15 Jun 21

Priorslee Lake, Woodhouse Lane and The Flash

8.0°C > 15.0°C: Just thin high cloud early. Some puffy clouds developing by 09:00. Light and variable mainly S breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:45 BST again

* = a picture today

Priorslee Lake: 04:15 – 05:25 // 06:20 – 09:20 

(120th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- A Tufted Duck flew off W from the lake at 04:20 – sex not determined.
- A Collared Dove was calling from trees by the Teece Drive gate. Unusual for this species to be away from the houses other than when they fly over.
- One Swift by 04:25 increasing to seven but gone before 05:00. Thereafter scattered ones and twos.
- A trio of Cormorants flew over as I was getting out of the car at 04:15. None thereafter.
- Still peace amongst the Great Crested Grebes even though eleven noted early. Later I could only see seven on the water – others in the reeds?
- For several weeks I have been puzzling over how many Garden Warblers are singing. Singles along the S side and the N side are easy. At the W end I hear birds from three different locations but until this morning I only ever heard two birds at any one time. I am now happy that there are five singing birds in total. The N Side bird is still in more or less in continuous song and I fear his journey back from Africa is destined to end without finding a mate.

Overhead:
- 5 Feral Pigeons: together
- 11 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: one (near) adult; one immature
- 3 Cormorants: trio
- 11 Jackdaws
- 5 Rooks

Hirundines etc., noted:
- >7 Swifts
- 3 House Martins

Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 11 (11) Chiffchaffs
- 5 (4) Reed Warblers: seem to have shut up as they feed their broods?
- 12 (12) Blackcaps
- 5 (5) Garden Warblers: see notes
- 3 (2) Common Whitethroats

Count from the lake area
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Canada Geese: an adult arrived
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 6 (5♂) Mallard
- 1 (?♂) Tufted Duck: departed
- 4 Moorhens
- 27 + 11 (5 broods) Coots
- 11 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: one (near) adult and one first year

On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:
- *1 Common Marbled Carpet moth (Dysstroma truncata)
- *1 White Ermine moth (Spilosoma lubricipeda)
- 2 Stretch spiders sp. (Tetragnatha sp.)

Noted later:

Before I start two updates:
- Thanks to Neil for pointing out that the tail of the bumblebee photo on the 8th June was wrong for what I logged as a Field Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus campestris). It is most probably a large worker of the Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Martin Adlam suggested that what on Sunday I postulated was a blood-bee was in fact a sawfly. Looking again at the photo it seems a good match for Bramble Sawfly (Arge cyanocrocea)

Thanks to them both for correcting me. Always willing to learn.

Now on with today:

Butterflies:
- *Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

Moths:
- Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana)
- Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana)

Bees / Wasps:
- Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- *Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- *Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus) aka The Footballer
- Parhelophilus sp.

Damselflies:
- *Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Other Flies:
- Black Snipe fly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.)
- *Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)

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

Beetles:
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

Spiders:
- Cucumber Green Orb Spider (Araniella cucurbitina-type) - a different specimen from yesterday

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

Newly identified flowers for the year:
None

This morning's sunrise. Sadly I was not there early enough to catch the very red sky that preceded this view.

I spent a long while searching for my first skipper butterfly – usually I see Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) just after the middle of May. The dark shading at the wing edge however indicates that this is a Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus). There is no material size difference between these two species. It is about a normal first-date for Large Skipper. I still need to find Small Skipper.

This is the distinctive red-brown tinged form of Common Marbled Carpet moth (Dysstroma truncata). This variable species can be confused with the equally variable Dark Marbled Carpet but the latter species has no red-brown form. The moth seems to have a tiny fly as a friend.

A White Ermine moth (Spilosoma lubricipeda). Identification is not quite as straightforward as would appear. There is a white form of Buff Ermine to guard against – that has the black spots in a line. There is also Muslin Moth that has fewer, less distinct spots.

s I remarked a few days ago Common Wasps (Paravespula vulgaris) seem to be scarce so far this year. Here is one.

