20 Jun 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C: Low cloud with occasional mainly light drizzle. Moderate E breeze. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:45 BST again again!

* = a picture today.

Priorslee Lake: 04:20 – 05:35 // 06:30 – 08:15

(124th visit of the year)

Highlight(?) today was the first returning Common Sandpiper of, gulp, Autumn. Probably a failed breeding bird or a non-breeding first year bird. I have not kept 'first dates' for returning birds. However I cannot remember ever seeing one before the longest day.

Other bird notes:
- Not too much should be read in to the smaller number of juvenile Coots – keeping out of the drizzle?
- Only four Great Crested Grebes located today. At one point what was presumably a pair were making very strange grunting noises in the reeds.
- 21 Starlings on the football and academy playing fields: so certainly not all gone even though a small group flew over.

Overhead:
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 4 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: immature
- 4 Jackdaws
- 4 Rooks
- 7 Starlings

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 6 Swifts at 07:15 only

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

Count from the lake area
- 2 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 7 (7♂) Mallard
- 2 Moorhens
- 26 + 7 (4 broods) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Common Sandpiper
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: one (near) adult; two immatures
- 1 Common Tern
- 1 Grey Heron

On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:
- 1 Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea)
- 1 female Plumed midge (Chironomus plumosus)
- 1 possible Lake Olive (Cloeon simile) mayfly

Noted later:

Moths:
- unidentified grass moths

Molluscs:
- 1 Garden Snail (Cornu aspersum aka Helix aspersa)

Also noted
- 1 full-sized bed sheet amongst all the weekend rubbish around the lake. A new species for me here!

Saturday's Photos
First a few images from Saturday that I did not get around to sorting out:

Interesting cloud formation as the weather cleared from the E for a while.

The sole remaining Canada Goose gosling (on the right) is fast growing up and has now moulted out of its yellowish fluffy down and even has the hint of the Canada Goose white chinstrap. How the parents are going to be able to teach it to fly while the cob Mute Swan is on the warpath is unclear.

The unusual, for me, sight of a formation of three Grey Herons passing over.

It had clouded back over by the time the Common Terns arrived. No mistaking that this silhouette is a tern but not easy to separate Arctic from Common.

 With wings spread the primaries show dark on one side.

More clearly seen here and identifying this as a Common Tern. An Arctic Tern would show an all-white wing with a thin black trailing edge. The bill colour would be helpful but is hard to see on a flying bird and none of my pictures captured this feature.

The diffuse dark trailing edge is also a pointer to Common Tern. On Arctic Tern a very silvery-looking underwing has a clear-cut thin black trailing edge.

A commotion from all the warblers in a hedge led me to this Jay on the look-out for an easy meal.

Seems to be frowning in concentration.

I am going to stick my neck out that this is a Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) on the basis that the collar and mid-riff bands are orange and not yellow and that there is a buff area where the abdomen meets the white tail. It also not a scruffy (long-haired) as Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum).

Wot no food for the youngsters? A female Reed Bunting.


Sunday's Photos
Now today's images

Some of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls I have recently logged as (near) adults. Here is an example of why. In flight it looked like a full adult with some wear in the wings which accordingly looked slightly faded / browner. As it banked to land and spread its tail just the outer two tail feathers showed black tips so it is not really an adult. At rest in addition to the browner wings there is a very brown retained feather showing and the bill has black on the upper mandible. Likely a third (or even a fourth) summer bird.

The light today was even worse than yesterday so although the Common Tern spent some while sitting on various buoys I did not improve on yesterday's photos. What this view shows is the dark tip to the bill – an Arctic Tern's bill is all blood-red. Arctic Terns have very short legs and would appear almost legless when sitting on a buoy like this.

A Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea).

The antennae are simple – i.e. not plumed – so this is a female Plumed midge (Chironomus plumosus).

This might, or might not, be a Lake Olive (Cloeon simile) mayfly. I have no literature on this group of insects though it matches well with photos on the web. It is a very common species. Although called mayflies many species have extended flight periods from April through to Autumn.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- The two juvenile Moorhens on the lower pool with one of their parents giving a better idea of scale. I think these are first-brood juveniles.
- The Blackcap barely on singing duty by the lower pool: just a few spluttering notes.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:40 – 06:25 again

(109th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- both independent juvenile Coots located. Again two juveniles with their parents alongside Derwent Drive.
- The Great Crested Grebes reappear.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc., noted:
None

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

On /around the water:
- 123 Canada Geese
- 12 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 25 (19♂) Mallard
- 9 (8♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens again
- 4 juvenile Coots again: see notes
- 2 Great Crested Grebes: still asleep together

Also noted
- Caddis fly sp lamp pole.

Saturday's Photos
First a few images from Saturday that I did not get around to sorting out:

Comparison of this photo with the Field Guide to the Micro Moths of Great Britain and Ireland confirms this grass moth as an Inlaid Grass-veneer (Crambus pascuella). A very fresh specimen and for once straightforward to identify.

I forgot to mention this in the log. Growing at the edge of the path alongside Derwent Drive is this attractive plant – Biting Stonecrop (Sedum acre). Two days later than I first noted it last year. This is the only local site I know for this flower.


Sunday's Photo
Now today's image

I have no way of identifying this caddis fly despite its long and banded antennae looking distinctive, There are about 200 species in the UK and probably 200 of these occurring in Shropshire.

(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

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2009
Priorslee Lake
A pair of Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
A drake Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)