31 Jul 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 15.0°C: Mostly cloudy with a few showers. Light W wind. Very good visibility, moderate in showers.

Sunrise: 05:27 BST

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:20 – 06:00 // 07:00 – 10:00

(162nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- All five Mute Swan cygnets were present: the small individual still lagging behind on occasions.
- There seemed to be new-looking juvenile Great Tits. This species, unlike most Blue Tits, can have a second brood. That said I have not heard begging young recently.
- Two Common Whitethroats were heard making 'tack' contact calls rather like a quiet version of a Blackcap's call. I double-, treble-checked as Lesser Whitethroat also gives calls like this. Visually they were certainly Common Whitethroats, the wings being much too brown-toned and lacking the noticeably darker ear coverts of the smaller Lesser Whitethroat. Instructive as I can find no reference to such calls in the literature and there seem to be no examples of this recorded on the xeno-canto web site.

Overhead:
- >81 Canada Geese: 81 outbound in nine groups; more heard
- >51 Greylag Geese: 50 outbound in four groups; single outbound; more heard
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 5 Stock Doves: single and two duos
- 71Wood Pigeons
- no Jackdaws
- 2 Rooks

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 4 House Martins: two singles and a duo at widely spaced intervals

Warblers noted: with song having essentially stopped I will only mention exceptions in future.
- 11 Chiffchaffs
- 1 Sedge Warblers
- 3 Reed Warblers
- 3 Blackcaps
- 3 Common Whitethroats

Count from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 14 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 Moorhen
- 39 Coots: adults and immatures
- *6 + 3 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 69 Black-headed Gulls: 2 juveniles
- 3 Cormorants: arrived separately
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 possible Hemp-agrimony Plume (Adaina microdactyla)
- *1 possible Pied Grey (Eudonia delunella)
- *1 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata)
- 1 Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata)
- 1 Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa)

and
- 1 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- 1 unidentified spider
- 4 Dicranopalpus ramosus agg. harvestmen
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli harvestman

In the sailing club shelter pre-dawn:

Spiders:
- >3 Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius)
Other spiders not identified

Other things seen later:

Moths:
- *unidentified grass moths
- Pale Straw Pearl (Udea lutealis)
- unidentified larva

Bees / Wasps etc.:
- Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- *Dolichovespula sp., possibly a Saxon Wasp (D. saxonica)
- **two ichneumon-type wasps, one perhaps Dyspetes praerogator
- *Galls of the Spangle Gall Wasp (Neuroterus quercusbaccarum)
- *Tenthredo sp. sawfly perhaps T. notha (Yellow-sided Clover Sawfly)

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *Short Melanostoma (Melanostoma mellinum)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)

Other notable flies:
- Semaphore fly (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus): my first for several weeks

Beetles:
- Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- *Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): pupae and both *spectabilis and *succinea form adults

Bugs:
- *Mirid Bug Heterotoma planicornis
- *Anthocoris sp., possibly A. nemorum

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

Mammals:
- 2 Pipistrelle-type bats

Another view of the second brood of Great Crested Grebes. The juvenile has yet to appear in the water but this photo seems pretty conclusive that there is only one extant off-spring.

The first puzzling moth of the morning. Clearly a plume moth but which? It seemed very small and is clearly neither a White nor a Common Plume, both of which have been numerous this year enabling me to get my eye in. My suspicion is the that this is the smallest of this group, a Hemp-agrimony Plume (Adaina microdactyla). There is certainly plenty of Hemp-agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum) in the area.

The second of the three troubling moths today, this one not helped by it sitting most unusually with the right wing help partly open. The 'grey' moths area hard-enough at the best of times. The strength of the white markings at the wing tip point towards this being a Pied Grey (Eudonia delunella). This 'very local' species is noted as occurring in our area. It does not occur in Norfolk or Leicestershire so there are no photos on my usual web sites to help me make a positive identification.

The third difficult moth and one to pend. Clearly a grass moth and from the pale and lightly marked wings I was thinking Satin Grass-veneer (Crambus perlella). However that species has white (or at least pale) labial palps and this quite clearly doesn't. Perhaps just a faded Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)?

An easier to identify moth if somewhat worn. On the outer edge of the forewing there is some faded dark markings indication this is a Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata). I have recorded this species both at The Flash and in the Priorslee Avenue tunnel already this year, this being my first here in 2021.

An unidentified all-black larva. If I were a better botanist the leaf being munched might provide a clue as to its identity. I think Hazel and I was going to take a photo of the leaf for later identification but I was distracted – I am easily distracted – and forgot.


