9 May 20

Priorslee Lake and Woodhouse Lane

My extended exercise walk encompassed Woodhouse Lane

10.0°C > 16.0°C: Mainly clear with a few patches of cloud clearing. Some thin high cloud. Light and variable wind. Good visibility and hazy again.

Sunrise: 05:21 BST

Priorslee Lake: early

(76th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- As I was leaving I was told that the pen Mute Swan had left the nest and both adults were on the water. My informant had no binoculars and was unable to tell whether there were any cygnets. I popped around to the Castle Farm lay-by. By his time she was back on the nest, but standing on it, pulling at vegetation. I was unable to see whether there were cygnets. I suspect so.
- The Starlings were much quicker than I was in picking up the male Sparrowhawk over – but I guess when your life depends on it .... The Sparrowhawk was likely little threat as it was doing its relaxed, slow-flapping display flight, but I guess if a meal presented itself it might seize the opportunity.
- After a blank day yesterday two Common Sandpipers again. This seemed a rather late date for this species, presumably on passage. I checked last year’s records. I recorded one or two until 16th May 2019.
- Two of the four early visiting Lesser Black-backed Gulls were immatures which suggests it is not the same birds that drop in every morning.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 3 Greylag Geese (two outbound, one inbound, all singles)
- 8 Canada Geese (three pairs outbound; one pair inbound)
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: four (near) adults; two second years; one first year
- 1 Stock Dove
- 24 Wood Pigeons
- [no Jackdaws]
- 2 Rooks

Birds noted on the academy playing field:
- 2 Canada Geese
A Pheasant was heard calling: I think too distantly and likely from fields across Castle Farm Way.

Count of hirundines etc logged:
- 3 Barn Swallows
- 3 House Martins

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 13 (12) Chiffchaffs
- 26 (21) Blackcaps
- 3 (1) Garden Warblers again
- 5 (5) Common Whitethroats
- 7 (7) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 +? Mute Swans (see notes)
- 8 (7♂) Mallard
- 8 (4♂) Tufted Ducks
- [no Grey Heron]
- 3 Great Crested Grebes still
- 3 Moorhens again
- 13 Coots only
- 2 Common Sandpipers
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: two (near) adults; two second-years, all briefly

On / around the street lights:
- 1 Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea)
- 1 probable dagger fly Empis opaca
- 4 spiders of similar size: at least one likely a Mouse Spider (Scotophaeus blackwalli)

Insects etc. noted:

Butterflies / moths
- Female Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Peacock (Aglais io)
- Green Long-horn moths (Adela reaumurella)

Hoverflies:
- Cheilosia albitarsus agg.
- Epistrophe elegans
- Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum)
- Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax)
- ‘The Footballer’ (Helophilus pendulus)

Other flies
- a Muscid fly, perhaps Polietes lardarius
- a possible crane-fly that I cannot identify
- Panorpa germanica (aka German Scorpionfly)

A touch of colour. If the weather forecast is correct it will be the last pleasant morning for a while.

On the same reeds but at a slightly different orientation this morning was this very vocal Reed Warbler.

Something you don’t see too often – a Pied Wagtail in a tree. A female in dappled sunlight. I guess they nest in trees? Perhaps this tree.

A bit of an assumption here. A group of small insect with long-antennae were chasing around about 20 feet up and occasionally perching on leaves. Here is one. The most likely species – it is being commonly recorded at the moment – is the Green Long-horn micro-moth (Adela reaumurella).

A well-posed Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria)

An even-better posed fresh-specimen of Peacock butterfly (Aglais io).

A rather fuzzy dew-covered Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea).

At least this fly in not just black! One of the Muscid group and resembles Polietes lardarius. But then so do other flies ...

Also dew-covered is this interesting-looking rather rufous fly. Very hairy legs. Hard to be certain but looks like the dagger fly Empis opaca.

Rather like the Common and Tapered Drone-flies but smaller. This is a Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum).

This hoverfly with a striped thorax is ‘The Footballer’ (Helophilus pendulus) though the markings are slightly different from usual.

The clue with this almost unmarked hoverfly is the length of the wings – or shortness of the body if you prefer. One of the Cheilosia albitarsus aggregate. Visual separation of several recently described species is not yet fully understood and may not be possible.

This has got me beaten. Looks rather odd with its long legs enabling it to cast a shadow on the road. I assumed a crane-fly though it seems to lack the prominent head shown by that group. The well-marked brown wings are a puzzle too. I thought perhaps a stilt-bug rather than a fly: those all have long antennae so that thought is out the window. A puzzle.

Behind this dense mass of flowering Hawthorn was a calling Garden Warbler. Seeing it was impossible. Surprisingly I have noticed no insects at all on these flowers.

There may be ash dieback on some trees in the area (caused by the fungal disease Hymenoscyphus fraxineus). This is a healthy-looking bunch of keys.

One of the spiders on lamp poles this morning, all rather similar. This one seems to be a Mouse Spider (Scotophaeus blackwalli). Named for its colouration. Supposedly can give a painful, if harmless, bite.

(Ed Wilson)

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Woodhouse Lane area

(4th visit of the year)

Busy down the lane today. The Common Whitethroats and Yellowhammers, at least, seem to have largely forsaken both the trees and the always closely trimmed hedges and are busy nesting in the middle of the rape fields. These fields are now ‘less yellow’ as flowering finishes and the pods begin to ripen.

Notes from here:
- Stock Dove used to nest around the farm near what is now Greenfields. When that area was developed this species was no longer seen around the lane. One was heard was this morning from trees in the copse to the E.
- The Jays were flying toward the lake. While at the lake probably the same birds were seen flying toward the Woodhouse Lane area.
- High count of Skylarks – though they are quite hard to keep track of, with sizeable territories.
- A Garden Warbler sang only briefly.

Notable species counts (singing birds in brackets):
- 1 Pheasant heard
- 1 Stock Dove in trees
- 2 Jays
- 1 (1) Goldcrest
- 7 (5) Skylarks
- 1 Long-tailed Tit party
- 4 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Willow Warbler
- 3 (3) Blackcaps again
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler again
- 6 (6) Common Whitethroats
- [no Song Thrushes]
- 6 (5) Chaffinches
- 2 (1) Goldfinch
- 1 Linnets
- 6 (3) Yellowhammers

Additional flower species noted:
- Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens)

Insects noted:
- Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata)
- The hoverfly ‘The Footballer’ (Helophilus pendulus)

Some ancient oaks along the lane. Over the years the lower branches have been trimmed to allow farm machinery to pass but they look healthy-enough. Shame there are no replacement trees allowed to grow in the hedges. Still when it becomes houses ....

Seems parenting its taking its toll already. The tail of the Common Whitethroat looks a bit ragged. The upper mandible seems slightly bowed here – I think a trick of the light.

Having taken advice, on the basis of the leg colour this would seem to be another usually strongly-marked example of the hoverfly ‘The Footballer’ (Helophilus pendulus).

With five blue petals a speedwell? Nope. The plant is too hairy and robust. It is Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens).

A couple of dew-coated flowers.

I have tried before to capture the essence of the open structure of umbels of Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris). This, against the sky, is my best effort so far.

(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

2017
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
Shelduck
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
Grasshopper Warbler
(John Isherwood)

2009
Nedge Hill
Whinchat
Wheatear
(John Isherwood)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Arctic Tern
(Ed Wilson)

Nedge Hill
2 Wheatear
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Ducks
(Ed Wilson)