Priorslee Lake and The Flash:
11.0°C > 15.0°C: Only scattered cloudy early: then cloudy and rather dull again. Moderate / fresh WNW wind. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 04:55 BST
NB: * means there is a photo today.
Priorslee Lake: 04:15 – 05:45 // 06:40 – 09:21
(130th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- First Tufted Duck for a while that stayed for any length of time.
- Three separate single Swifts early. None later.
- New juvenile Great Tits. This species, unlike the Blue Tit, sometimes has a second brood.
Otherwise very quiet again.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Black-headed Gull: adult
- 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: ages not determined
- 2 Stock Doves
- 35 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 49 Jackdaws
- 44 Rooks
- 1 Starling
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 3 Swifts
- 2 House Martina
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
With wind and cloud not a day for singing
- 11 (8) Chiffchaffs
- 12 (10) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler only
- 3 (2) Common Whitethroats
- 11 (6) Reed Warblers again
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 18 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Grey Herons: one flew off 04:55
- 9 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 + 2 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 21 + 8 (5 broods) Coots: more sheltering?
- 3 Black-headed Gulls: all adults
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
- *1 Riband Wave moth (Idaea aversata)
- 1 pug moth: flew off before I could photo it.
- *1 Common European Earwig (Forficula auricularia)
On the wall of the academy beside the security light
Nothing
Insects / other things etc. noted later in more dull conditions:
The insect etc. list in full:
Butterflies:
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
Moths:
Unusually not a single moth, identified or otherwise, flew up from the grass.
Bees / wasps:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- *Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- *Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- *Vestal Cuckoo-Bee (Bombus vestalis)
- Common Wasp (Vespula (Paravespula) vulgaris)
Damsel-/Dragon-flies:
- *Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
Hoverflies:
- *Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)
Bats:
None
Other things:
- *Common Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius)
- *Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina): 3rd instar nymph.
- *Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): adults of var. succinea; and pupae
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- Semaphore fly (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus)
- *Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- *Common Candy-striped Spider (Enoplognatha ovata)
Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:
None
It was a promising start. Cloud soon arrived from the NW.
One of the local Common Buzzards overhead.
Would have looked better in sunshine.
A few of the feathers in both the tail and the wing-tips showing some signs of wear and tear.
The adult Black-headed Gull on the buoy seems to be claiming its rights. Note that it is beginning to lose the dark hood, with the area behind the bill noticeably pale.
The other gull thought differently and started a squabble. Note that the bird moulting its hood has also moulted a few primaries.
Take-over complete.
A Green-veined White butterfly (Pieris napi).
The Riband Wave moth (Idaea aversata) on a lamp pole pre-dawn.
Also on a lamp pole was this Common European Earwig (Forficula auricularia). If I have it right this is a female – the male's pincers are more curved. Strange that I only ever seem to see females.
A Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). Without any buff collar this has to be a female – it looks too small to be a queen: she also lacks the collar. Enjoying Bramble flowers.
This seems to be a Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). I have identified it as such by the orange collar. The collar on the almost identical White-tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus lucorum) tends to look yellow. This one was waiting for the sun to warm it up.
This also a Buff-tailed Bumblebee. Note that the white tail is just sullied buff where it meets the black part of the abdomen. A White-tailed Bumble Bee would show no buff here. [Three tiny unidentified Capsid bugs sharing the Knapweed head]
"Get stuck in son". I was ready to name this as another Buff-tailed Bumblebee, but where is the central buff band? So it must be a Vestal Cuckoo-Bee (Bombus vestalis).
This is a female Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum). Ageing this individual is not easy. They are relatively colourless when they first hatch and the females then become either a blue form or green form as they mature. Older specimens of the green form then become brownish.
An abundant hoverfly at the moment is the Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus). Yesterday in my garden and despite their small size they seemed to cope with the wind without a problem.
Two Common Froghoppers (Philaenus spumarius) showing how variable they can be.
Here is the more colourful of the two.
This is a 3rd instar nymph of the Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina). Needs to choose a brighter green leaf if it wants to stay camouflaged.
This seems to be a rather pale Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) of the form succinea. This is the first day I have seen any adults for a while so perhaps it is freshly emerged and yet to colour-up. On my fingers.
Another succinea Harlequin Ladybird with only some of the spots showing. A very variable species even within the three basic forms.
A much better shot of two Common Red Soldier Beetles (Rhagonycha fulva). Perhaps it would be OK in this instance to use the name 'Hogweed Bonking Beetle'.
This well-camouflaged spider is a female lineata form of the Common Candy-striped Spider (Enoplognatha ovata). Hard to separate from others in the genus but confirmed here by the black ring on the front tibia.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 05:50 – 06:35
(115th visit of the year)
Where were all the geese and ducks? Not room inside the island for them all?
Bird notes:
- Just eight Mallard seen, seven of these together. I tried to sex this group and came to the conclusion it was possibly a pair of adults with five full-grown ducklings.
- My first Black-headed Gulls back here after the breeding season.
- The male Reed Bunting was only heard to call and not to sing.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash again:
None
Hirundines etc. logged:
None
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 2 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Blackcap
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans again
- 57 Greylag Geese
- 3 Greylag x Canada Geese again
- 46 + 2 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 8 (?♂) Mallard only (see notes)
- 11 (8♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 4 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 11 + 8 (5 broods) Coots
- 3 Black-headed Gulls: all adults: stayed for varying lengths of time.
Otherwise of note:
- *3 Leiobunum rotundum harvestmen on two different lamp poles
Both Blue and Great Tits continue to explore the holes in the dead Ash tree. A Blue Tit here.
(Ed Wilson)
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Between the lake and The Flash:
Of note
- *An unidentified spider sp. on the wall of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel.
(Ed Wilson)
Note:
Venus Pool 2 Jul 20 - Here