15 Aug 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash: 

15.0°C > 18.0°C: Mainly cloudy with a few brighter, even sunny, spells. Light / moderate E wind. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:53 BST

* = a photo today.

Priorslee Lake: 04:22 – 06:30 // 07:30 – 10:02

(165th visit of the year)

Bird notes:

- The cob Mute Swan went for a short flight along the lake, leaving the family behind. Perhaps showing the cygnets what to do?
- An inbound group of 17 Canada Geese decided stop off at c.08:40. They stayed on the SW grass and were again ignored by the Mute Swans.
- Apart from the two oldest broods of Great Crested Grebes and the fledged juvenile from elsewhere none of the other juveniles was on show. Now that all the birds have come off the nests there are more adults to see.
- A Common Sandpiper was heard calling at c.04:40 and I have logged it as a fly-over as nothing was seen later. Frustratingly another wader seemed to be calling as well, but the sound was too masked by the M54 truck-traffic to get a positive ID.
- A Tawny Owl was calling along the N side at c.04:30. The first I have heard since late Winter. Fisherman have reported hearing one more recently.
- 16 House Martins overhead flying S at 06:10: were these leaving or just on a local feeding foray? A few more heard over the estate at the same time but not located.
- Two of the Reed Warblers heard were still buried in the reeds so perhaps these are not yet ready to leave?

Birds noted flying over / near here:

- 140 Greylag Geese (93 in 11 groups outbound; 47 in one groups inbound)
- 149 Canada Geese (90 in seven groups outbound; 59 in one group inbound)
- 1 Common Sandpiper (see notes)
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 84 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. logged:

- >16 House Martins: others heard

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):

- 15 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 5 (0) Blackcaps again
- 3 (0) Reed Warblers

Counts from the lake area:

- *2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 17 Canada Geese: arrived
- 13 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 Cormorant: arrived
- 1 Grey Heron: arrived and soon departed
- Little Grebe heard again
- 17 + >5 (>3 broods) Great Crested Grebes (see notes)
- 7 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 76 adult and juvenile Coots
- >16 Black-headed Gulls: ? juveniles
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: (near) adult

Gulls on the football and academy playing fields at c.06:10:

- 2 Black-headed Gulls on the football field: no juveniles noted.
- 21 Black-headed Gulls on the academy field: no juveniles noted.

On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:

Moths:

- 2 Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)

Other things:

- 5 plumed midge (Chironomus plumosus)
- 1 unknown green midge
- 3 Orb-web spiders, presumed Larinioides sclopetarius again
- 1 Cucumber Green Orb Spider (Araniella cucurbitina)
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum-type (harvestman)

Insects / other things etc. noted later:

Again often cloudy conditions.

One new species – Band-Eyed Brown Horsefly (Tabanus bromius)

The full list of things noted:

Butterflies:

- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Moths:

- *Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
- *Straw Grass-veneer (Agriphila straminella)

Bees / wasps:

- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Damsel-/Dragon-flies:

- Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis)
- Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Hoverflies:

- *Dasysyrphus albostriatus
- *Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

Mammals

- 2 Pipistrelle-type bats
- 1 Grey Squirrel again

Other things:

- *presumed Common Crane-fly (Tipula oleracea)
- *Band-Eyed Brown Horsefly (Tabanus bromius) - female
- *Brown-lipped Snail (Cepaea nemoralis)

Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:

None

The resident cob Mute Swan takes a flight. Showing the cygnets how it is done? It dwarfs the closer Great Crested Grebe.

A classic Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella) with the longitudinal pale streak forking in to four half way along the wing. The wing tip itself is devoid of pattern apart from faint spots along the termen (sub-terminal area), ahead of a gold cilia, here mostly worn off. This seems to be the most abundant grass moth at the moment.

I was trying to turn this grass moth in to something different. The pale streak seemed to reach all the way to the wing-tip without dividing. Looking closely at the photo I think this is an illusion created by the way the wings are rolled up and that it is indeed just another Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella). Not sure who its friend is.

