18.0°C > 21.0°C: Sunny with puffy clouds after rain; showers developing. Moderate / fresh SSW breeze. Very good visibility.
[Sunrise: 05:58 BST]
* = a photo today.
Early rain suggested a later start and change of direction.
Priorslee Lake: 12:41 – 13:42
(167th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Not all the Great Crested Grebe families seemed to be on the water. One of the newest families probably with just one juvenile. Did not locate the fledged juvenile first seen late last week.
Birds of interest noted flying over / near here:
[Sunrise: 05:58 BST]
* = a photo today.
Early rain suggested a later start and change of direction.
Priorslee Lake: 12:41 – 13:42
(167th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Not all the Great Crested Grebe families seemed to be on the water. One of the newest families probably with just one juvenile. Did not locate the fledged juvenile first seen late last week.
Birds of interest noted flying over / near here:
None
Hirundines etc. logged:
- c.15 House Martins: departed as I arrived
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
Wrong time of day and did not do a complete circuit – arriving shower!
- 1 (0) Blackcaps
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 15 (?♂) Mallard
- 11 + 5 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes (see notes)
- 1 Moorhen
- 60 Coots
- *8 Black-headed Gulls: two juveniles: all arrived
Insects / other things etc. noted:
Before the showers arrived
New for me for the year
- *Silver Y moth (Autographa gamma): 89th species of moth for me here this year.
The full list of things noted:
Butterflies:
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
- Peacock (Aglais io)
- Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
Moths:
- *Silver Y (Autographa gamma)
Bees / wasps:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris): nest found (gulp!)
Damsel-/Dragon-flies:
- Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis)
- Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
- *Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax)
- The Footballer (Helophilus pendulus)
Mammals
Hirundines etc. logged:
- c.15 House Martins: departed as I arrived
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
Wrong time of day and did not do a complete circuit – arriving shower!
- 1 (0) Blackcaps
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 15 (?♂) Mallard
- 11 + 5 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes (see notes)
- 1 Moorhen
- 60 Coots
- *8 Black-headed Gulls: two juveniles: all arrived
Insects / other things etc. noted:
Before the showers arrived
New for me for the year
- *Silver Y moth (Autographa gamma): 89th species of moth for me here this year.
The full list of things noted:
Butterflies:
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
- Peacock (Aglais io)
- Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
Moths:
- *Silver Y (Autographa gamma)
Bees / wasps:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris): nest found (gulp!)
Damsel-/Dragon-flies:
- Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis)
- Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
- *Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax)
- The Footballer (Helophilus pendulus)
Mammals
None
Other things:
- Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.)
Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:
Other things:
- Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.)
Additional flowering plant species recorded for the year at this site:
None
The speed of wing moult on Black-headed Gulls is always surprising. This bird shows just one old primary, the outer-most, still to dropped. All the others are rapidly regrowing. Some inner secondaries have also been dropped.
Buried in the grass is a typical view of a Silver Y moth (Autographa gamma). These migrants are typically day flying insects and easily flushed from the grass. The Y-shaped mark on the forewing is usually easy to see. There are two species of 'Golden Y': on these the mark is more of a V separate from the stem.
(Ed Wilson)
The Flash: 10:07 / 11:14
(152nd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Only five Mute Swan cygnets noted.
- Probably more Greylag Geese inside the island
- Only a single adult Great Crested Grebe located.
- Possibly due to my later visit all the Coots were away from the island and feeding in the open water – hence the higher count.
- Some of the House Martins were begging juveniles.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 3 Feral Pigeons (also 17 seen distantly over St Georges)
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 1 Barn Swallow – flew through
- >4 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 3 (0) Chiffchaffs
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- >16 Greylag Geese
- 36 Canada Geese
- *29 (>9♂) Mallard
- 22 (9?♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 7 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 54 adult and juvenile Coots
- 8 Black-headed Gulls: one juvenile: all arrived
On various lamp poles:
Moths
- *1 Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
And then I found this unusually placid individual at rest.
A mating wheel of Common Blue Damselflies (Enallagma cyathigerum)
What a long tongue you have. A female Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax) gets to grip with the flowers of Wild Angelica (Angelica sylvestris).
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Flash: 10:07 / 11:14
(152nd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Only five Mute Swan cygnets noted.
- Probably more Greylag Geese inside the island
- Only a single adult Great Crested Grebe located.
- Possibly due to my later visit all the Coots were away from the island and feeding in the open water – hence the higher count.
