Priorslee Lake and The Flash
12.0°C > 15.0°C: Mostly cloudy. A brief sunny spell. Calm start with light SW breeze developing. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 04:51 BST again
Priorslee Lake: 04:20 – 06:00 // 07:05 – 09:36
(127th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- With some, at least, of the Great Crested Grebes seemingly at last interested in nesting it was even more difficult than usual to find them. Possibly more?
- Why so few adult Coots? At least one brood not noted – probably hiding in the reeds.
- Two of the Jackdaws seemed to disperse from Wards Rough – the copse to the NE of Woodhouse Lane.
- As previously noted Thursday is the day to see parties of Racing Pigeons.
- More warbler song this morning. The weather was only marginally better.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: ages not determined
- c.30 presumed Racing Pigeons
- 2 Stock Doves again
- 39 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 15 Jackdaws
- 2 Rooks only
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 8 Swifts
- 1 House Martin only
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 13 (12) Chiffchaffs
- 15 (12) Blackcaps
- 3 (2) Garden Warbler
- 6 (3) Common Whitethroat
- 13 (11) Reed Warblers
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 18 (16?♂) Mallard
- 1 Grey Heron: flew off 04:45
- 6? Great Crested Grebes
- 3 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 26 + 17 (9 broods) Coots
- 5+ Black-headed Gull: at least one first-summer
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
- 1 Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- 2 unidentified Orb-web spiders: another probably Larinioides sericatus.
On the wall of the academy beside the security light
- 6 grass moths, likely all Garden Grass-veneers (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
The insect etc. list in full:
Butterflies:
- Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
Moths:
- Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana)
- Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)
- Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis)
Bees / wasps:
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Vespula (Paravespula) vulgaris)
- unidentified ichneumon
Damsel-/Dragon-flies:
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Migrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae)
- Pied Hoverfly (Scaeva pyrastri)
- Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)
Bats:
None again.
Other things:
- Potato Capsid bug (Closterotomus norwegicus)
- Common Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius)
- Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) nymph
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): larvae and pupae
- Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- Spotted Longhorn beetle (Rutpela maculata)
- Tiger Cranefly (Nephrotoma flavescens)
- Black Snipe fly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Semaphore fly (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus)
- Grey Squirrel
Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:
- Creeping, or Common Field, Thistle (Cirsium arvense)
- Hop Trefoil (Trifolium campestre)
- Knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare)
- Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
I have been unable to match this ichneumon wasp from an initial trawl of the web. Will try again...
This looks like a Migrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae) and indeed may be one. But why is the scutellum yellow. I need to take advice.
A Pied Hoverfly (Scaeva pyrastri). This species is more white and black rather than the usual yellow and black of many hoverflies. Note the upward curving creamy-white bars and the extensive white face.
A male Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta). Why do I only see males?
A very variable species this is a very different-looking Common Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius) from the one I photographed yesterday covered in raindrops.
For some reason the camera has rendered this a rather vivid green. It is a 3rd instar nymph of a Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina)
Two Common Red Soldier Beetles (Rhagonycha fulva) demonstrating their alternative vernacular name – Hogweed Bonking Beetle.
Another look at a Spotted Longhorn beetle (Rutpela maculata).
Need more time... not at all sure about this. Will delve further.
Obviously eggs. But what of? No idea. On a leaf of Willowherb so quite small.
This orb-web spider seems closest to Larinioides sericatus of those shown on this Website Here. A plan view and...
..a side-elevation.
With many blackfly in attendance this is the very common Creeping, or Common Field, Thistle (Cirsium arvense).
Growing on top of the dam is this dense cluster is small yellow flower-head. It is Hop Trefoil (Trifolium campestre).
A not very inspiring photo of a not very inspiring plant – Knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare).
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is an umbellifer that is very different with feathery leaves. The head is just beginning to open.
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Flash: 06:05 – 07:00
(113th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Mallard doing a good job of hiding. As more and more geese seem to be leaving the island and are now on the water I guess there is more room for them!
- A pair of Tufted Duck flew in as I arrived (could have just been flying around?). Five drakes took off, circled and left to the SE.
- Grey Heron again.
- One brood of Coots not seen – nest is hidden and they were probably being brooded.
- One pair of Coots starting another brood – presumably the male re-building and adding to the nest around his sitting partner.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 2 Stock Doves
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 4 House Martins yet again
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 2 (2) Chiffchaffs
- no Blackcaps
Counts from the water:
- 2+ 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans again
- 89 Greylag Geese
- 142 + 2 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 6 (3♂) Mallard only!!
- 11 (10♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Moorhens
- 14 + 16 (6 broods) Coots
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult: arrived
Otherwise of note was a bumper bundle of moths:
on one lamp pole:
- 1 Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
- 1 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata): new for me at this site.
- 1 Blue-bordered Carpet (Plemyria rubiginata): new for me in Shropshire.
on the same lamp pole as yesterday:
- 1 Barred Red moth (Hylaea fasciaria)
with
- 1 Stretch-spider (Tetragnatha sp.)
on yet another lamp:
- 1 Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis)
in squirrel alley on separate lamps:
- 1 Riband Wave moth (Idaea aversata)
- 1 Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi): new for me for this year
also
- 1 Migrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae) resting on a Council sign!
This moth is a Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata) and is my first here.
It would have helped if this rather attractive moth had been lower down the lamp pole. It is a Blue-bordered Carpet (Plemyria rubiginata). A new species for my Shropshire list.
A sad end to a spectacular moth. This is a Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi) caught in a spider's web. Demonstrates the strength of the webs to subdue such a large insect.
Well I suppose they have to roost somewhere: a Migrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae) resting on a Council sign!
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Between the lake and The Flash:
Of note
- An adult Moorhen wandering about on the grass by the upper pool unfazed by my presence.
- Two first-brood juveniles on the same grass took off to regain the cover of the pool: first time I have seen them fly.
- 1 Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella) on a lamp pole.
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On this day..........