19 Jul 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

18.0°C > 22.0°C: Scattered cloud early otherwise clear skies. Light 'N' breeze. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:09 BST

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:15 – 05:35 // 06:35 – 09:15

(151st visit of the year)

The grass in front of the sailing club shelter has been cleared of all the bottles and paper from Saturday night. This had been replaced by three barbecue trays, two of which seemed to have been abandoned part-cooked and just left. Strangely neither the Magpies or Carrion Crows seemed interested.

Bird notes:
A very quiet start with nothing singing or calling for several minutes after I arrived.
- No duck Mallard with ducklings located.
- For the second day running no Swifts seen. There are still plenty in the Newport area and it is usually the last week in July before most leave.
- Many of the birds from the early broods of Coots are almost indistinguishable from adults and are included in the adult total. Only dependent birds are logged as juveniles.
- I could not confirm how many juveniles Great Crested Grebes there were.
- Despite the general lack of song a Willow Warbler singing at the W end was a surprise. No doubt an early passage bird though singing at this time is unusual.
- After a few quiet days the 'new' Sedge Warbler was singing vigorously at dawn: rather more intermittently later though usually sitting on his favourite dead stem.
- A Linnet was seen to fly out of the Ricoh hedge. Breeding there?

Overhead:
- 5 Stock Doves: duo and trio
- 41 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Cormorants: duo
- 20 Jackdaws
- 43 Rooks again
- 3 Starlings

Hirundines etc., noted:
- no Swifts again
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 2 House Martins

Warblers noted (the number in brackets is singing birds):
- 1 (1) Willow Warbler
- 5 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
- 5 (4) Reed Warblers
- 6 (6) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
- 2 (1) Common Whitethroats

Count from the lake area
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 9 (9♂) Mallard
- 2 Moorhens again
- 48 + 12 (7 broods) Coots: see notes
- 5 + ? (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Common Sandpiper: heard only as I arrived
- >27 Black-headed Gulls: ? juveniles
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Cormorant: arrived yet again
- 2 Grey Herons: one chased away

On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:

Moths:
- 4 Garden Grass-veneers (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- 1 White Plume (Pterophorus pentadactyla)
- 1 Round-winged Muslin (Thumatha senex)

and
- 3 Stretch spiders (Tetragnatha sp.)

In the sailing club shelter pre-dawn:

Spiders:
- 3 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius)
One of these was wrapping up a large moth, unidentified

Other things seen later:

Note: In the warm weather anything flushed tended to depart in to the middle distance and not be seen again!

Butterflies:
- Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)

Moths:
- Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
- Pale Straw Pearl (Udea lutealis)

Bees / Wasps:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta) [was Long Hoverfly]
- Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)
- Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis) [Wasp Plumehorn]
- Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens) [Pied Plumehorn]

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

Other flies:
- Grouse Wing (Mystacides longicornis) [caddis fly]

Beetles:
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata): adult
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): adult
- Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

Mammals:
- Grey Squirrel again

Almost a sunrise... with the Mute Swan family adding foreground interest.

Feeling peckish? A waste of food. I'm surprised the rats had not run off with it.

One of the Buzzards nesting in he Ricoh copse not infrequently sits on a lamp post in Teece Drive until anyone walks too close. It is always still rather dark for photos but this will do.

Only a Meadow Brown but I thought it made an attractive view on the Common (or Black; or Lesser) Knapweed (Centaurea nigra). When it landed it opened its wings showing it was male with no paler area in the upper forewing. It refused to open them again before it flew off.

I keep checking many of the grass moths to try and find some of a species other than Garden Grass-veneer. This very worn individual was a candidate but close observation along the wing-edge shows a hint of the start of the diagonal mark and where the wings overlap the cross-line is just visible. So no joy here. As I have previously noted this group always look surprised.

I keep trying. This is a better example with the angled marks toward the wing-tip showing more clearly.

This is also a rather worn specimen. I thought it showed no hint of the angles lines and until I reduced the contrast when a shadow is evident. So just another Garden Grass-veneer with the way the lines branch towards the wing edge.

On this rather better specimen the branching marks go right to the wing-edge indicating this is a Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella). One out of four and moth species #63 here this year.

Superficially similar to the grass moths is this Common Yellow Conch (Agapeta hamana). Not dissimilar to the Knapweed Conch (Agapeta zoegana) I recorded on 4th July but with a clearer cross-line in the middle of the wing. It is also known as a Hook-marked Straw-moth. Moth species #62 here this year.

I promised a much better photo of a Pale Straw Pearl moth (Udea lutealis). This is not it. It is only slightly better but the characteristic markings are clear-enough. When I flush them they do like to land so they face me and I cannot see the wing markings. Anyone would think they don't trust me.

A Honey Bee (Apis mellifera). Just starting work perhaps as there is no pollen on the pollen sacs on the hind leg.

A Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius).

A male Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare) where we can see through the wing to abdomen markings. Note that the upper yellow segment is triangular and the other two rectangular.

I got just one opportunity to photograph this Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis) before it was off. Steven Falk calls this the Wasp Plumehorn but the yellow is much more hornet-like than wasp-like and I prefer the older name. As with all hoverflies this is quite harmless to man, the colouration no doubt deterring predators.

I had trouble deciding what colour this beetle was. In my shadow here it looks green [a small black pollen beetle peers out of the Knapweed]. Whereas...

In the sun it looks bronzy. The way the elytra (wing cases) are held slightly open is characteristic of the Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis). This is a female that lacks the swollen hind femur of the male.

A mating pair of Stretch spiders (Tetragnatha sp.) cosying up Perhaps the male has brought an offering, though it is not known as typical for this species.

Any arachnophobes out there? A Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius).

I have no idea what this is stuck to a grass head. After I had photographed it I tried to remove it gently but it crumbled to dust. The case of a pupa perhaps?

(Ed Wilson)

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

Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 Blackcap in song by the lower pool.

and

- 1 Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis) on the same lamp pole as yesterday.


(Ed Wilson)

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

On the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel

Nothing seen!

(Ed Wilson)

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

The Flash: 05:40 – 06:30

(139th visit of the year)

One of the residents was busy with a hedge-trimmer at 06:15. I bet he was popular with the neighbours sleeping with open windows!

Bird notes:
- All five Tufted Duck ducklings have survived another day.
- Early dog-walkers avoiding the heat probably made the juvenile Moorhens take cover.
- The Great Crested Grebes gone again? Or are they hiding?
- Two of the Chiffchaffs were singing from different locations to the last six weeks or so.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 5 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Rook

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 2 House Martins

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

On /around the water:
- 130 Canada Geese
- 44 Greylag Geese
- 1 Greylag x Canada Goose
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 20 (?♂) Mallard
- 30 (?♂) + 5 (1 brood) Tufted Duck
- 2 Moorhens only
- 8 juvenile Coots (6 broods)
- no Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Black-headed Gull

On various lamp poles
- 1 Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- 1 Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis): pupa
- 4 Leiobunum rotundum-type harvestmen
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

Plus elsewhere
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) again
- Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens) [Pied Plumehorn]

A Canada Goose makes a perfect splash-down on its new wings and as it does so passes the family of five Tufted Ducklings (and Mum).

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On this day
2020
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2019
Priorslee Lake
Today's Sightings Here

2014
Priorslee Lake
Today's Report Here

2011
Priorslee Lake
4 Common Sandpiper
Female Ruddy Duck
(John Isherwood)

2006
Priorslee Lake
A male Cockatiel
1 drake Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)