Priorslee Lake and The Flash
14.0°C > 18.0°C: Medium overcast to start. Clear to far SE gradually encroached with some sun at times. Light SE wind. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 05:27 BST
* = a photo today.
The cloudy, calm and warm night led to a plethora of moths.
Priorslee Lake: 04:16 – 06:10 // 07:15 – 09:41
(150th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- A group of 17 Cormorants flew SW as usual, though a long way further to the E than normal at 05:20. Then at 06:00 a group of eight flew, unusually, SW.
- Two Common Buzzards on lamp poles in Teece Drive 06:00 with the presumed juvenile calling from the copse.
- Small passage of Lesser Black-backed Gulls moving S.
- Two Swifts arrived to drink at the lake 08:35 and then stayed around a while.
- Two House Martins were noted making a food pass in mid-air, presumably one a juvenile
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 103 Greylag Geese (46 in two groups outbound; 57 in nine groups inbound)
- 85 Canada Geese (43 in seven groups outbound; 42 in five groups inbound)
- 25 Cormorants (two groups)
- 1 Black-headed Gull
- 52 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 1 Stock Dove
- 111 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Jackdaw
- no Rooks again
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 2 Swifts
- 8 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 12 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 6 (0) Blackcaps again
- 1 (0) Common Whitethroat
- 7 (0) Reed Warblers
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 21 (?♂) Mallard again
- *2 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 2 Grey Herons
- *13 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Moorhens
- 58 adult and juvenile Coots: one new brood not previously noted
- *>38 Black-headed Gulls: no juveniles
- 1 Herring Gull: first summer
Gulls on the football and academy playing field c.06:00:
- 87 Black-headed Gulls (48 on the football field; 39 on the academy field)
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: two immatures
- 1 Herring Gull: first summer (likely the bird at the lake later)
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
Moths
- *2 Dwarf Cream Wave (Idaea fuscovenosa); moth species #72 in 2020
- 1 Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata)
- 1 Riband Wave (Idaea aversata)
- *1 Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa); moth species #73 in 2020
Other things
- 4 unidentified spiders – at least two different species
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum (harvestman)
On the wall of the Holy Trinity Academy beside a security light:
- 1 Riband Wave moth (Idaea aversata)
Insects / other things etc. noted later:
New species for the year:
- *Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner (Cameraria ohridella): adult. Only seen the leaf mines previously; moth species #73 in 2020
- *Ferdinandea cuprea hoverfly
The full list of things noted:
Butterflies:
- Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
- Peacock (Aglais io)
- Comma (Polygonia c-album)
- Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)
Moths:
- *Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner (Cameraria ohridella)
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:
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
Hoverflies:
- Cheilosia illustrata
- *Ferdinandea cuprea
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
Mammals
- 3 Pipistrelle-type bats again
- 2 Noctule-type bats
- 2 'intermediate' bats, larger than Pipistrelles but with quite different flight to Noctules
Other things:
- Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:
None
Today's Cormorant using the usual buoy was an immature as evidenced by the white belly.
Just out of the picture is a lone Great Crested Grebe, causing some angst amongst these two.
A low-light special of a Common Buzzard on a lamp in Teece Drive before 06:00. Two adults were on separate lamps with the presumed juvenile calling from the copse. Later both adults departed, probably hunting food.
As usual the Black-headed Gulls are squabbling over who should sit in a buoy. Unusually the incumbent saw off the invaders and stayed put.
Yesterday a Common Whitethroat amongst the ripening haws. Today a female (or juvenile) Blackcap.
A Reed Warbler arrives with food.
Seems it has found several craneflies. This suggests the latest brood has yet to fledge and the birds will be around at least another week. Early August is the typical departure date for the breeding birds. We may get passage birds later.
If you open wide you may get fed!
Song Thrushes are still singing away though the number has dropped (only five this morning); and the intensity is reduced.
Always tricky to ID when on their own. This is a juvenile Goldfinch. From this angle the yellow in the folded wing is not visible and the only real clue is the pointed bill, though even that is still smaller and a different colour from the bill of the adult. It will be late October before the red face appears, though the typical warm breast markings will appear earlier.
Contrast with the adult. Juveniles are usually in noisy gangs with adults so that helps.
A tiny, tiny micro moth with a wing span of just 0.3 inches (8mm if you prefer). It is a Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner (Cameraria ohridella). Previously I showed the marks that the larvae of this species leave on a Horse-chestnut leaf within a few feet of here. A new moth species for me.
A Dwarf Cream Wave moth (Idaea fuscovenosa). A new moth for my Priorslee Lake list. There seems to be an abundance of moths from this genus at the moment. I do not recall that from previous years.
This attractive moth is a Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa). It stayed around for me to get this daylight shot. I logged this in 2014, 2016 and 2018 so its biennial appearance was due.
This is the hoverfly Ferdinandea cuprea. Only my second record here. Reasonably easy to ID with the grey stripes on the thorax and two 'clouds' in each wing – though here one of those could be mistaken for the hind leg showing through the wing. In flight it shows a broad, brassy-looking abdomen. A widespread species but reported as 'not common'. Here inside a convolvulus flower.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 06:15 – 07:10 again
(136th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- All the Tufted Duck were close to the edges and I am more confident than usual for this time of year that I have identified all the adult drakes. I suspect than many of the others are in fact juveniles.
- c.12 Black-headed Gulls on 'the other side' of the island when I arrived. By the time I had walked around they had gone!
- The Blackcap with the aberrant song singing away yet again and still trying to mislead me that there is Willow Warbler present.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 2 Feral Pigeons
- 6 Wood Pigeons
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 1 House Martin
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 6 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Blackcap again
Counts from the water:
- 2 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 2 Greylag Geese
- 23 Canada Geese
- 38 (?♂) Mallard again
- 25 (6?♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 + 3 (3 broods) Moorhens
- 28 adult and juvenile Coots
- c.12 Black-headed Gulls (see notes)
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult, briefly
On different lamp poles:
Moths
- 1 Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- 2 Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis)
- 1 Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata)
- *1 Yellow-barred Brindle (Acasis viretata); moth species #25 here in 2020
- *2 Swallow Prominent (Pheosia tremula)
and
- 1 unidentified caddis fly
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus (harvestman)
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum (harvestman)
On the wall of the Priorslee Academy beside a security light:
- 1 Riband Wave (Idaea aversata)
Also
- 1 Grey Squirrel again
A 20 feet up a lamp pole special – my first Yellow-barred Brindle moth (Acasis viretata) at The Flash
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the lake and The Flash:
Of note
- A Blackcap calling at the lower pool: first here for some while
moths on various lamp poles:
- 1 Mottled Beauty moth (Alcis repandata): same pole as yesterday: different position
- 1 Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis)
- 1 Riband Wave (Idaea aversata)
(Ed Wilson)