This wasp caught my attention by its rather small size. When I looked at the photo I realised that it was much hairier than the Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris). Research on the web suggests it is likely a Dolichovespula sp., and possibly a Saxon Wasp (D. saxonica). This group wasps have variable markings so their separation is difficult. Like the familiar wasp this is a so-called ''social wasp' living in nesting colonies (though most people think they are rather anti-social).

The less than sunny weather made both finding and photographing insects a challenge. This small ichneumon may be Dyspetes praerogator. There are very few examples on the internet of the huge number (as in over 2500) species known to occur in the UK. This the fact that this looks like the photo on the NatureSpot web site must be treated with extreme caution. Because of their number and diversity ichneumons are little studied but, as with hoverflies, likely to be a very important in pollination. Also as they lay their eggs to hatch inside unwilling host insects they are important as pest controllers.

A much larger ichneumon that looks distinctive-enough with its yellow belly. I have not been able to trace it.

A very common occurrence on the underside of oak leaves are these galls of the Spangle Gall Wasp (Neuroterus quercusbaccarum). The adult wasps are almost never seen. [Who remembers 'Spangles' then?]

This seems to be a female Tenthredo sp. sawfly though probably not separable beyond that other than to note that the date tends to favour T. notha, named by Steven Falk as Yellow-sided Clover Sawfly. Males look rather different with fewer bands and are not considered separable.

'Yellow-sided' does seem apposite though here on a thistle and not clover.

This hoverfly struck me as rather small for a Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare). Looking at the photo I took I noted that the hind tibia is much darker than on that species and so I think this is a Short Melanostoma (Melanostoma mellinum). Reading the literature this is a widespread and common species and I suspect one I have overlooked as I only have a single previous record from here.

Head-on to a Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis), here of the form succinea, usually with 19 spots.

This one has lost its spots!

Hard to credit this is the same species. This is the spectabilis form. Last year I photographed the two forms mating.

Bug species #1 (with a hitherto unnoticed tiny fly for company). The white on the antennae is a sub-terminal mark on close examination. I think the Mirid Bug Heterotoma planicornis.

A different individual that looks to me like the same species though there are some slight differences – it is the tips of the antennae that are white and their is a small white spot on the tip of the elytra.

Bug species #2 is sitting at a very unhelpful angle. I am sure it is one of the Anthocoris species, generally regarded as inseparable from photos. The most common of this group is A. nemorum.

Another close-up of one of the Dicranopalpus ramosus aggregate harvestmen. It used to be easy an easy species to identify with its distinctive forked pedipalps but then the taxonomists got to work and decided there were two closely allied species D. ramosus and D. caudatus. These can only be separated by examination with a microscope so Dicranopalpus ramosus agg. is what they must be for me.

The spider man is going to be busy when her gets back from holiday and can help identify all my recent unidentified sightings. Add this one!

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 Blackcap calling by the lower pool.
- At least two juvenile Bullfinches near the upper pool

(Ed Wilson)

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On the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel

- 1 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata)

Spiders
Not recorded

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:05 – 06:55

(147th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- It was only about ten days ago that I was struggling to reach double figures of Mallard: 48 today!
- As at the lake the number of Chiffchaffs is 'best effort' as one or more may have been moving ahead of me and logged in different locations.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 11 Wood Pigeons

Hirundines etc., noted:
None

Warblers noted:
- 7 Chiffchaffs

On /around the water:
- 36 Canada Geese
- 16 Greylag Geese
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 48 (?♂) Mallard
- 27 (?♂) + 4 (1 brood) Tufted Duck
- 2 + 2 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 6 juvenile Coots (5 broods)
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 7 Black-headed Gulls: no juveniles

On various lamp poles:
- 1 Willow Beauty moth (Peribatodes rhomboidaria)
- 4 Dicranopalpus ramosus agg. harvestmen
- 2 Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli harvestmen

The last of the trio of tricky moth species. This seems to be a Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria). Both this species and Mottled Beauty (Alcis repandata) are not easy to separate and this specimen is not very well marked. I concluded it is a Willow Beauty because the trailing edge of the hind-wing has rounded rather than notched edging.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day
2020
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Report Here

2014
Local area
Today's News Here

2006
Priorslee Lake
13 Swifts
(Ed Wilson)

30 Jul 21

No sightings in today.

