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)