Priorslee Lake and The Flash
18.0°C > 20.0°C: Mainly fine. Increasingly medium overcast. Light rain 05:30 and then thunder to the W as I departed – in haste! Light E wind. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 04:48 BST
Priorslee Lake: 04:04 – 05:50 // 06:55 – 08:46
(121st visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- It is official: summer is over! The first returning Common Sandpiper was present before 05:00 only. Likely either a failed breeder or perhaps a young bird that did not breed.
- Four Black-headed Gulls present when I arrived: these left at 04:40. Odd birds appeared later. Several of these were my first returning adults.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Black-headed Gull
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull again
- 1 Stock Dove again
- 15 Wood Pigeons
- 37 Jackdaws
- 189 Rooks
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 10 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 4 House Martins yet again
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 11 (11) Chiffchaffs
- 9 (9) Blackcaps
- 3 (2) Garden Warblers
- 4 (4) Common Whitethroats again
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
- 10 (9) Reed Warblers
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 11 (10♂) Mallard
- 2 Grey Herons
- 10 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Moorhens again
- 33 + 12 (7 broods) Coots
- 1 Common Sandpiper
- >6 Black-headed Gulls: at least two adults
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: two adults, one second year all for a drink and away
NB: a prefix * means there is a photo today.
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
- 1 Silver-ground Carpet moth (Xanthorhoe montanata)
- 1 *Blood-vein moth (Timandra comae)
- 1 Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea)
On the wall of the academy beside a security light
- Six grass moths, likely all Garden Grass-veneers (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
Butterflies:
- Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
One of the few butterflies that flies on cloudy days
Moths:
- Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)
- Latticed Heath (Chiasmia clathrata)
- *Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata)
Bees / wasps:
- Common Wasp (Vespula (Paravespula) vulgaris)
Damsel-/Dragon-flies:
- *Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
Hoverflies
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *Eupeodes corollae
Bats
None
Other things:
- *Capsid bug Grypocoris stysi
- *Common Green Capsid (Lygocoris pabulinus)
- Black Snipe fly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): again just a single pupa noted
- *Common Candy-striped Spider (Enoplognatha ovata)
- *unidentified spider sp.
- Grey Squirrel
Additional plant species recorded in flower for the year at this site:
- *Broad-leaved Willowherb (Epilobium montanum)
An angry sky pre-sunrise.
Fiery too for a while.
Later, but still before sunrise.
"Red sky in the morning is shepherds' warning" - and here is why. A shower to the W, though only a few spots at the lake
I thought there was supposed to be gold (not drake Mallards) at the end of rainbows.
A rather tatty specimen: my first Blood-vein moth (Timandra comae) of the year. I record this moth years.
This tiny bug is Grypocoris stysi. Not all specimens have such a red area – often it is yellow or orange.
Another small bug which is likely Common Green Capsid (Lygocoris pabulinus). There are, of course, several similar species.
The only damselflies I noted this morning were Blue-tailed Damselflies (Ischnura elegans). This male shows the black and white wing spots. None of the other 'blue' damselflies show this.
A smart-looking hoverfly – Eupeodes corollae. Sometimes called Migrant Hoverfly. While some do migrate from the Continent to UK it is mainly a resident species. A rather unusual specimen with faint lines on the thorax, not present on any photos I can find on the web. My hoverfly man (thanks Leon) confirms the ID and suggests it is 'a trick of the light'.
This distinctively-marked spider was inside a cowl around one of the Belisha beacons. This is projecting an enhanced shadow. It is a Common Candy-striped Spider (Enoplognatha ovata).
An apparently distinctively-marked spider for which I cannot find a match.
With small pink flowers this is Broad-leaved Willowherb (Epilobium montanum).
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 05:55 – 06:50
(107th visit of the year)
Notes:
- The 2018 Mute Swan was being aggressively chased by the cob.
- I was confused about the number of Mallard ducklings. Initially I noted seven with a duck and assumed that yesterday's brood had lost one. Later I noted eight with a duck – so was one hiding? Did I miscount? Then at least five medium-age ducklings seen clambering on the island. Meanwhile most of the adults were hiding again.
- The Tufted Ducks were getting harassed by the Coots. I managed to find two pairs and an additional drake. Later two seen high over with the drake at least spiralling down to land. New bird(s) of birds pushed off returning?
- One adult Great Crested Grebe at the top end on its own. Another adult with just one begging juvenile beside the island.
- Several Coots still brooding their young so number of juveniles lower.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Jackdaw
- 2 Starlings
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 8 Swifts
- 2 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff only
- 2 (2) Blackcaps
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 61 Greylag Geese
- 4 Greylag x Canada Geese
- 98 + 2 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 9 (5♂) + 13? (2? brood) Mallard (see notes)
- 3 (2♂) Tufted Duck (see notes)
- 2 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes (see notes)
- 2 + 2 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 16 + >13 (6? broods) Coots
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: smart adult, briefly
Otherwise nothing of note:
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the lake and The Flash:
Of note
- *2 Little Grey moths (Eudonia lacustrata) on a lamp pole
- The small shoal of fish still in the Wesley Brook by the Priorslee Avenue tunnel
There were two of these 'difficult' grey moths on lamp poles. This is a Little Grey (Eudonia lacustrata).
Here is the other.
The long legs (apart from the third pair) suggests this is one of the Tetragnatha group of spiders but I am not sure which. The abdomen is less obviously marked than most.
One of the Roach from the shoal of fish in a pool in the Wesley Brook seems to have succumbed and was stranded on a small rock. Hopefully the storm this morning will have increased the flow and allowed these fish to escape downstream.
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day..........
2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
(Ed Wilson)
2013
Priorslee Lake
Grasshopper Warbler
(Ed Wilson)
2012
Priorslee Lake
Special this morning was rather bizarre: an all-white, apparently albino, Budgerigar(!) sheltering in the copse between the football field and the playground!
(Ed Wilson)
2008
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
Another slight puzzle this morning. It sounded like a 'Blackcap with a difference' with an extended song with lots more variety than usual and many notes recalling Garden Warbler, Song Thrush and Blackbird. It was clearly NOT the bird from earlier but I was curious. It was always singing well above head-height (Acros tend to be below head-height) and never had the rhythm of an Acro but the long and flowing song was very strange (and very loud). In the end the bird gave itself up and proved to be what I thought - a 'Blackcap with a difference' - lots of testosterone? It proved my 'rule of thumb' - if you are not sure whether it is a Blackcap or a Garden Warbler it is a Blackcap.
(Ed Wilson)