Priorslee Lake and The Flash:
12.0°C > 15.0°C: Cloudy. Occasionally threatened to brighten. Didn't. Moderate SW wind tended to drop away. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 04:50 BST
Priorslee Lake: 04:09 – 06:05 // 07:05 – 09:30
(125th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- What I have taken to be the same adult Black-headed Gull was seen several times on buoys and flying to and fro.
- One new brood of two juvenile Coots. Also several recent broods put in a re-appearance. Just 17 extant juveniles from 10 broods is a poor showing after last year's bumper numbers.
- This morning the Jackdaws did not show on their usual roost-dispersal flights. I assume they have found better feeding elsewhere – but how does word get around?
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 25 Cormorants (groups of four, one and 19)
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: adults
- 33 Wood Pigeons
- 10 Jackdaws only
- 7 Rooks only
- 2 Greenfinches
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 7 Swifts
- 1 House Martin
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 10 (9) Chiffchaffs
- 17 (14) Blackcaps
- 3 (1) Garden Warblers
- 5 (2) Common Whitethroat
- 9 (8) Reed Warblers
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 14 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 8 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 26 + 17 (10 broods) Coots
- 1 Black-headed Gull: adult; arrived
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult; arrived
NB: * means there is a photo today.
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
- 1 Little Grey moth (Eudonia lacustrata)
- 1 Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum harvestman
On the wall of the academy beside the security light
Nothing
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
Two additions to this year's list on another overcast morning:
- Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- Tiger Cranefly (Nephrotoma flavescens)
The insect etc. list in full:
Butterflies:
- Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
Moths:
- Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
Bees / wasps:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Vespula (Paravespula) vulgaris)
Damsel-/Dragon-flies:
None
Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *Migrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae)
- *Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)
Bats
None
Other things:
- *Mirid bug Closterotomus norwegicus aka Potato Capsid
- Froghopper Aphrophora pectoralis
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): larvae and pupae again
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata): adults and pupa
- *Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- *Tiger Cranefly (Nephrotoma flavescens)
- Black Snipe fly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Semaphore fly (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus)
- *Common Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius)
- Stretch-spider (Tetragnatha sp.)
Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:
- *Bistort (Polygonum bistorta [was Persicaria bistorta])
First of all an apology. For a variety of reasons I resorted to a back-up camera this morning and shouldn't have. Many of the images are not quite in focus for reasons that I do not understand.
This a male Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta). Only males are 'long'. Females are shorter and broader in the beam (quiet!). I have never knowingly seen a female, possibly because they are less distinctive. He is sharing an Ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) with a small green bug.
Another smart cranefly, today sitting with wings held open making identification easier. It is a female Tiger Cranefly (Nephrotoma flavescens) - the female ovipositor gives the pointed end to the abdomen. Yesterday's cranefly had a dark mark in the wing (the stigma): this species lacks that. Amazingly my 2019 first record for Tiger Cranefly was also on 30 June.
This is the Mirid bug Closterotomus norwegicus. I have shown this before, also on Knapweed, as here. I now discover that it has a vernacular name - Potato Capsid. Capsid bugs are part of the Mirid bug family. I can find no explanation for the Norwegian scientific epithet or for the 'Potato' name - it is known to feed on nettles.
I had been wondering where these Common Red Soldier Beetles (Rhagonycha fulva) were this year. In recent years they have acquired the vernacular name of Hogweed Bonking Beetle (my poor mother would turn in her grave). This year the Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) has flowered early and many are very much past their prime. Of course we need more than one beetle to live up to its name ...
Another. Not sure that this species can be sexed visually.
This is a Common Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius).
This the flowering head of Bistort (Polygonum bistorta [was Persicaria bistorta]). Grows close to the water's edge, especially along the south side. The first I have noted this year - usually it is July before I log it but - hey! - we are nearly there anyway.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 06:10 – 07:00
(111th visit of the year)
Notes:
- The 2018 immature Mute Swan again not seen
- No Mallard ducklings noted. Most of the adults were on the island, too distant to reliably sex.
- Two Jays having a noisy dispute with Magpies in squirrel alley.
- Reed Bunting heard calling and then in sporadic song – same bird?
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Jackdaw
- 1 Rook
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 1 Swift
- 4 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 6 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Blackcaps
Counts from the water:
- 2+ 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 73 Greylag Geese
- 92 + 2 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 17 (?♂) Mallard (see notes)
- 10 (8♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes again
- 5 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 12 + >16 (7? broods) Coots
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: both adults; one flew off
Otherwise of note:
- 1 Little Grey moth (Eudonia lacustrata) on a lamp pole.
- Harlequin Ladybird pupa (Harmonia axyridis)
- very many Caddis flies (Mystacides longicornis) dancing at the edge of the water
My best picture yet of a Little Grey moth (Eudonia lacustrata). Seen on a lamp pole.
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the lake and The Flash:
Nothing of note
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day..........