16.0°C > 20.0°C: Broken cloud at multiple levels with some sunny spells developing after 08:30. Light / moderate SW breeze. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 06:33 BST
* = a photo today.
Priorslee Lake: 05:04 – 09:18
(186th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- At least one of the Mute Swan cygnets was ringed yesterday and at least one wasn't. They were asleep in their usual place on the concrete ramp and mostly kept their legs hidden.
- Large number of geese outbound. No matter how I position myself some groups decide to take a different route and as usual more were 'heard only'. Strangely just a singleton noted inbound.
- The seemingly regular two Cormorants arrived c.07:00. Much later a group of four approached with two birds peeling off to go fishing while the other two carried on.
- 19 Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew SE between 06:05 and 06:30, the first six having a good look at the lake before moving off. At 07:15 71 birds arrived from the S and settled on the water. Some stayed for only a short while but many stayed well over an hour before drifting off in ones and twos. A few more overhead, all from the S.
- A party of 51 Racing Pigeons shot through at 08:55. A single bird a few minutes later on the same track is assumed to be one pedalling hard to catch up rather than a Feral Pigeon on the move.
- 32 House Martins were high over the football field at 06:40 and climbing higher and higher, moving S until lost from view even with binoculars. Later just six seen over and to the E of the dam – at least until the Hobby appeared and then there were only five. None of the other birds seemed to take any notice of the Hobby which sped on its way, House Martin in talons
Birds noted flying over / near here:
- 209 Greylag Geese (all outbound in nine groups)
- 3 Greylag x Canada Geese (outbound together – ID based on rather squeaky calls)
- 108 Canada Geese (107 outbound in 14 groups; singleton inbound)
- 2 Cormorants (see notes)
- 1 Hobby
- 28 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 52 Racing Pigeons (see notes)
- 1 Stock Dove
- 59 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Jackdaws
- 2 Rooks
- 3 Starlings
- 1 Pied Wagtail
- 1 Meadow Pipit
Hirundines etc. logged:
- >32 House Martins (see notes)
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 12 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (0) Blackcaps
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 Mute Swans
- 1 Greylag x Canada: stopped off on return
- 4 Canada Geese: with the Greylag x Canada
- 15 (9♂) Mallard
- 4 Cormorants (see notes)
- 1 Grey Heron
- *15 + 6 (5 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 83 adult and juvenile Coots
- 31 Black-headed Gulls
- *73 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: at least 9 immatures
Birds on the football and academy playing fields c.06:40:
[Wood Pigeons and Magpies excluded]
- 15 Black-headed Gulls on the football field.
- 137 Black-headed Gulls on the academy playing field.
On / around the street lights etc. pre-sunrise:
Moths:
None again
Other things:
- *1 Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea)
- 12+ Common Wasps (Paravespula vulgaris): at six different lamps. Are they capturing the moths?
- 2 Orb-web spider, presumed Larinioides sclopetarius
- *1 unidentified spider
Insects etc. noted later:
After some sun at 08:30:
Butterflies
- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- *Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
Bees / wasps
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
Hoverflies
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Common Drone-fly (Eristalis tenax)
- *Bronze Sap Hoverfly (Ferdinandea cuprea)
- The Footballer (Helophilus pendulus)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- *Syrphus vitripennis
Other things
- *Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): mating pair
- *Birch Shieldbug (Elasmostethus interstinctus)
- *Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus)
- Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus)
- *a single large brown unidentified fungus
Mammals
- 10 Pipistrelle-type bats
- 2 Grey Squirrels
New flowering plant species recorded:
Other things:
- *1 Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea)
- 12+ Common Wasps (Paravespula vulgaris): at six different lamps. Are they capturing the moths?
