5 Sep 20

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 14.0°C: Clear start. Increasing areas of mid-level cloud. Light / moderate W wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:28 BST

* = a photo today.

Priorslee Lake: 05:01 – 06:50 // 07:50 – 09:48

(183rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:

- Just one Greylag and four Canada Geese stopped off whilst inbound.

- I failed to find some of the adult Great Crested Grebes this morning – not sure why. All the juveniles seen.

- An uncommon sighting of 10 Carrion Crows flying together. This sometimes happens in Spring when I assume they are pairing up.

- Single Swift high over at 06:20 – only found as I checked a passing group of geese. Another with House Martins overhead the dam 08:45. Late records of this species. I noted two still around their breeding sites in Newport town later.

- Five Barn Swallows flew W 06:40 - "Africa is not that way guys". Later one with House Martins over the dam area.

- *My best sighting of the morning was two juvenile Bullfinches – very different-looking from their adults.

Birds noted flying over / near here:

- c.136 Greylag Geese (84 outbound in three groups; 12 inbound in one group; c.40 circling over undecided where to go and departing in several different directions)
- 105 Canada Geese (56 outbound in six groups; 49 inbound in two groups)
- 1 Common Buzzard once more
- 35 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 13 Wood Pigeons
- 17 Jackdaws
- 1 Siskin

Hirundines etc. logged:

- *2 Swifts
- 6 Barn Swallows
- c.40 House Martins

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):

- 14 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (0) Blackcap

Counts from the lake area:

- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 1 Greylag Goose: briefly
- 4 Canada Geese: briefly
- 12 (?♂) Mallard
- 2 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 2 Grey Herons: also arrived separately
- 1 Little Grebe
- 13 + 7 (5 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Moorhens again
- 81 Coots again
- 41 Black-headed Gulls
- *9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all briefly; at least two immatures; not all ages determined

Birds on the football and academy playing fields c.06:35:

- 77 Black-headed Gulls on the academy playing field.

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

Moth:

- *1 Common Marbled Carpet (Dysstroma truncata)

Other things:

- *2 Common Green Lacewings (Chrysoperia carnea)
- 1 male Chironomus plumosus (plumed midge)
- 1 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- *1 unidentified spider

Insects / other things etc. noted later:

Butterflies

- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)

Moths

- *Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana)

Bees / wasps

- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- *Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Hoverflies

- Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Common Drone-fly (Eristalis tenax)
- *The Footballer (Helophilus pendulus)
- *Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- Syrphus sp.
- *Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis)
- *Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens)

Other identified flies

- Common Crane-fly (Tipula oleracea)

Fungus

- another new Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea)

Mammals

- 16 Pipistrelle-type bats: a new record total
- 3 Grey Squirrel

New flowering plant species recorded: 

None, however a new and rather late-flowering spike of *Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica).

Clear early sky did not give a good sunrise.

As good as it got.

An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull in moult. Just the five outer primaries to be dropped though numbers four and five do not look too secure. Note the outer secondary coverts are regrowing and the white bases to those secondaries are still exposed creating a white panel in the centre of the wing. Just the outer primary has a white mirror. Two adult Great Crested Grebes on the water.

The same bird. And no, there are now two white mirrors on the left wing. The angle is such that the outer primary on the right wing is just showing ahead of the left wing.

Here is what seems to be a second-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. The mantle is now more or less adult grey-black and there is extensive pale on the bill. The band on the tail however is more like a first-winter bird with almost a U-shape to the inner edge. Perhaps the tail has yet to moult – there are a few inner secondaries to be regrown.

One the left the unmistakable shape of a Swift. The bird on the right is harder but, as I recall, a distant passing Carrion Crow. A late date to still be seeing Swifts.

One of my star birds of the day. Not an easy bird to recognise. The short, heavy bill and white rump are clues but juvenile Bullfinches – for that is what it is - look significantly different from adults without the black on the head.

And its sibling. Sexes look alike at this age.

A very dark form and rather poorly-marked example of a Common Marbled Carpet moth (Dysstroma truncata). This species is very variably marked. The shape of the outer edge of the wing is a useful thought not definitive feature.

An attractive little moth. It is a Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana). I see these in late May every year. This is the first time I have noted a second, Autumn, brood.

A busy Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) amongst some of the few remaining Blackberry flowers.

The very distinctive hoverfly known as The Footballer (Helophilus pendulus).

A tiny, tiny hoverfly. Seems it is a female Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare). The female is shorter than the male. You can gauge the size by the grass-seed she is resting on.

Possibly the most startling of hoverflies. It is a Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis) and quite harmless. Sexes look alike apart from the eyes – this is a female because the eyes do not meet.

This is the hoverfly usually known as the Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens). Here using its long tongue to access the nectar.

One of the two Common Green Lacewings (Chrysoperia carnea). I think the red-eye is the camera-flash. I wonder if the red-eye setting works on insects?

The business end of a Tachinid fly - those in this group are typically hairy and still impossible to identify unless you are an expert. Note at the base of the wing the haltere is visible - the vestigial second wing that all flies have and use for balance

Today's unidentified spider on a lamp pole. Very hairy.

The new spike of Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) I found this morning.

Signs of Autumn as a few leaves begin to turn. Forgot to check what the plant was. Looks a bit like Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum), though perhaps the leaves are a bit big?

Support the NHS. The local Air Ambulance on its way back from PRH.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:55 – 07:45

(168th visit of the year)

Bird notes:

- As at the lake the geese were behaving very differently with some birds still leaving, some others arriving and even a group Greylag Geese flying over

- A third adult Great Crested Grebe noted

Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:

- 14 Greylag Geese
- 7 Wood Pigeons

Hirundines etc. logged:

None

Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):

- 4 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (0) Willow Warbler

Counts from the water:

- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *>100 Greylag Geese: 65 at least of these arrived; 38 departed; others present throughout.
- *c.40 Canada Geese: six these departed
- 28 (16♂) Mallard
- 27 (8♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Moorhens
- 63 Coots
- 6 Black-headed Gulls again

On a single lamp pole:

- 1 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Nothing else noted

All about departing geese today: a quintet of Greylag Geese leave.

Two more catching the early sun.

And now a quintet of Canada Geese. One, of course, has to make a lot of noise about it.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

Nothing of note

An adult Moorhen ventures on to the footpath alongside the upper pool, nervously flicking its white tail as it does so.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day..........
2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's News Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2013
Priorslee Lake
Green Sandpiper
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
Yellow-legged Gull
(John Isherwood)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson))

2006
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)