16 Jul 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

14.0°C > 19.0°C: Clear skies. Light NW breeze. Very good visibility though rather hazy to start.

Sunrise: 05:05 BST

**no photos today - too much else to do. Probably Sunday

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

(148th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
To be supplied

Overhead:
- 2 Greylag Geese: single outbound 04:40; same (?) inbound 09:10
- 33 Wood Pigeons
- 9 Cormorants: together
- 3 Jackdaws
- 5 Rooks

Hirundines etc., noted:
- >5 Swifts
- House Martin(s) heard only

Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
Beginning to get obvious non-singing birds - some no doubt fledged juveniles.
- 12 (6) Chiffchaffs
- 7 (4) Reed Warblers
- 15 (7) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler again
- 4 (3) Common Whitethroats

Count from the lake area
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 11 (10♂) + 2 (1 brood) Mallard
- no Moorhens seen or heard
- 36 + 14 (9 broods) Coots
- 1 Common Sandpiper
- >44 Black-headed Gulls: one juvenile
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: ages not determined, briefly
- 6 Great Crested Grebes again
- 1 Cormorant: arrived again
- 1 Grey Heron: departed again

On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:

Moths:
- 1 Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- 1 Dwarf Cream Wave (Idaea fuscovenosa): moth species #58 this year

And
- 1 unidentified caddis fly
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides cornutus)

In the sailing club shelter pre-dawn:
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides cornutus)
- 1 male Missing Segment Spider (Zygiella x-notata)

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)
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- Small White (Pieris rapae)
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Moths:
- Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana)
- Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- Swallow-tailed Moth (Ourapteryx sambucaria): moth species #60 this year
- possible Marbled Piercer (Cydia splendana): to be confirmed; if so moth species #59 this year

Bees / Wasps:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- Ruby-tailed wasp sp. (Chrysis sp.): not separable from photos

Hoverflies:
- Bumblebee Cheilosia (Cheilosia illustrata)
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum)
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus)
- Dead-head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)
- Pied Hoverfly (Scaeva pyrastri)
- Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta) [was Long Hoverfly]
- Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)
- Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens) [Pied Plumehorn]

Dragon/Damsel-flies
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
- Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
- Hawker dragonfly sp. in flight only

Other flies:
- Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Grouse Wing (Mystacides longicornis) [caddis fly]
- Nephrotoma flavipalpis cranefly

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

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 Chiffchaff in intermittent song and apparently a different bird calling by the upper pool.
- 1 Blackcap joined in briefly

(Ed Wilson)

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On the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel

Moths:
- a pair of micro moths mating: to be identified.

Others:
- 1 cranefly sp
- 1 caddis fly sp.
- 1 spider sp.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:35 – 06:25

(133rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- There did seem to be a few geese missing this morning.
- Great Crested Grebe gone AWOL once again

Birds noted flying over here:
None

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 10 Swifts

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

On /around the water:
- 109 Canada Geese
- 36 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose again
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 15 (?♂) Mallard
- 19 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 + 3 (3 broods) Moorhens
- 6 juvenile Coots (2 broods)
- 2 Black-headed Gulls again
- no Great Crested Grebe found

Also
- 1 Common Grey moth (Scoparia ambigualis) on a lamp pole
- 1 Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) pupa
- 1 Stretch spider (Tetragnatha sp.)

(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 report Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Report Here

2013
Priorslee Flash
Oystercatcher
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 drake Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)