8 Jun 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

9.0°C > 11.0°C: Mostly cloudy. A few brighter spells failed to last. Very light ESE breeze. Very good visibility ahead of moderate visibility in rain.

Sunrise: 04:46 BST

Priorslee Lake: 04:20 – 05:55 // 06:55 – 08:55

(105th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The / a pair of Gadwall back again.
- Down to just three Mallard ducklings.
- The variation in Great Crested Grebe numbers continues: two pairs in the middle of the water displaying early. Then sleeping.
- Great Spotted Woodpecker heard drumming again.
- A Kingfisher was seen flying E over the Castle Farm Way traffic lights, just to the S of the water. It was carrying food (faecal sac?). Perhaps this species is again nesting somewhere along the Wesley Brook toward Shifnal? I suspected this in 2018 (but not last year).
- For the last few days a Common Whitethroat has been singing from the small undisturbed area between the academy playing field and the new houses. I did not hear this species here when they first arrived in April.
- New family party of Pied Wagtails with two juveniles on the dam.

Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 30 Greylag Geese: one large group outbound
- 2 Canada Geese: pair outbound
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all in heavy wing-moult
- 1 Herring Gull: first year
- 2 Stock Doves: singles
- 5 Wood Pigeons
- 52 Jackdaws
- 8 Rooks

Birds noted on the ‘football’ field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies not included]:
None
The long-term ‘Homing Pigeon’ was back on the roof of the academy early but had gone by 08:30.

Birds noted on the academy playing field [Wood Pigeons and Magpies not included here either]:
- 5 Jackdaws – family?

Count of hirundines etc. logged:
- >15 Swifts again: first at 04:55
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 5 House Martins

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 12 (10) Chiffchaffs
- 13 (9) Blackcaps
- 3 (2) Garden Warblers
- 4 (3) Common Whitethroats
- 10 (9) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 2 (1) Gadwall
- 8 (7♂) + 3 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 (1) Tufted Duck: arrived
- 8 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens again
- 27 + 7 (5 broods) Coots
- 1 Black-headed Gull: adult, briefly
-[Kingfisher – see notes]

On / around the street lights pre-sunrise:
- 1 White Ermine moth (Spilosoma lubricipeda)

Insects / other things etc noted later:
A few things only on a dull day

Moths:
- presumed Plain Gold (Micropterix calthella)
- Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana)

Bees:
- Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius): all females / workers

Hoverflies:
- possible tiny hoverfly sp.
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

Other things:
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): of form succinea: also a larva of this species
- small beetle sp.
- Common European Earwig (Forficula auricularia)
and
- 1 Noctule-type large bat sp.
- 1 Grey Squirrel

Additional plant species recorded in flower for the year at this site:
- Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica)

About as good as the sunrise got – indeed about as good as the morning got.

An attempted art shot of a Coot against the reflected sunrise.

Oh yummy! A nice slug. I suppose the Song Thrush will be very happy with it for breakfast. Note the loose feather as it starts its post-breeding moult.

One of the new juvenile Pied Wagtails. Still a slight yellow gape.

Siblings! In detail they look quite a bit different, though both still have the yellow gape and seem likely to be from the same brood.

A portrait shot, complete with downy juvenile plumage.

This juvenile Great Tit was pretending to be a Pied Wagtail working its way along the dam-face. Here using just about the only patch of greenery not sprayed by contractors “to protect the integrity of the dam”.

A rather splendid White Ermine moth (Spilosoma lubricipeda). Seems an appropriate name. Logged by me four out of the last six years here.

Most insects of interest seemed to be using buttercups today. Here is one of very many midges about. If you look closely it is a plumed midge. Likely Chironomus plumosus.

A beetle-party going on in this buttercup. I know of no way to reliably identify these tiny beetles from a photograph.

The final buttercup picture contains a Plain Gold moth (Micropterix calthella). At least I think it does. There are some small yellow marks on what should be a plain wing. I assume this is a dusting of pollen.

I have left this in the log as a tiny hoverfly sp., but I am far from sure. It seemed to hover before it settled and it has the black and yellow pattern on the abdomen that many hoverflies show (largely hidden by the folded wings here). I can find no hoverflies with such arrestingly red eyes. Also the legs look rather long and the thorax rather metallic. [I must investigate the leaf mine sometime ...]

It would not allow a close approach. Here, resting on a stem of Cleavers (Galium aparine) gives some scale.

This is another Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) of form succinea. This one is quite a deep red. Even within the various forms of this species there is much variation in ground colour and arrangement of markings.

This is a spike of Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica). I wonder whether the Red Dead-nettle that I photographed on 2nd June was in fact this species. I have re-checked the photo and cannot be certain as the flowers were not open enough to see the markings at that time. I must re-find that plant.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:00 – 06:50

(91st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Not sure all the goslings will survive. Three adults have carefully nurtured this trio around the gardens and avoided a confrontation with the cob Mute Swan. An uncontrolled dog resulted in all the geese diving in the water. The Mute Swan was quick to react. I last saw him chasing an adult down with only two of the goslings visible from my position.
- Big numbers of Canada Geese as they prepare for the annual wing moult when they become flightless for a period.
- Only the one adult Great Crested Grebe with juveniles on its back was noted.
- Some broods are Coot are now sufficiently advanced that they are straying out of their home area. Soon the number of broods will become difficult to discern.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: both (near) adults

Hirundines etc logged:
- 5 Swifts again
- 3 House Martins again

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 5 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (0) Blackcap
- 1 (1) Reed Warbler still singing away

Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 3 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose
- 109 + 3 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 21 (15♂) + 5 (1 brood) Mallard
- 10 (6♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 + 2? (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes only
- 4 Moorhens
- 16 + 13 (5 broods) Coots

Otherwise of note
- 1 Harlequin Ladybird larva (Harmonia axyridis) fifteen feet up a lamp pole!

Traffic jam! May be the last we see of this trio of Canada goslings. Later they were forced in to the water by an errant dog, allowing the cob Mute Swan to attack them. He has wanted to do this for a long while, though it was one of the adults I saw him chasing later. Two of the goslings, at least, were still extant at that stage.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

Noteworthy
- Common Marbled Carpet moth (Dysstroma truncata) still on the roof of the Priorslee Avenue underpass

What I assume is the same Common Marbled Carpet moth (Dysstroma truncata). It had shuffled around a bit. Perhaps it had been out for a fly last night and come back? Who can tell?

(Ed Wilson)

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

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Local Area
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Local Area
Today's Sightings Here.

2013
Priorslee Lake
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Reed Warbler
Willow Tit.
(John Isherwood)

Redhill
Kestrel
Linnet
Stock Dove
Yellowhammer.
(John Isherwood)

2009
Priorslee Lake
9 Swifts
4 Chiffchaffs 
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Raven
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
4 Great Crested Grebes
1 Tufted Duck
2 Ruddy Duck
1 Kestrel
3 Stock Doves
4 Swift
2 Swallow
12 House Martin
7 Reed Warbler
2 Lesser Whitethroat
1 Common Whitethroat
1 Garden Warbler
10 Blackcaps
5 Chiffchaffs
2 Willow Tit
19 Magpies
8 Greenfinch
6 Reed Bunting
(Ed Wilson)