- Some of the House Martins were begging juveniles.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 3 Feral Pigeons (also 17 seen distantly over St Georges)
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 1 Barn Swallow – flew through
- >4 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 3 (0) Chiffchaffs
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- >16 Greylag Geese
- 36 Canada Geese
- *29 (>9♂) Mallard
- 22 (9?♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 7 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 54 adult and juvenile Coots
- 8 Black-headed Gulls: one juvenile: all arrived
On various lamp poles:
Moths
- *1 Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
On the Neighbourhood Watch sign
- 3 Common Grass-veneer moths (Agriphila tristella)
Otherwise
- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
Some of the drake Mallard are beginning to come out of their eclipse plumage and are beginning to acquire their breeding finery.
- 3 Common Grass-veneer moths (Agriphila tristella)
Otherwise
- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
And another still rather patchy individual.
Obviously a 'white' butterfly but which? The inner edge of the black on the wing tip is almost straight and the black does not extend down the trailing edge so it is a Small White (Pieris rapae). With four black spots, one on each wing it is a female.
I am still trying to turn any of the grass moths in to something different. This, on the face of it, looks a good candidate for Pale-streak Grass-veneer (Agriphila selasella). However that species has the streak with dark edging on one side which this does not show. So despite the streak looking very pale it must be a Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella).
(Ed Wilson)
Trench Lock Pool: 11:22 – 11:55 // 12:25 – 12:31
(22nd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- No large gulls.
- After missing much of Spring passage during lock down my first Barn Swallows of the year for here. Better late than never.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 1 Starling
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 3 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 2 (1) Chiffchaffs
Counts from the water:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 8 (5♂) Mallard
- no Tufted Duck
- *2 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 adult and juvenile Moorhen
- 16 adult and juvenile Coots
- *28 Black-headed Gulls: >three juveniles
Otherwise
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- *Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- presumed Yellow-bellied Slider (Terrapin)
A good view of the upper-wing pattern of a juvenile Black-headed Gull, now moulting in to first-winter plumage. Only the lesser coverts still have brown juvenile markings.
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trench Lock Pool: 11:22 – 11:55 // 12:25 – 12:31
(22nd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- No large gulls.
- After missing much of Spring passage during lock down my first Barn Swallows of the year for here. Better late than never.
- Also my first Grey Wagtail here this year.
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 1 Starling
Hirundines etc. logged:
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 3 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 2 (1) Chiffchaffs
Counts from the water:
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 8 (5♂) Mallard
- no Tufted Duck
- *2 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 adult and juvenile Moorhen
- 16 adult and juvenile Coots
- *28 Black-headed Gulls: >three juveniles
Otherwise
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- *Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- presumed Yellow-bellied Slider (Terrapin)
One of the adult Great Crested Grebes catches a fish. Its youngster had moved away and after looking around for a few minutes it ate it.
Here is the back-pattern. On the face of it should be enough to ID it from the web. Go on then... I can't!
(Ed Wilson)
Trench Middle Pool: 12:00 – 12:20
(22nd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Seems the Mute Swans did not breed again?
- Only one adult Great Crested Grebe. Was heading towards the area of the island where the nest is traditionally hidden. Perhaps another bird is sitting on a late or replacement clutch?
Birds noted flying over / near here:
A well-patterned spider here.
(Ed Wilson)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trench Middle Pool: 12:00 – 12:20
(22nd visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- Seems the Mute Swans did not breed again?
- Only one adult Great Crested Grebe. Was heading towards the area of the island where the nest is traditionally hidden. Perhaps another bird is sitting on a late or replacement clutch?
Birds noted flying over / near here:
None
Hirundines etc. logged:
Hirundines etc. logged:
None
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 2 (0) Chiffchaffs
Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swans
- Greylag Geese: heard only
- 41 Canada Geese
- [all-white feral goose not seen]
- 17 (?♂) Mallard
- 18 (9?♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 6 adult and juvenile Moorhen
- 26 adult and juvenile Coots
- 23 Black-headed Gulls:? juveniles
Otherwise
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus): possibly my first-ever at this site.
- presumed Yellow-bellied Slider (Terrapin)
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 2 (0) Chiffchaffs
Counts from the water:
- 2 Mute Swans
- Greylag Geese: heard only
- 41 Canada Geese
- [all-white feral goose not seen]
- 17 (?♂) Mallard
- 18 (9?♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 6 adult and juvenile Moorhen
- 26 adult and juvenile Coots
- 23 Black-headed Gulls:? juveniles
Otherwise
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus): possibly my first-ever at this site.
- presumed Yellow-bellied Slider (Terrapin)
(Ed Wilson)