Priorslee Lake and The Flash:
13.0°C >14.0°C: Initially very mist. Sky cleared for a while c.05:15 before mist returned. Later lifted to very low cloud. Calm / light E wind. Very poor visibility, gradually becoming moderate.
Sunrise: 04:45 BST: as early as it is going to get!
Back to a normal early start: cannot imaging why given the conditions I found.
Yesterday deluges have left the Wesley Brook running fast and the two pools between the lake and The Flash are full again.
Priorslee Lake: 04:13 – 05:30 // 06:25 – 09:04
(113th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Now 10 Great Crested Grebes noted. There probably have been all along. I have previously noted how hard these are to find as they make prolonged dives and emerge well away from where they started. At 07:00 I could only locate three. No idea where they hide.
- A Garden Warbler singing in a new location near the S end of the dam. One of the 'normal' three moving around between broods? All three heard in their usual locations as well.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
***NB: The mist and then low cloud severely limited sightings.
- 3 Wood Pigeons again
- 2 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook
Count of hirundines etc. logged:
- 5 Swifts
- 4 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 16 (13) Chiffchaffs
- 18 (13) Blackcaps
- 4 (3) Garden Warblers: see notes
- 6 (3) Common Whitethroats
- 12 (10) Reed Warblers
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall: departed?
- 9 (7♂) Mallard
- 10 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Moorhens
- 31 + 11 (6 broods) Coots
NB: a prefix * means there is a photo today.
On / around the street lights pre-sunrise:
- *A Common Grey moth (Scoparia ambigualis)
- *Uncertain (Hoplodrina octogenaria) or Rustic (Hoplodrina blanda) - visually inseparable
- *unidentified caddis fly sp.
- Common Stretch-spider (Tetragnatha extensa)
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
Butterflies:
None
Moths:
- *Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)
- *Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- *A probable Meadow Nab (Metzneria metzneriella)
Bees / wasps:
- *Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Common Wasp (Vespula (Paravespula) vulgaris)
Damselflies:
- *unidentified emerging specimen.
Hoverflies
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
Other things:
- *Large Knapweed Aphids (Uroleucon jaceae)
- Plumed midges (Chironomus plumosus)
- Caddis flies (Mystacides longicornis)
- Black Snipe fly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) forms conspicua and succinea; also many larvae
- *Common Toads (Bufo bufo)
Additional plant species recorded in flower for the year at this site:
- *Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris)
Note: I have had some welcome feedback from ShropBotany on the flowers from Monday 15th. Bit pushed for time today and will sort out the updates in tomorrow's blog
And an update: on Saturday the 13th June the capsid bug that I thought might be Deraeocoris ruber is more likely D. flavilinea. A photo of this latter species has been posted on the 'Latest Images' tab of the Naturespot web site. An update is not needed for the nymph: that of D. flavilinea looks very different to my photo of D. ruber.
Feedback always welcome – and I am learning all the time. Thanks folks.
Today's warbler pictures. A different Chiffchaff
Possibly the best specimen of a Common Marble moth (Celypha lacunana) I have ever seen. So fresh that the grey – almost blue-grey – markings are clearly defined. On a grass stem so the small size of this moth can be appreciated.
Another unusually clearly marked specimen is this Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella). So much so I have been searching for a different species. This is the only species with the diagonal mark across the wing tip without extensive black markings elsewhere.
...you think you have aphid problems? These seem to be Large Knapweed Aphids (Uroleucon jaceae).
This moth was covered in dew and this is obscuring some of the markings, especially on the left wing. I don't think I can beyond Crambid sp. There are several very similar species in the group.
This is an Uncertain moth (Hoplodrina octogenaria). A good name as there are several confusingly similar species.
A Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum). Typically unkempt-looking. Only the Tree Bumblebee also has a ginger thorax: that has a black body and white tail and does not show the orange bands apparent here. A Tree Bumblebee would never show a white 'beard' either.
There has been a lot of debate about these amphibians. Are they frogs or toads? At this age they do not fit the classic structure of either species. Despite apparently hopping at times – suggesting frogs - the warty appearance clinches them as Common Toads (Bufo bufo) for me.
A rather shorter plant than usual probably because this Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris) is growing behind the dam where the 'grass' is regularly cut.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 05:35 – 06:20
(96th visit of the year)
Nothing specifically of note on a day when I struggled to see anything much.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
None
Hirundines etc. logged:
- House Martins heard but not seen
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 5 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (2) Blackcap
- 1 (1) Reed Warbler
Counts from the water:
***NB: All numbers "best effort" in poor visibility. Geese likely to be the most accurate but since no hybrid geese found these must also be somewhat suspect. The island not visible from the E side.
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 44 Greylag Geese
- no Greylag x Canada Goose still
- 119 + 2 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 11 (7♂) Mallard
- 9 (5♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 +? (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes: juvenile(s) seen but too misty to see how many.
- 3 Moorhens
- 11 + 2 (2 broods) Coots: where were they all?
Other things of note:
- 1 Common Wasp (Vespula (Paravespula) vulgaris) on a lamp pole
- 1 caddis fly sp. on a lamp pole
- 1 Grey Squirrel
Some caddis flies have long antennae, as here. I think this is one of the Ceraclea group, but....
A flower I only ever see growing along the edge of the embankment beside Derwent Drive is this Biting Stonecrop (Sedum acre). Will be a blaze of yellow in a few days.
Autumn already and not quite the longest day as yet!
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the lake and The Flash:
Of note
- Single adult Moorhen on the grass alongside both pools.
Also
- 1 Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella) on a lamp pole
(Ed Wilson)