Thank you to Mark Williams for this lovely photo of a Great Crested Grebe and two humbugs on the parents' back taken at Priorslee Lake on 19 Jul 21.


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On this day
2020
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Report Here

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Report Here

2014
Local area
Today's News Here

2006
Priorslee Lake
13 Swifts
(Ed Wilson)

29 Jul 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 15.0°C: Clear fresh start; scattered cloud, increasing somewhat later. Moderate, even fresh, WSW winds. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 05:23 BST

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:15 – 05:45 // 06:45 – 09:30

(161st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- One of the cygnets – presumably the smallest one photographed earlier in the week, seemed to be lagging but was certainly present early on. As I was leaving Teece Drive a regular dog-walker told me that when he had just left he could only see four cygnets with the adults on the concrete ramp.
- With seven Great Crested Grebes seemingly consistently present at the moment I suspect that at least one other bird is somewhere in the reeds sitting on eggs.

Overhead:
- >75 Canada Geese: 59 outbound in four groups; 16 inbound together; more heard
- >23 Greylag Geese; 18 outbound together; five outbound together; more heard
- 24 Racing Pigeons: together
- 2 Feral Pigeons: together again
- 1 Stock Dove again
- 72 Wood Pigeons: see notes
- 1 Black-headed Gull
- 32 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 Cormorants: together
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- no Jackdaws or Rooks

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 3 Swifts again
- 12 House Martins: groups of five and seven presumed different

Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds): very quiet today
- 7 (0) Chiffchaffs
- no Sedge Warblers
- 3 (0) Reed Warblers
- 2 (0) Blackcaps again
- no Common Whitethroats

Count from the lake area:
- 1 Canada Goose: arrived and departed
- 1 Greylag Goose: arrived at 04:55
- 2 + 4? (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 10 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 28 + 10 (6 broods) Coots only: hiding?
- *7 + 3 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Common Sandpiper
- 51 Black-headed Gulls: 2 juveniles
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: briefly and separately
- 1 Cormorant: arrived and later departed
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 Dingy Dowd (Blastobasis adustella)
- 2 White Plume (Pterophorus pentadactyla)
- 2 Common Plume (Emmelina monodactyla)
- *1 Small Grey (Eudonia mercurella)
- *3 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata)
- *2 Small Phoenix (Ecliptopera silaceata)
- 1 Swallow-tailed Moth (Ourapteryx sambucaria)
- 1 Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa)

and
- 1 Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens) [Pied Plumehorn]
- *1 Mayfly sp., possible Pond Olive (Cloeon dipterum)
- 1 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius)

In the sailing club shelter pre-dawn:

Spiders:
- >3 Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius)
Other spiders not identified

Other things seen later:

Butterflies
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- *Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)

Moths:
- just one unidentified grass moth flushed
- Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata)

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

Hoverflies: - a hoverfly bonanza today:
- Bumblebee Cheilosia (Cheilosia illustrata)
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *Plain-faced Dronefly (Eristalis arbustorum)
- *Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum) [previously E. interruptus]
- *Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- *Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- *Marsh Tiger (Helophilus hybridus)
- *Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- *Dead-head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea) [Batman Hoverfly]
- *Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta) [was Long Hoverfly]
- *Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis), probably S. ribesii.
- *Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis)
- Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens) [Pied Plumehorn]

Dragon/Damselflies:
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- *Common Hawker (Aeshna juncea)

Beetles:
- Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- Spotted Longhorn beetle (Rutpela maculata)

Bugs:
- *Red Bug (Deraeocoris ruber)
- Common Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius)

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

Flowers noted for this first time:
- *Hemp-agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum)

The second pair of Great Crested Grebes with young again. I think just the single juvenile.

Only a Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria) this one seemed to me to be unusually brown-toned. Many are quite grey-looking.

With clear forewings this is a female Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus). Two white dots in the black spots.

And here is a male with a brown area in the centre of the forewing. His diagnostic two white spots are rather faded!

Thanks to friend Leon I can record this small moth as my second-ever Dingy Dowd (Blastobasis adustella). Here it does not look especially 'dingy' being unusually dark-toned and with rather orange-looking markings. "Cream to buff" is the Field Guide description. However the obliques streak from the dorsum across about one-quarter of the forewing's width is diagnostic as is the pale head.

Two for the price of one. The right-hand moth is easy – one of three Small Fan-footed Waves (Idaea biselata) at the lights this morning. The left-hand moth is one of the 'grey' complex. The extent of the dark area across the centre of the wing suggests this is a Small Grey (Eudonia mercurella).

