usually dark. The underwing is rather unmarked which also suggests a first-summer bird. I thought the dark marks around the collar and along the flanks might be staining but they could be un-moulted first-winter features.

A Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata). I wonder whether it is the culprit that has eaten much of the leaf?

I am fooled by these every year. This looks like a caddis flies but is an Alder Fly (Sialis lutaria)

Now this IS a caddis fly. Note that the legs have spurs – the number and arrangement of these spurs on each pair of legs is a start to the identification of the 100 or so species that are likely to occur in Shropshire. Gulp! Note too the way the folded wings raise to a point and the wing-edges (when fresh) are ‘furry’ (I am sure there is a technical term ...)

This a male Panorpa germanica (sometimes German Scorpionfly). The ‘sting’ is the male’s genitalia and this fly in harmless to us.

Unlike many small hoverflies whose folded wings obscure the body pattern and make identification difficult you can usually see through the wings of Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus).

A very common, if somewhat variably-marked hoverfly is this male Tapered Drone Fly (Eristalis pertinax). Has been very common in my garden until this week.

Smaller than drone flies this hoverfly is Epistrophe elegans.

A very distinctive hoverfly with a very obvious wing cloud and white flanks. It is Leucozona lucorum.

Although some individuals can be confused with other species this ticks all the boxes for a White-tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus lucorum). Note it is using its back legs to give its wings a good clean.

This bumble bee was intent on climbing inside all the White Dead-Nettle flowers (Lamium album) and not giving brilliant views. The rather scruffy ginger hairs on the thorax are sufficient to identify it as a Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum).

A Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) of the form succinea with 17 or 19 black spots.

A side elevation of a Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus) showing its banded body. Snout cut-off here so ....

Here it is from above, complete with snout.

The mauve flowers of this vetch with slightly hairy leaves are probably Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca). This group is not easy to specifically identify.

Yet another mystery flower. It is clearly a Brassica or close relative (mustard, rocket). I cannot match any species in my flora to the rather leathery-looking, deep green and lobed leaves from a hairless stem. Could be a throw-back from escaped Oil-seed Rape, a cultivar of Brassica napus.

Spider #1 on a lamp pole pre-dawn. Too covered in dew to even attempt an identification.

Spider #2 on another lamp pole. One of the stretch spiders Tetragnatha sp.

Spider #3 hanging from a lamp and apparently eating breakfast. Another stretch spider sp.

This spider was lurking around the hatched caddis flies, perhaps looking for a meal. Almost certainly a crab spider of the genus Philodromus. P. aureolus is the most common. Specific identification is not possible from photos.

This caused confusion. To the naked eye I assumed another species of scorpion fly. But looking at the result on camera I thought it was an ant dragging off a dead fly. But on the computer screen it is clear that it is a spider that has caught the fly (there ought to be a song about that ...). I think the fly might well be a St Mark's or Hawthorn Fly (Bibio marci), named because they start flying on or around St Mark’s Day (24th April). They are the black flies that swarm with their back legs hanging down. The spider bears some resemblance to the money spider Macrargus rufus

 (Ed Wilson)

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 The Flash:

(62nd visit of the year)

Other bird notes:
- There are nine cygnets. It is unusual for all the eggs to hatch – there is often at least one unfertile egg. And it is not unusual for one of the cygnets to be weak and abandoned. All nine seemed active-enough. The cob slunk off to consort with his 2018 daughter(?) rather than lend a hand defending his family.
- 10 of the drake Mallard were ‘roof-sitting’.
- Some of the Tufted Duck seen climbing on and off the island. Then three pairs went flying around and around before landing back. Perhaps more on the island?
- Was so intent on photographing the cygnets I forgot to look in the Great Crested Grebe nest area to check.
- The Song Thrush was singing away again. A Mistle Thrush joined in the singing for a while – my only previous record here this year was on 4th March.
- A Pied Wagtail on the bank at the S end. This is also only my second record here this year, the previous relating to a fly-over on 21st March.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 2 Jackdaws again
- 1 Starling

Hirundines etc logged:
- 4 Swifts arrived from the St Georges area and soon departed back.
- 2 Barn Swallows flew through – going S!

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 4 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 7 (7) Blackcaps

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 9 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 18 Canada Geese again
- 21 (17♂) Mallard: no ducklings seen
- 6 (3♂) Tufted Duck
- [Great Crested Grebes overlooked!]
- 1 Moorhen
- 17 + ? (1 brood) Coots

Somewhere under those raised wings are the cygnets ....

Always hard to count. Eight here. I’d like to be the one peering over mum’s back!

Eight again.

And again

And yet again

But look – NINE. One eye just peering around Mum’s rear.

And now they are climbing back aboard.

There is always one out of step! Two pairs of Tufted Duck flying around and ....

... returning to the water while another drake looks on.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- Moorhen(s) heard on the upper pool
- 1 (1) Blackcap near the upper pool again

(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
Nedge Hill
Yellow Wagtail
3 Wheatear
(John Isherwood)

 2012
Wrekin
2 Wood Warblers
4 Pied Flycatchers
(Mike Stokes)

 2011
Nedge Hill
2 Wheatear
(John Isherwood)

 2008
Priorslee Lake
18 Mute Swans
(Martin Adlam)

 2006
Priorslee Lake
Pair of Ruddy Ducks
(Ed Wilson)