31 May 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 16.0°C: Cloudless. Light E breeze increasing moderate. Very good visibility if rather hazy.

Sunrise: 04:52 BST

Priorslee Lake: 04:23 – 05:45 // 07:00 – 09:17

(97th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- A noisy Pheasant calling to the N somewhere. Not on the academy fields. First time I have heard one for two weeks.
- All ten Great Crested Grebes seen in pairs much of the time: come on guys and gals – breeding time!
- No idea why so few Coots.
- One of the Reed Warblers was seen fly catching from a bushy Wayfaring-tree (Viburnum lantana), albeit alongside reeds.
- New juvenile Pied Wagtails on the dam.

Also: not formally logged as the view was too brief. As I walked back from The Flash two ducks were leaving the lake. On a split-second view they looked more like Shoveler than Mallard. Whether I would have thought of that without having just seen the pair at The Flash (q.v.) is a moot point.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 12 Canada Geese (a pair and a group inbound)
- 4 (2♂) Tufted Duck: two separate pair flew W
- 1 Grey Heron: high E to N
- 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: three first years; others not determined.
- 11 Wood Pigeons
- 14 Jackdaws
- 17 Rooks

Birds noted on the ‘football’ field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded]:
- 3 Jackdaws

Birds noted on the academy playing field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded here too]:
None
The ‘Homing Pigeon’ was again on the roof of the academy

Count of hirundines etc logged:
- >15 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow again
- 3 House Martins again

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 14 (11) Chiffchaffs
- 19 (16) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler only
- 1 (0) Lesser Whitethroat
- 2 (2) Common Whitethroats
- 9 (7) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 9 (8♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck: arrived: later flew off E
- 10 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens again
- 12 + 3 (2 broods) Coots: why so few
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: two (near) adults; one first year, all briefly
- 1 Herring Gull: first-year, briefly with the first-year Lesser Black-backed Gull
- [1 Kingfisher: apparently flew past while my back was turned talking to a fisherman!]

On / around the street lights:
- Common Marbled Carpet moth (Dysstroma truncata)
- Silver-ground Carpet moth (Xanthorhoe montanata): same orientation, different lamp pole

Insects / other things etc noted later:

Butterflies:
- Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Other moths:
None

Bees / wasps:
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
- unidentified sawfly sp.

Damselflies:
- Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
- Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma najas)
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Hoverflies
- Criorhina sp probably C. floccosa
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- The Footballer (Helophilus pendulus)
- Parhelophilus sp.
- Syrphus vitripennis

Other things:
- Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis): form succinea only noted
- Oedemera nobilis (Thick-legged Flower Beetle or Swollen-thighed Beetle)
and
- 1 Grey Squirrel

Additional plant species recorded for the year at this site:
None
However worth noting is that many Blackthorn bushes and some of the willow scrub is looking very sad with many missing and many curled leaves. An impact of the dry weather? Or a parasite?

Another clear fine start to the day.

Another Lesser Black-backed Gull perched on the sluice entrance. It is a full adult? There is a very small amount of black toward the tip of the upper mandible and the legs don’t really look yellow.

Its baby Blue Tit time. All say ah! “Feed me!”

More like ‘yellow tit’ at this age.

Plumage rather scruffy. A different bird from the same brood.

This one is apparently puzzling about what’s on the end of its bill! (Or staring vacantly ...?)

They sit up so rarely I take every opportunity to photo Reed Warblers. One of several that had been chasing about. It seems in need of a good preen.

Courtesy of one of the fishermen who noticed the nest. Here is a baby Wren peering out at the world and wondering whether I am going to feed it. Answer: no! All yellow gape and fluffy down.

Slightly better than yesterday. This Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) just opened its wings before it flew away.

At the very top of a lamp pole and only pre-dawn so stretching the camera’s capability somewhat. This is my first Common Marbled Carpet moth (Dysstroma truncata) of the year. A very common but also very variable moth.

