Priorslee Lake and The Flash:
14.0°C > 16.0°C: Another very dull start with some dampness in the air. Clearer later and a few short sunny spells, still with light drizzly bits between. Light / moderate WNW breeze. Mostly excellent visibility.
Sunrise: 05:06 BST
NB: * means there is a photo today.
Priorslee Lake: 04:13 – 05:40 // 06:40 – 09:24
(139th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Yet again a duck Tufted Duck present early only.
- I cannot explain the low Coot number.
- As previously Black-headed Gulls at the lake were commuting between the fields, the Ricoh grounds and the water. I counted 55 on the football field, the last to arrive being the only non-adult (a first-summer) amongst them
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 2 Stock Doves (duo)
- 43 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Jackdaws again
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 6 Swifts
- 5 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 6 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 7 (1) Blackcaps
- 7 (0) Common Whitethroats
- 7 (4) Reed Warblers
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 17 (?♂) Mallard again
- 1 (0♂) Tufted Duck: flew off 05:05
- 2 Grey Herons
- 1 Little Grebe heard only again
- *9 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 + 2 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 34 adult and juvenile Coots only
- *2 Common Sandpipers
- 55 Black-headed Gulls
- *1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: third-year?
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
- 2 unidentified grass moths
- 2 Common Grey moths (Scoparia ambigualis)
- 1 Stretch-spider (Tetragnatha sp.)
On the wall of the academy beside the security lights:
Nothing today
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
The full list of things noted:
Butterflies:
- *Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- *Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
Moths:
- Satin Grass-veneer (Crambus perlella)
- Straw Grass-veneer (Agriphila straminella)
- *Pale Straw Pearl (Udea lutealis)
- Mother of Pearl (Pleuroptya ruralis)
- *Dingy Footman (Eilema griseola) form straminola
Bees / wasps:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- *Field Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus campestris)
- Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
Damsel-/Dragon-flies:
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
Hoverflies:
- Cheilosia illustrata
- *Chrysotoxum bicinctum
- *Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- *Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)
- *Syrphus vitripennis
Mammals:
- 1 Pipistrelle-type bat
Other things:
- *Mirid bug perhaps Apolygus spinolae
- *Common Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius)
- *Semaphore Fly (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus)
- Black Snipe fly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): adult and larva
Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:
None
The Lesser Black-backed Gull that dropped in. Superficially and adult but two things not quite right. There should be a small white 'mirror' on the outer primary only. And the inner primary coverts are slightly brown rather than concolourous with the primaries they cover. It is probably a third-year bird. Note too the wing-moult. The trailing edge is uneven with at least two inner primaries not yet fully regrown.
Before the sun came out this skipper butterfly was resting up. The straw coloured underwing suggests Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) but are those antennae tips black, indicating an Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola)?
With the insect stationary I was able to get around the front and see it head-on. Those antennae are tipped red so Small Skipper it is.
No problem with today's Gatekeeper butterfly (Pyronia tithonus): the two white dots in the black circle are well displayed. The brown marks in the orange forewing indicate this is a male.
I showed the underside of this Pale Straw Pearl moth (Udea lutealis) a few days ago and commented that the pattern showed rather better from underneath. Here is the top view.
I was marvelling at what I thought was a seed and thinking how the Dingy Footman moth (Eilema griseola) had evolved to mimic it when the 'seed' flew away and landed on my trousers! A contortion shot.
Luckily it was quite well behaved and allowed a better look. While the general shape of this moth is very distinctive of the 'footman' group this specimen is of the unusual form straminola, lacking in any grey colouration on the wings.
A busy bee, a busy Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) with the pollen basket well-loaded.
This a male Field Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus campestris). No other bumblebee species shows as much pale on the abdomen, though not all specimens are this pale – some are almost all-black on the abdomen and a challenge to identify.
Here he is again.
And talking of a challenge to identify.... I have got nowhere with this bumblebee with a shiny bare thorax.
This distinctively-marked hoverfly with unusually long antennae is Chrysotoxum bicinctum. Previously noted in Woodhouse Lane area this is my first this year around the lake.
Despite its abundance I think the Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) is still my favourite. Here enjoying Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris).
A male Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax). It is the males that look more tapered. One day I will find a female when the presence of the yellow in the front two pairs of legs will be the easiest way to separate from Common Drone-fly (E. tenax).
This is a male Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta). It is an unusual dark form that I cannot recall seeing before. Normally the yellow is in clear bands across the abdomen.
This is a female Syrphus sp. hoverfly. As the hind femur (top of the leg) is not yellow this must be S. vitripennis.
One of many basically green plant bugs. Having pored over an array illustrated on the web I can find only Apolygus spinolae with red eyes. However the text fails to mention this as an identification feature so I am probably missing something.
One of the very many colour forms of a Common Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius).
I am beguiled by the eyes of these Semaphore Flies (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus). An amazing red / green combination. This is a female without the white wing tips.
Cats and nature do not mix. Please keep them indoors.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 05:45 – 06:35
(125th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- I suppose many of the Canada Geese were inside the island? The Greylag Geese seem better able to fly, trying out their wings. But they had mostly not left as yet.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 2 Wood Pigeons
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 1 House Martin
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff
- 3 (3) Blackcaps
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 71 Greylag Geese
- no Greylag x Canada Geese
- 79 Canada Geese
- 22 (?♂) Mallard
- 11 (9♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 + 3 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 29 adult and juvenile Coots
On various lamp poles:
- *2 Rough-Haired Lagria Beetles (Lagria hirta) (on different lamp poles)
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum harvestman
My best-effort yet of capturing the essence of a Rough-Haired Lagria Beetle (Lagria hirta)
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the lake and The Flash:
Of note
- 1 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day..........