- 2 Orb-web spider, presumed Larinioides sclopetarius
- *1 unidentified spider
Insects etc. noted later:
After some sun at 08:30:
Butterflies
- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- *Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
Bees / wasps
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
Hoverflies
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Common Drone-fly (Eristalis tenax)
- *Bronze Sap Hoverfly (Ferdinandea cuprea)
- The Footballer (Helophilus pendulus)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- *Syrphus vitripennis
Other things
- *Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): mating pair
- *Birch Shieldbug (Elasmostethus interstinctus)
- *Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus)
- Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus)
- *a single large brown unidentified fungus
Mammals
- 10 Pipistrelle-type bats
- 2 Grey Squirrels
New flowering plant species recorded:
None
Mainly cloudy this morning so you do not have to suffer AFS (another fill-in-the-blank sunrise). The moon popped out briefly.
A fluffy juvenile Great Crested Grebe. Still much juvenile down rather than real feathers. I doubt it will be able to learn to dive yet.
There are five immatures together in this view. I was trying to turn the smallest in the centre in to an immature Common Gull but the bill is too large. In fact the adult at the front right looks about the same small size – probably females. The bird at the back right shows some winter plumage head-streaking.
A female Green-veined White (Pieris napi) tucks in to nectar from the flower of a Great(er) Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum).
From this angle we can identify the hoverfly as Ferdinandea cuprea, with the grey striped thorax and the dark marks in the wing. The web tells me this is also called Bronze Sap Hoverfly.
Covered in pollen as it emerges from Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) is this Syrphus vitripennis hoverfly. Separated from the almost identical S. ribesii because the hind femur of this female is yellow.
Not my best-ever photo but it was a long way up a very tall lamp post. It is a Birch Shieldbug (Elasmostethus interstinctus). A new species for me.
Walking up the same Wild Angelica stem are a mating pair of Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis) of the form succinea.
I thought this was going to be one of the forms of the Common Candy-striped Spider (Enoplognatha ovata). However the hairy legs do not fit that species and I have been unable to match it. Another spider lurks by the bolt on the street-lamp mounting. Could be the male of the species – many males spiders are much smaller and very different-looking from the females.
Why oh why do none of the fungus I see look anything like those illustrated in books or on the web. Does not help that this fruiting body in tied up in Ivy growing along the ground and impossible to disentangle to see the underside and or stem. Fungus sp. - large fungus sp. at that.
Just part of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls that dropped in at 07:15.
A hoverfly tucking in to the just-opening Ivy flowers. They are yet to open at The Flash.
A much better posed Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea) showing the wing venation clearly.
A Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus) on stem of Wild Angelica (Angelica sylvestris)
(Ed Wilson)
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(171st visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- The cob Mute Swan and his current obsession were one side of the water. The pen was sulking the other side of the water – its perhaps just like a soap opera (though I have never watched a single episode of any soap – I assume 'The Grove Family' doesn't count?). The cygnets were all crammed together inside the island and impossible to count.
- As I did not see or hear any returning geese while I was at the lake perhaps most were still away.
- Another low total of Mallard.
- Just a few House Martins around as I arrived. Suddenly a group of c.25 including calling juveniles appeared. They did not stay long leaving just the same(?) few behind.
- A Grey Wagtail heard again – on the W side somewhere though I could not locate it.
Birds noted flying over / near The Flash:
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: immature
Hirundines etc. logged:
- c.25 House Martins
Count of warblers logged (singing birds in brackets):
- 2 (0) Chiffchaffs
Counts from the water:
- 3 + 5? (1 brood) Mute Swans (see notes)
- 16 Greylag Geese
- 45 Canada Geese
- 21 (11♂) Mallard
- *40 (9?♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 5 adult and juvenile Moorhens
- 76 adult and juvenile Coots
- 7 Black-headed Gulls
On one lamp pole:
- *1 Dicranopalpus ramosus-type harvestman
Also noted
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- *A better look at the fungus first noted yesterday: still no idea.
Mrs. Angry Tufted Duck. The brown tone suggests female rather than immature male.
The underside showing dense gills and a tapered stem.
And the side-elevation. No nearer making a positive identification though. The way the stem expands and elides in to the cap means it is not a Blewit as I initially thought.
Not easy to see on the lichen-covered lamp pole is this Dicranopalpus ramosus-type harvestman. The forked pedipalps and characteristic way the legs are bunched at rest make the initial identification easy. The two species in the group require the use of a microscope to separate.
(Ed Wilson)
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On this day..........