14 Jul 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 19.0°C: Fine and clear until a few puffy clouds started to develop after 09:00. Light / moderate NW breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:03 BST

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:10 – 05:30 // 06:20 – 09:15

(146th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Six Swifts flew fast W to N at 04:40. Thereafter I noted 18 more doing the same, some close and some at a distance with a maximum of eight together. Whether these were the same birds circling in order to hunt 'in to the wind' or all different birds is impossible to say. I never noted any going E but they would have gone at great speed with the moderate breeze behind them.
- It is possible that one or two Coots I have counted as adults are in fact juveniles that have now acquired a more or less full-size white shield.
- A male Peregrine flew in from the W at 04:50 with Black-headed Gulls scattering in all directions before they decided it was perhaps safer on the water. Soon after a female Peregrine joined the male and they flew around for about five minutes before calm was restored. At this time there were 37 Black-headed (one juvenile) and one Lesser Black-backed Gull on the water. By 05:15 there were 24 Black-headed Gulls (one juvenile) on the academy playing field - probably birds from the lake. No more than six birds at any one time on the lake after 06:30.
- Two Ravens flew N at 05:20, closely followed by a group of eight more. My first for several months.
- No Sedge Warbler seen or heard and no Garden Warbler either. All song is fading away now – nothing was singing as I left my Newport home, not even a Robin.

Overhead:
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 23 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult
- 12 Cormorants: a duo and a group of 10
- *2 Peregrines
- 9 Jackdaws
- no Rooks
- 10 Ravens

Hirundines etc., noted:
- >8 Swifts

Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 10 (7) Chiffchaffs
- no Sedge Warbler
- 8 (3) Reed Warblers
- 14 (8) Blackcaps
- no Garden Warbler
- 5 (3) Common Whitethroats

Count from the lake area
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 12 (11♂) + 1 (1 brood) Mallard
- 2 Moorhens
- 44 + 16 (8 broods) Coots
- 1 Common Sandpiper
- >37 Black-headed Gulls: one juvenile
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult, briefly
- 8 Great Crested Grebes again
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:

Moths:
- 1 female Ghost Moth (Hepialus humuli form humuli): still present, dead in the web.
- *1 Clouded Border (Lomaspilis marginata): moth species #55 here this year

And
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides cornutus)
- 1 Stretch spider (Tetragnatha sp.)

In the sailing club shelter pre-dawn:
- 2 Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides cornutus)

Other things seen later: in better weather surprisingly few flies and bugs but plenty of butterflies

Butterflies:
- *Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
- Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)
- *Small White (Pieris rapae): butterfly species #12 here this year
- *Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- *Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus): butterfly species #13 here this year
- Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Moths:
- Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata)
- *Blackneck (Lygephila pastinum): moth species #56 here this year

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

Hoverflies:
- *Bumblebee Cheilosia (Cheilosia illustrata)
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum)
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- *Dead-head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)
- Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)

Dragon/Damsel-flies
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
- Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
- Hawker dragonfly sp. flushed: not seen well-enough to ID

Other flies:
- Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)

Beetles:
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata): adult
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): pupae only
- Common Red Soldier Beetle aka Hogweed Bonking-beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- *Spotted Longhorn beetle (Rutpela maculata [formerly Strangalia maculata])

Spiders:
- *to be advised

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)


Not my best-ever photo but it was 04:55 and this pair of Peregrines were cavorting at speed over the other end of the lake. Note the size difference with the female, as in most birds of prey, the larger bird.

All Small Skipper butterflies (Thymelicus sylvestris) need to be checked to make sure they are not an Essex Skippers (Thymelicus lineola). This is less common and can only realistically be identified by the tip of the antennae being all-black as if dipped in ink (does anyone still know what 'dipping your pen in ink' is these days?). Here the top surface of the right antenna tip is not black so Small Skipper it is.

Sometimes viewing them can be difficult!

Surprisingly this was my first Small White butterfly (Pieris rapae) of the year here. The inner edge of the black at the wing-tip is not curved as it is on Large White butterflies.

I mentioned the difficulty of identifying butterflies when their wings are closed. Here is a..

 ..Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria).

If you were paying attention the other day then you will know this butterfly with two white spots in the black circle on the forewing must be a Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus). Also noticeably small than Meadow Brown.

This rather splendid moth is a Clouded Border (Lomaspilis marginata). Previously seen in 2014, 2015 and 2020

Last year I flushed my first-ever Blackneck moth (Lygephila pastinum) from the grass alongside the W end footpath on 22nd June. I thought I had missed it this year – many moth species have a very short flight period. So I was delighted to find one today.

Oops: This bumblebee-type of hoverfly I recorded yesterday as a Furry Dronefly (Eristalis intricarius). It wasn't. It was, as is this, a Bumblebee Cheilosia (Cheilosia illustrata). Apologies.

Not seen this species of hoverfly for a few weeks. It is a Dead-head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea), named because the horizontal marks on the thorax make it look like a dead head. Yes: well. Steven Falk calls this the Batman Hoverfly.

None for weeks and then, like buses, two come along at the same time.

This stunning beetle is a Spotted Longhorn (Rutpela maculata). In older books it is called Strangalia maculata. I see this common species most years.

I struggled to get a clear shot of the front of this spider and when I enlarged the photos I realised why. It seems to have an earwig in its jaws. Is the earwig still alive?

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 Chiffchaff in song by the upper pool, briefly.

(Ed Wilson)

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On the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel

- 2 Spider sps.
- *1 Leiobunum rotundum-type harvestman

A Leiobunum rotundum-type harvestman, probably a male as females have a more elongated body. Separation from L. blackwalli is possible from photos, but not this photo. It is the colour of the ring around the eyes - black on this species and white on L. blackwalli. I needed to be lot closer to the roof! Other species of long-legged harvestman have more equal-length pairs of legs

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:35 – 06:15

(131st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Four Canada Geese seen taking a short hop – trying their new wings.
- So where does the hybrid Greylag x Canada Goose hide on the days I cannot find it? When I do see this bird it is always very obvious. Other days I search and search and fail to see it.
- Many of the Mallard were asleep inside the island. Now they are in moult plumage it is impossible to sex them unless I can get a clear view of the bill. So I didn't try.
- No juvenile Coots seen from either brood alongside Derwent Drive or at the top end. Singles along the W side towards the top; around the E side of the island; and alongside the northern-most bridge. One other family of unknown number being brooded and two other adults still sitting.
- First juvenile Black-headed Gull of the year here.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Common Buzzard

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 4 Swifts

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

On /around the water:
- 126 Canada Geese
- 42 Greylag Geese again
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose located
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 22 (?♂) Mallard
- 11 (?♂) Tufted Duck only
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- >3 juvenile Coots (>3 broods)
- 17 Black-headed Gulls: one juvenile
- 1 Great Crested Grebe

Of note:
No moths found and again nothing else

(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
Priorslee Lake
Common Tern
Possible Otter
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
A female Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
A drake Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
Common/Arctic Tern
(Martin Adlam)