Not the best angle for this Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma najas). Just possible to see the eyes are indeed red.

This almost all-black bumblebee with just a small orange collar and orange tail seems to be a Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum). I tried to re-orientate the leaf so that it was better lit but the bee flew off.

I thought I had these very attractive and rather scruffy-looking bees sorted but I keep changing my mind! This is I think a worker Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum).

A different specimen. Same species?

With short antennae this is a hoverfly. It is a Criorhina sp probably C. floccosa.

It is not just the angle though that helps. This is a rather unusual-looking Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus). With alternate wide and narrow black bands it cannot be anything else. Never noted it with a ‘box’ pattern.

A lucky catch of this Syrphus vitripennis hoverfly. Only females can be separated from Syrphus ribesii and then only by the top of the hind femur being black – as shown amazingly well here. Normally they have to be logged as Syrphus sp.

Another snail sp. A glass snail I suspect. Which species I have no idea.

A look at the just-opening huge flower of Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) before they chop it down – if they need too: it is well off the path growing alongside the Wesley Brook. 

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:50 – 06:55

(83rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I seemed to have been correct yesterday: one cygnet missing this morning.
- However I was not correct about the Canada Geese and their goslings. Back in the usual place today.
- A pair of Shoveler most unexpected at this date. After the almost equally unseasonal drake on 8th May might they just have been lurking on the island all the while?
- No idea why the Tufted Duck numbers continue to vary. There may even have been more as birds were flying around continually and often going behind the island from any vantage point. The number presented is my highest ‘spot’ count.
- One Great Crested Grebe noted. I again failed to confirm whether the nest was occupied.
- One (near) adult Lesser Black-backed Gull flew off. It or another pitched in later with another (near) adult flying on over. Both incurred the wrath of the local Carrion Crows.
- The Stock Dove was calling again: today from the trees by Priorslee Academy.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 4 Greylag Geese
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult
- 2 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc logged:
- >40 Swifts
- 2 House Martins again

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 5 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Reed Warbler again

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 33 + 3 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 19 (15♂) + 5 (1 brood) Mallard
- 2 (1♂) Shoveler
- 23 (13♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 5 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 16 + 7 (4 broods) Coots: one nest still being brooded
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adults – see notes

Also of note
- 1 Mottled Pug moth (Eupithecia exiguata) on a lamp pole in squirrel alley
- 1 Grey Squirrel

I would not gnaw that if I were you. The residents might complain about the loss of power. This Grey Squirrel up an electricity pole.

These Mallard drakes still look quite smart, at least on the head. Not quite so pristine on the body. Note on the left-hand bird the colour is beginning to go from the around the base of the bill.

Well: I did not expect this at the end of May – a drake Shoveler. His plumage is no longer pristine as he starts a post-breeding (or not) moult.

And a Mrs. Shoveler as well. The markings on her flanks are much coarser than on a Mallard duck. Hard to miss that ‘big hooter’ though.

And the pair paddle serenely away.

This juvenile Moorhen has clearly been in the now rather mucky water at the edges of the pool. All the fluff from the tree pollen has collected on the water and with no rain to flush it away the edges are quite manky.

At last: a half-way decent photo of the Reed Warbler here. Taken early. With the bird in the shade it has given what is a “little brown job” a distinctly grey tone.

On a lamp pole in squirrel alley I found this Mottled Pug moth (Eupithecia exiguata). 

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

Noteworthy
- Moorhen on grass at lower pool
- Great Spotted Woodpecker over
- 1 Blackcap singing at the upper pool today
and
- 1 Common Pug moth (Eupithecia vulgata) on the wall of Priorslee Avenue underpass.

On the wall of the Priorslee Avenue underpass another pug moth. This time a Common Pug moth (Eupithecia vulgata)

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day..........

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2018
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
Long Lane, Wellington
13 Ringed Plover
2 Dunlin
(JW Reeves)