16 Jun 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 19.0°C: Remnant cloud gave a colourful sunrise. Then mostly clear. Light SSW breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:45 BST still

* = a picture today

Priorslee Lake: 04:15 – 05:25 // 06:25 – 09:30

(121st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- One Swift at 04:40. Thereafter occasional singles until five briefly at 07:50.
- 14 Magpies on the football field at 05:30 was far too many. Three families?
- A Skylark, presumably from the fields to the E, was calling overhead the lake. I did not hear any singing this morning – normally at least one can be heard above the traffic noise in Castle Farm Way.
- Only six Starlings were collecting food from the academy playing field. Have some nests fully fledged and the families moved on?

Overhead:
- 1 Stock Dove
- 15 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: immature
- 1 Cormorant
- 14 Jackdaws
- 11 Rooks

Hirundines etc., noted:
- >5 Swifts
- 2 House Martins

Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 11 (11) Chiffchaffs again
- *12 (8) Reed Warblers: singing resumed!
- 12 (11) Blackcaps
- 4 (3) Garden Warblers
- *5 (2) Common Whitethroats

Count from the lake area
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 6 (6♂) Mallard
- 2 Moorhens
- 25 + 11 (5 broods) Coots
- 11 Great Crested Grebes again
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: one (near) adult and two first year, all briefly

On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:
- *1 Green Carpet moth (Colostygia pectinataria)
- 1 Plumed midge (Chironomus plumosus)

Noted later:

Butterflies:
None

Moths:
- Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana)
- *Plum Tortrix (Hedya pruniana)
- Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana)
- *Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe ferrugata)
- *a still to be identified micro-moth

Bees / Wasps:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)

Hoverflies:
- *Snouted Duckfly (Anasimyia lineata)
- *Bumblebee Cheilosia (Cheilosia illustrata)
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- Large Narcissus Fly (Merodon equestris)
- Parhelophilus sp.

Damsel-/Dragon-flies:
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
- *Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa)

Other Flies:
- Black Snipe fly (Chrysopilus cristatus)

Plant bugs:
- *Calocoris alpestris
- *Grypocoris stysi
- *probable bug instar

Beetles:
- *Malachius bipustulatus (green and red)
- *Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis)
- Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

Spiders:
- Stretch spider sp (Tetragnatha sp.)

Newly identified flowers for the year:
- *Common (or Black; or Lesser) Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)

What: you missed the sunrise?

Quite spectacular at 04:22!

Not a brilliant shot against the light – a recently fledged Great Tit begs for food.

One of the Reed Warblers decided to sit in the reeds at a place where I could just get the camera between all the stems.

I cut the tip of his tail off on the last shot: so try again.

And the other way around.

A rather scruffy-looking Common Whitethroat bringing goodies – it looks like a stretch spider in another shot I took. No doubt the plumage showing the strain of dashing around collecting food for the young.

A very washed-out looking Grey Wagtail with the merest hint of yellow on the under-tail. This means it is a juvenile.

This delicate little moth has several features to aid identification: the long antennae with a white area; the yellow 'face'; the white forelegs. Sadly not enough for me to home in on the species. Help!

This is the macro moth Plum Tortrix (Hedya pruniana). I see this most years – 16th May in 2020.

My second Green Carpet moth (Colostygia pectinataria) of the year here (and one at The Flash earlier as well). Bumper year for this species. More variety please.

I noticed this moth by the security light at a house in Teece Drive. It has the classic 'carpet moth' shape and shows a pair of spots towards the outer edge of the wing. This suggests it is a Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe ferrugata). Confusingly Red Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe spadicearia) also has a dark barred form though on flight date that species is unlikely. I last recorded Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet here on 23 June 2019.

This hoverfly was alongside one of the confusing Parhelophilus sp. but was noticeably smaller and more heavily marked. Research on the web suggests this is a Snouted Duckfly (Anasimyia lineata). I have just one previous record of this species – 18th June 2017.

More head-scratching! An unusual mainly dark form of the Large Narcissus Fly (Merodon equestris) – a hoverfly whose larvae eat bulbs of, mainly, bluebells.

This hoverfly was new for me earlier this year and now I keep seeing it – though not usually with wings spread to give a good view of the grey spotted abdomen. It is a White-footed Hoverfly (Platycheirus albimanus). Here on a the head of a Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium).

Only my second-ever sighting of this Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa) at the lake – a species of dragonfly of course. My first record was on 6th June 2018. No doubt if I visited the lake later in the day I would see more dragonflies.

This attractively-marked plant bug goes by the name Grypocoris stysi. It wandered off the plant stem on to my knuckle.

Another plant bug. The closest match I can find is Calocoris alpestris.

Anyone any idea about this? Long antennae, short wings (perhaps wing-cases) and shiny barred abdomen. I suspect a plant bug instar but beyond that I have drawn a blank.

A better photo of a Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis).

The first flower I have seen this year of Common (or Black; or Lesser) Knapweed (Centaurea nigra).

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Between the lake and The Flash:

- 4 Swifts overhead. I am sure they often are but I rarely see any here
- A Chiffchaff had taken over singing duty by the lower pool.

Also noted
- *2 Common Marbled Carpet moths (Dysstroma truncata) on the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel.

Moth #1

Moth #2 I am recording both of these as Common Marbled Carpets (Dysstroma truncata). Separation from Dark Marbled Carpet (Dysstroma citrata) is only reliable from either examination of the underwing or the genitalia. However Dark Marbled Carpet is a scarce moth.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flash: 05:30 – 06:20

(106th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- A 'best effort' with the Mallard this morning: Mr. Virgin with a noisy burner on his *Hot Air Balloon put many ducks to flight – I had about finished the count at that time.
- The long-time almost full-grown Coot that had been allowed to stay at the nest by the bridge while a parent sat on a second brood was nowhere to be found. Neither was the other well-grown juvenile. Just one small juvenile on the island.
- Three Nuthatches together with at least one of them a juvenile. Not near the nest site which has been inactive a while now whenever I have passed.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Stock Dove
- 9 Wood Pigeons

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

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

On /around the water:
- 115 Canada Geese
- 16 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 28 (20♂) Mallard
- 5 (3♂) Tufted Duck again
- 5 + 3 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 1 juvenile Coot only
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

Also noted
- 2 Figure of Eighty moths (Tethea ocularis) again: one had shuffled about on its lamp pole.

The cause of the consternation amongst the ducks here this morning. A Cameron A-300 balloon for terminal anoraks out there.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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

2008
Priorslee Lake
Spotted Redshank
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)