15 Sep 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

14.0°C > 17.0°C: Clearing after earlier mist / fog to broken cloud. Light SW wind. Good visibility.

[Sunrise: 06:43 BST]

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 10:40 – 12:05

(204th visit of the year)

A later visit after the mist had cleared and also after I visited The Flash. I did not walk all the way around so no totals for the warblers

Bird notes:
- All the Coots had woken up and were out on the water in plain site. I doubt there really were more present than in recent days.

Overhead:
very little flying over at this time of day
- 13 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 distant Hobby
- 2 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 2 Barn Swallows flew E

Count from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 12 (7♂) Mallard
- 5 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 Moorhens
- 73 Coots
- 1 Little Grebe
- 10 + 5 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 5 Black-headed Gulls only
- 2 Herring Gulls: both immatures
- 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: mostly adults

Other things in a short walk

Mainly up and down the dam when it was sunny – rather few flowers elsewhere:
- Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria)
- Common Nettle-tap moth (Anthophila fabriciana)
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax)
- Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus)
- Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta) [was Long Hoverfly]
- Syrphus sp. hoverfly (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)
- Brown Hawker dragonfly(Aeshna grandis)
- Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum): several paired
- Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestman

This picture won't win anything other than a booby prize. You can just about make out there is an adult Little Grebe tucked up against the distant reeds.

Two male Common Drone Flies (Eristalis tenax) tuck in to the flower of Water Mint (Mentha aquatica). The left eye of the lower individual is reflecting some of the colour from the flower.

It is getting rather late in the season for insects as there are rather few flowers around and many of them don't look as if they are providing much nectar. An exception was this flower on the dam that had attracted a Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus).

 A hoverfly getting a rush of blood to the head. One of the Syrphus group (S. ribesii or S. vitripennis).

One at a more normal angle. Perhaps the same individual. This a male so even if the hind-legs were in clear sight the species could not be determined.

I do not find too many harvestmen in the vegetation. This Dicranopalpus sp. (D. ramosus or D. caudatus) was none too easy to spot.

I have zoomed in on the same photo to show 'the works' of this distinctive group of harvestmen. All species of harvestman have eight legs as do spiders: however the spider's body is in two parts - the cephalothorax and abdomen; whereas the harvestman's body is undivided. Also the second pair of legs is the longest (it is usually the front pair that is longest in spiders).


(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:45 – 10:30

(184th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Some of the geese and Mallard likely gone to rest inside the island before I arrived.

Birds noted flying over here:

None

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 1 House Martin only

Warblers noted:
- 5 Chiffchaffs: two in song again
- 1 Blackcap again

On /around the water:
- 51 Canada Geese
- 4 Greylag Geese
Likely many more geese inside the island
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 13 (8♂) Mallard: perhaps more inside the island?
- 31 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 26 Coots
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes again
- 5? Black-headed Gull: these flew off; three flew in later – same?
- 1 Grey Heron

On various lamp poles:
- 1 unidentified micro moth
- 2 Dicranopalpus sp. harvestmen
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli harvestman

Also noted: the ivy bank alongside Priorslee Academy is not yet in flower but I found a few things anyway:
- 1 Common Nettle-tap moth (Anthophila fabriciana)
- 1 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- 2 Common Drone Flies (Eristalis tenax)
- 1 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- 1 Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina): instar
- 1 Grey Squirrel

This pretty little moth that has just missed the bull's-eye is a Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana). This is by far the latest date I have seen one (though I saw another later beside the Balancing Lake). My reference book tells me this day-flying moth can be seen from April through in to November.

 I found this moth lurking behind signage attached to a lamp post. Not one I can identify so I am getting help.

This seems to be a second instar nymph of a Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina). I only slightly hesitate as the photos on the web show white between the black dots around the edge of the abdomen whereas this specimen has paler green areas. The general pattern of green and black does not seem to occur in any other species of shieldbug.

Another example of a harvestman lurking in the vegetation. This is a Paroligolophus agrestis. It does have a silvery stripe down the abdomen though here it is significantly enhanced by the sunlight. The most obvious characteristic of this short-legged species is the thicker basal part of all the legs.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day can be found via the yearly links in the right-hand column.

Sightings from previous years without links are below

2013
Priorslee Lake
Green Sandpiper
9 Ravens
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Mallard x Pintail
Raven
2 Sand Martin
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
100+ hirundines
31 Pied Wagtails
Redwing
14 Chiffchaffs
7 Siskins
(Ed Wilson)