This grass moth does appear to be different. It looks smaller and the markings are much less obvious apart from the clean black dots along the termen. This seems to be a Straw Grass-veneer (Agriphila straminella).

With two pale stripes on the thorax and downward sloping yellow marks this Dasysyrphus albostriatus hoverfly is one of the easiest to identify. It is quite small – here inside a convolvulus flower with the pistil showing well.

The well-banded abdomen identifies the insect as a Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus). The flower is Bistort (Polygonum bistorta) which is currently abundant amongst the vegetation close to the water, especially along the S side.

This is almost certainly a Common Crane-fly (Tipula oleracea). Separation from the less abundant T. paludosa is possible by seeing whether the antennae have 13 or 14 segments. Yes: well, I'll pass on that here! Spread out, as here, the legs almost fill the frame.

"An interesting looking fly" I thought. It struck me as a horsefly, though I am not sure why as I have not noticed any for some years. When I was spending time in Plymouth I was always getting bitten by them in the garden – a big, hot swelling for several days.

Quite alarming and beautiful at the same time when seen head-on. It is a Band-Eyed Brown Horsefly (Tabanus bromius). Only females have the banded eyes – and only females bite (my lips are sealed). Now why would evolution give them banded eyes? And why can't I have them?

As close as I dared go. The males of some species (not this) have amazing bright green eyes.

 Seems to be nobody at home in this Brown-lipped Snail (Cepaea nemoralis).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:35 – 07:25

(151st visit of the year)

Bird notes:

- Four of the Mute Swan cygnets were vigorously flapping their wings and travelling in circles on the water. Will not be long before they will lift-off. Neither of their parents seemed at all interested.
- Two adult Great Crested Grebes. Stayed well away from each other. Could be another bird on a well-hidden nest.
- No Racing Pigeons found.

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:

None

Hirundines etc. logged:

None

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):

- 7 (0) Chiffchaffs

Counts from the water:

- *3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 2 Greylag Geese: one arrived
- 12 Canada Geese
- 25 (?♂) Mallard
- 31 (9?♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Grey Heron again
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 3 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 38 adult and juvenile Coots again
- 15 Black-headed Gulls: one juvenile
- 1 Kingfisher

On various lamp poles:

Moths:

- *1 Swallow Prominent (Pheosia tremula): same as yesterday

and

- no harvestmen found

Otherwise:

Moths on the Neighbourhood Watch sign:

- 1 Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria): slightly different position to yesterday, but assumed same specimen.

Also

- 1 Grey Squirrel

The Mute Swan cygnets were flapping hard and managing a few circles on the water before taking a breather and preening all their feathers back in order. Here we see one wing-flapping and at this angle the wing-feathers look well-grown.

From below it seems there are still some feathers to grow – secondaries mainly.

Same place on the same lamps as yesterday for this Swallow Prominent (Pheosia tremula). Today I managed to include the 'prominent' in the shot – the raised area where the wing-tips touch.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

Of Note

- A Chiffchaff calling by the upper pond again.

And moths on lamp poles:

- 1 Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
- *1 Lime-speck Pug (Eupithecia centaureata)

The only pug moth I find easy to identify – a unique shape and clear markings. It is a Lime-speck Pug (Eupithecia centaureata). I cannot find out why it is so-named as the food-plants do not include lime.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day..........

2018

Priorslee Lake

Today's Sightings Here

2016

Local area

Today's Report Here

2014

Local area

Today's Report Here

2013

Priorslee Lake

1 Common Sandpiper

(Ed Wilson)

2012

Priorslee Lake

Location

1 Common Sandpiper

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake

Little Egret

Common Sandpiper

Common Gull

Hobby

Wheatear

(Ed Wilson)

2005

Priorslee Lake

Yellow Wagtail

Kingfisher

(Ed Wilson)