This is a Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus) - the vernacular name adopted by Steven Falk, which seems more appropriate than the name I have used previously – The Footballer

Every so often I see damselflies in flight that appear more like helicopters as they fly so weakly you 'can see the rotors going round'. The wings are not normally visible in flight other than as a blur. It intrigues me as to what they are. This is one such. The wide stripe on the thorax means it can only really be a Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum). I think this is a teneral (immature) male – the pale end to the abdomen rules out a female. The end will turn blue as it matures. I guess the weak flight is because, freshly emerged, the wings do not work too well.

A Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria). A recent passing horse has left plenty of work for this insect as it goes about its recycling task.

(Ed Wilson)

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Woodhouse Lane: 07:00 – 08:10

(25th visit of the year)

A full walk up and down the lane.

Some numbers and notes (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 1 Red-legged Partridge heard
- 1 Pheasant heard
- 3 (1) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Blackcap
- 3 (0) Common Whitethroats: one seen carrying food
- 10 (3) Skylarks: two family groups of four and three amongst these
- 4 (4) Chaffinches
- 6 Goldfinches
- no Linnets
- 5 (2) Yellowhammers
- no Reed Bunting: these often nest in the crop-fields – not this year.

Also noted:

Moths:
- Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana)
- *Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae)

Bees / wasps:
- *Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- ichneumon sp., perhaps Dyspetes praerogator

Damselflies:
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Hoverflies:
- *Two-banded Wasp Hoverfly (Chrysotoxum bicinctum)
- *Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)

Beetles:
- 14-spot Ladybirds (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata)

Newly identified flowers for the year:
- Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

One of the few moths easy to recognise in flight – it is a Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae). Once flushed it would not settle in open view. The caterpillars are equally easy to identify with yellow and brown 'rugby hoops' along their body, often seen feeding on their favourite plant – Ragwort (and no: it doesn't kill horses unless they eat a field full).

One of a number of Garden Bumblebees (Bombus hortorum) that were enjoying feeding on a Common Poppy.

Not to be left out of the poppy-fest was this Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

Reference to Steven Falk's web site allows me to include a vernacular name for this delightful hoverfly – Two-banded Wasp Hoverfly (Chrysotoxum bicinctum). Seems an appropriate name and less of a mouthful than its scientific name.

This ichneumon looks very like photos of Dyspetes praerogator apart from the black at the tip of the hind legs.

I noted several of these 14-spot Ladybirds (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata) scattered along the lane-side. It seems to have a tiny aphid as a friend.

Even to my non-botanist eye I can recognise a Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea).

The bee's-eye view as it would see homing in.

When I last photographed Common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) it was only in bud.

Again a bee's-eye view.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash

- The Blackcap was still singing by the lower pool.

Also noted
- On my walk up to The Flash a dead Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) was lying on the path alongside the upper pool.
- On my walk back in almost exactly the same place was a dead very juvenile Moorhen – no feathers.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:30 – 06:15

(105th visit of the year)

Highlight was the fly-over noisy Oystercatcher at 06:10 headed towards the main lake though it was not there when I got back there. Last recorded by me over here on 30 June 2019. Species #72 for the year here

Also new for the year (so #73) was a fly-over Linnet. A rather unusual date.

Other bird notes:
- Geese back in force today.
- The pen Mute Swan was with the two cygnets. I probably overlooked the two other adults!
- Fewer duck Mallard found.
- Just the two previously known well-grown Coot juveniles seen again. No others heard.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 17 Feral Pigeons: together
- 1 Oystercatcher
- 2 Jackdaws
- 1 Linnet

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 4 Swifts
- 2 House Martins again

Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 1 (1) Chiffchaff again
- 1 (1) Blackcap only

On /around the water:
- 122 Canada Geese
- 13 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose
- 1 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 24 (21♂) Mallard
- 5 (3♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 + 3 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 2 juvenile Coots (2 broods)
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: (near) adult, briefly
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

Also noted
- 2 Figure of Eighty moths (Tethea ocularis)

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day
2020
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2016
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2010
Priorslee Lake
 5+ Willow Tits in the trees alongside the M54 slip-road
(J W Reeves)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Just 2 Mute Swan cygnets remaining, possible Mink in the area
(Martin Adlam)