Priorslee Lake and The Flash:
12.0°C > 15.0°C: Cloudy at medium-high level. The sprinkle of rain c.05:00 was not forecast. Calm start: light SW breeze later. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 05:16 BST
NB: * no photos today as yet.
Priorslee Lake: 04:15 – 06:05 // 07:10 – 09:25
(144th visit of the year)
The quietest morning so far. Apart from eight Song Thrushes the dawn chorus consisted of one Blackbird and one Reed Bunting.
Bird notes:
- First substantial outbound geese movement post-moult. Five of the Canada Geese turned back.
- One Cormorant arrived at 05:10 but did not seem to stay long.
- A Grey Heron seen flying off at 04:40. Was this in addition to the three birds flying around at 05:00? Two of these stayed throughout.
- I think we must assume the Great Crested Grebes have lost their young.
- Meanwhile the pair building a nest in the middle of the water have stopped. One of the fishermen thought that they were building on the floating copse of a carp and that this had now sunk.
- What I think was a juvenile Buzzard heard calling from the Ricoh copse. Adult in the trees here earlier.
- Fewer Wood Pigeons this morning. Surely the weather does not affect their need to feed.
- Group of at least 30 House Martins high over the football field 05:55. Biggest group here since they passed on Spring arrival. At least three Swifts with them.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 11 Greylag Geese (single with Canadas; and a group of 10)
- 4 Greylag x Canada Geese (together but as a trio and single)
- 34 Canada Geese (three groups)
- 4 (?♂) Mallard
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 13 Feral Pigeons (two singles and two groups)
- 6 Stock Doves (three duos)
- 210 Wood Pigeons (see notes)
- no Jackdaws
- 10 Rooks
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 5 Swifts
- c.30 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 9 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (0) Blackcaps
- 1 (0) Common Whitethroat
- 10 (3) Reed Warblers
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 21 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 Cormorant: arrived
- 3 (or 4?) Grey Herons (see notes)
- Little Grebe heard again
- 8 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 + 3 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 44 adult and juvenile Coots
- 15 Black-headed Gulls: no juveniles
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
- 1 Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
- 1 Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis)
- 1 Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata)
- 1 Blue-bordered Carpet (Plemyria rubiginata)
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum harvestman
- 3 orb-web spiders
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
New species for the year:
None
The full list of things noted:
Butterflies:
- Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
Moths:
- Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
- Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata)
Bees / wasps:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
Damsel-/Dragon-flies:
None
Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
Mammals:
- 6 Pipistrelle-type bats
Other things:
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): empty pupae cases only
- Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- Mystacides longicornis (caddisfly)
- Semaphore fly (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus)
Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:
- probable Meadow Foxtail grass (Alopecurus pratensis)
This moulting juvenile Dunnock is raising one leg....
...prior to having a good scratch.
A typically surprised-looking grass moth. This rather plain individual is a Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella).
A rather orange-looking Honey Bee (Apis mellifera). On this specimen there are three orange tergites (segments pn the abdomen). Most often there seems to be one orange tergite, sometime none and other times two.
Sneaking a look at its abdomen from the side reveals the markings on this Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare). The marking are usually hidden by the wings closed over the back when at rest.
This seems to be an empty pupa case of a Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis).
No problem I thought. Don't know much about grasses but this seeding head ought to be easy-enough to ID from a web site. Well: not at all easy and I never realised how many grasses there were that did not look like this. My best suggestion is Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis). Luckily I don't suffer with hay fever.
Another puzzle. This is certainly a sow-thistle of genus Sonchus, But which? I even remembered to take a photo of the leaves to help, so I thought. The leaves seem prickly and so I am going to vote for Prickly Sow-thistle (Sonchus asper) which I last noted back in May.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 06:10 – 07:05
(130th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- The 2018 juvenile Mute Swan not located again.
- Some of the remaining Greylag Geese went for short trial flight – a hop really. I guess trying out their wings.
- Where were the Mallard hiding?
- One of the juvenile Great Crested Grebes also seemed to be trying out its wings.
- The same presumed Blackcap heard again in the same area. It did once make a Willow Warbler like start, though several times it also sounded like a Song Thrush. If I can work out how I can get the sound recording on my voice recorder downloaded on to my new PC I might be able to get some expert help.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 3 Feral Pigeons (duo and single)
- 4 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Rook
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 2 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 4 (0) Chiffchaffs again
- 1 (1) Blackcap
Counts from the water:
- 2 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 16 Greylag Geese
- 50 Canada Geese
- 6 (?♂) Mallard only
- 19 (7?♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 + 4 (3 broods) Moorhens
- 26 adult and juvenile Coots
- 8 Black-headed Gulls: no juveniles
On various lamp poles:
- 1 Riband Wave moth (Idaea aversata)
- 1 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris): back on the pole to used Sunday and Monday.
A juvenile Moorhen complains about something. If it was begging for food there were no adults around. I was not about to feed it.
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the Lake and The Flash:
Nothing of note
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day..........