One of two Small Phoenix moths (Ecliptopera silaceata) on the same lamp. I noted one here on 16th May: this is one from the second brood.

Here is the other one. From this angle note the tip of the abdomen is held raised – only males do this.

A few photos from the hoverfly bonanza. A Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax). A female because the eyes do not meet and hence the body does not look tapered. Recognise as this species by the pale front and mid tarsi (legs).

Another. The extent of the orange-brown markings on he abdomen can be very variable.

A Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax). A male because the eyes meet. And this species because all the legs are black. The stripe on the face is, confusingly, too broad for a Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum).

This is a Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum) that can be recognised without seeing the stripe face but the white edging to the tergites, more boldly shown by this species than most others in the genus.

This one had me puzzled. It looked like an Eristalis drone fly but showed no orange-brown on the abdomen. This makes it a female Plain-faced Dronefly (Eristalis arbustorum)

Always a favourite – a Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus).

This superficially similar-looking hoverfly is somewhat duller with some grey markings suggesting a Marsh Tiger (Helophilus hybridus).

And this could be easily overlooked as the same but note the marking on the thorax is quite different. It is a Dead-head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea) [also Batman Hoverfly].

A male Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta) [was Long Hoverfly]

This is a male of the Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis) species pair. Reading Steven Falk's Flickr site suggests that males are distinguishable as vitripennis has all-black hind femur whereas ribesii has some yellow, though not the entire leg yellow like the females which makes them easy to identify (when you can see the hind femur!). On that basis this seems to be S. ribesii.

Last hoverfly photo today. Only the second Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis) I have seen this year. A very striking beast and quite harmless (to humans). Here on Hemp-agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum), which reminded my that I hadn't noted this was 'new in flower' in this blog.

My find of the day: a male Common Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna juncea). Probably the species I have been seeing in flight only for a few days as well as in previous years. My first confirmed sighting from here. An amazingly cooperative individual as they usually dart away at high speed never to be seen again.

A head and shoulders view.

The business end in close up.

And in closer up! Note the hairs on the legs to help grip its prey.

By far the smallest mayfly I have seen around the lake. Note the banded 'tail streamers'. The only such example I can find on the web is the Pond Olive (Cloeon dipterum), but ...

Not a very good photo of a Red Bug (Deraeocoris ruber) but it would keep running around to the other side of the base of the Knapweed flower.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 2 Song Thrushes together, one of which was a barely fledged juvenile

(Ed Wilson)

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On the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel

- *1 probable Tawny Speckled Pug moth (Eupithecia icterata)
- 1 Plumed midge (Chironomus plumosus)

Spiders
Not recorded

One of those pesky pug moths that seem to favour resting here. On time of year and with a black dot in each forewing I favour Tawny Speckled Pug (Eupithecia icterata).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:50 – 06:40

(146th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- With Canada Geese departing at the same time as a large group arrived and started mingling with those already present the total number must be regarded as 'best effort'.
- Last Swift of the year perhaps? Most will have gone by the start of August though a few may linger and we may see a few passage birds from further North.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 4 Wood Pigeons

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 1 Swift
- 2 House Martins

Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 4 (0) Chiffchaffs
- no Blackcaps

On /around the water:
- 124? Canada Geese: 12 of these departed; 56 arrived: see notes
- 15 Greylag Geese: 2 of these arrived
- no Greylag x Canada Goose again
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 40 (?♂) Mallard again
- 29 (?♂) + 4 (1 brood) Tufted Duck
- 6 + 3 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 8 juvenile Coots (6 broods)
- no Great Crested Grebe
- *19 Black-headed Gulls

On various lamp poles:
- 2 Dicranopalpus ramosus agg. harvestmen
- *8 Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli harvestmen

also noted:
- 1 Grey Squirrel

This Black-headed Gull is moulting: note how short the wing-coverts are. From the rather little black on the head I suspect this is a first-summer bird (born 2020) now moulting in to adult winter plumage. I have not noted any first-summer birds among all the other Black-headed Gulls I have seen since they began to return at the start of the month – just adults and juveniles.

"Social distancing guys". Actually there are several 'gals' as well as 'guys' so that explains it. Five Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli harvestmen with the females having the dark backs and the less rotund shape – the three on the right.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day
2020
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Report Here

2017
Priorslee Lake
Today's Report Here

2016
Local area
Today's News Here

2015
Priorslee Lake
Today's Report Here

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 Common Terns
(Ed Wilson)
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