25 May 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 9.0°C: Another mainly overcast visit with a few light showers and the odd brighter interlude. Moderate / fresh W wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:00 BST

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:15 – 05:50 // 06:45 – 09:35

(102nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The only juvenile Coots seen were the two well-grown birds from brood #1.
- What were likely the same four adult and one first year Lesser Black-backed as in the previous two days. These were heard calling from the Ricoh area c.04:30 and then overhead a few minutes later. Ones and twos kept reappearing overhead throughout, never looking as if they were going anywhere.
- Just five Great Crested Grebes noted early. Later I could only find three.
- Two of the Cormorants appeared to be climbing away from somewhere close-by to the E, not Bayliss Pools area as far I could tell. This is not the first time I have seen this though most are flying high from the NE when I first see them.
- The Garden Warbler on the N side has been singing more or less continually from either one of two trees for over two weeks and was doing so at 05:00 this morning. At 07:15 I thought it had shut up, but it had moved some 100 yards to the E. The other three singing Garden Warblers have been singing very intermittently for a while – indeed all the warblers are singing much less, probably engaged in parental duties. So I guess the N side one is still looking for a mate. A bit galling to fly all the way from Africa on a love mission and miss out.

Overhead:
- 12 Canada Geese: quintet outbound; trio and quartet inbound
- 4 Wood Pigeons again
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: four (near) adults and one first year as noted
- 4 Cormorants: two duos
- 2 Common Buzzards
- 55 Jackdaws
- 4 Rooks yet again

Hirundines etc., noted:
- many Swifts
- >2 Sand Martins
- many Barn Swallows
- many House Martins
At least 150 birds swirling around. Swifts predominated with House Martins next most numerous and slightly fewer Barn Swallows. At least two Sand Martins with them.

Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 15 (13) Chiffchaffs
- 10 (9) Reed Warblers
- *11 (8) Blackcaps
- 4 (4) Garden Warblers again
- 3 (3) Common Whitethroats

Count from the lake area
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 6 (6♂) Mallard
- 3 Moorhens
- 20 + 2 (1 brood) Coots
- 1 Grey Heron
- 5 Great Crested Grebes

On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:
- *1 small green caterpillar
- 1 gnat

Noted later:

Hoverflies:
- *Cheilosia sp. hoverfly likely C. ranunculi (Early Buttercup Cheilosia) or C. albitarsis (Late Buttercup Cheilosia)

Bugs:
- *Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata)

Flies
- *Spotted Cranefly (Nephrotoma appendiculata)
- *Tipula fascipennis cranefly
- *Empid (dagger) fly, possibly Empis trigramma
- Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.)

Beetles:
- *Soldier beetle Cantharis nigricans
- *unidentified mainly black beetle
- *plus two unidentified beetles

Crickets:
- *unidentified, presumed instar.

Snails:
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
- *empty Brown-lipped Snail (Cepaea nemoralis)

New Flowers for the year:
- *Hybrid Bluebell (Hyacinthoides x massartiana)
- *Guelder-rose (Viburnum opulus)

The surviving five cygnets with their parents. All look alert and healthy but so too did those that disappeared.

Did someone say 'scruffy'? This is a very new juvenile Wood Pigeon that was barely able to fly. Note that juveniles do not have the white neck patch. They do however have the white along the front of the folded wing which helps separate them from the somewhat smaller juvenile Stock Doves.

I managed a few photos of this Jay apparently gleaning insects from the willows. I stayed hidden until it found a large caterpillar and flew off. Looking to heaven for inspiration? Some more images:

Looking pensive.

Thinking about it.

More inspiration needed.

A punk Blackcap. I suspect a juvenile with the fuzzy plumage though after all the rain I suppose a female drying out is not out of the question. Juveniles of both sexes have brown crowns.

 "What green caterpillars for breakfast again! Give us a break Mum" Mrs. Reed Bunting doing her duty.

 The small green caterpillar found on one of the lamp poles pre-dawn. Another one I cannot identify.

This is likely a Cheilosia sp. hoverfly and either C. ranunculi (Early Buttercup Cheilosia) or C. albitarsis (Late Buttercup Cheilosia)! They cannot be separated from photos and at this date both could occur. Until recently only C. albitarsis was recognised.

There is no way I can ID this small fly but I have included it as I see rather few insects on the Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) and its very open umbels yet something clearly pollinates them as the plants are abundant every year. Flies are the unsung heroes of pollination.

Close-by I found this distinctively marked small fly on a stem of said Cow Parsley. I do wonder why so many flies have white edges on the inside of their red eyes.

One of two very different craneflies I found. The markings on the thorax identify it as a Nephrotoma sp., and almost certainly a Spotted Cranefly (N. appendiculata)

And here is the other. This is a male Tipula fascipennis.

This is one of the Empid (dagger) flies – I think Empis trigramma.

There were several Red-and-Black Froghoppers (Cercopis vulnerata) in Woodhouse Lane yesterday. This is my first at the lake.

A small beetle that I cannot identify (and a grubby fingernail that I can). There are simply too many blue/black beetles with no real way for me to begin to look at the right family.

Not a very good photo and I will probably get another opportunity at what I think is the soldier beetle Cantharis nigricans, though this was rather smaller than I recall from previous years. If it has eaten all the missing bits of the leaf it is probably not hungry.

Some ten feet up a lamp pole is not an ideal place to photograph insects. The hind legs suggest a grasshopper or cricket. I think the latter as it looks as if there are long antennae laid back along the body. At this time of year it is likely to be an instar (immature phase) making ID even more challenging. The area seems remarkably devoid of grasshoppers, certainly at the time I am present.

This shell has no-one at home and the lip is broken off. I think it was a Brown-lipped Snail (Cepaea nemoralis)

I found these blue flowers lurking in deep shade. I believe them to be Hybrid Bluebell (Hyacinthoides x massartiana). I read that in the UK almost all the records ascribed to Spanish Bluebell (H. hispanica) are incorrect and are Spanish Bluebells hybridised with our native Bluebell (H. non-scripta).

Some of the plants had white flowers – this is not uncommon in Bluebells.

Just opening is this flower of a Guelder-rose (Viburnum opulus). Only the few sterile flowers in the outer ring open, the inner mass of small fertile florets stay as seen here. This is 23 days later than I first noted it last year.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash

- Just one adult Moorhen seen at the upper pool.
- One adult and one juvenile Moorhen on the lower pool nest. Nest-building continues.
- No warblers seen or heard

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:55 – 06:40

(89th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The Mute Swans have lost yet another cygnet. They are not doing well this year!
- Four pairs and two additional drake Tufted Duck.
- Just the very well-grown juvenile Coot standing by the nest by the bridge. I may have heard another begging but I could not locate it.
- Two Great Crested Grebes today.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Sparrowhawk (carrying prey)
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc. noted:
Still none

Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 3 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (1) Blackcaps

On /around the water:
- 44 Canada Geese
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 18 (14♂) Mallard
- 10 (6♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens only
- 1 juvenile Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day
2020
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2018
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here
+
2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2012
Nedge Hill
2 Ravens mobbing Kestrel.
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Ringed Plover
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Red Kite
(Ed Wilson)