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)