2 Sep 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 14.0°C: Guess what: low overcast with very occasional very light drizzle. Light NE wind. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:21 BST: did it really?

* = a photo today

I thought yesterday was a quiet day...

Priorslee Lake: 04:50 – 08:50

(193rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- When I arrived the adult Mute Swans were sleeping well apart and I could not see any cygnets. Eventually all four cygnets appeared but the fourth was hounded out of the water by both parents.
- What was possibly a lost Racing Pigeon was noted on one of the roofs in Teece Drive. I could not see the legs to see whether there were any rings.
- The Black-headed Gulls behaved differently this morning with a few going straight over and none appearing on the football field as they have done for several weeks. Their eventual arrival seemed to be from the Ricoh grounds instead.
- An unusual date for a Common Sandpiper here. Autumn passage birds linger at sites with suitable feeding areas (and indeed occasionally overwinter). It is usual to see them here only during peak migration.
- The adult Yellow-legged Gull arrived with both Herring and Lesser-black-backed Gulls making identification more straightforward.

Overhead:
- 85 Canada Geese: all outbound in five groups
- 2 Greylag Geese: outbound together
- 207 Wood Pigeons
- 5 Black-headed Gulls
- 37 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- no Jackdaws or Rooks still
- 2 Starlings: together

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 9 House Martins: apparently a different group to the 10 seen later over The Flash

Warblers noted:
- 10 Chiffchaffs: one in song
- 1 Blackcap

Count from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans again
- 12 (8♂) Mallard only
- 5 (2♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhens
- 59 Coots
- 10 + 5 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes again
- 1 Common Sandpiper
- 41 Black-headed Gulls only
- 2 Herring Gulls; briefly
- 1 Yellow-legged Gull: adult, briefly
- 38 Lesser Black-backed Gulls; all briefly
- 1 Cormorant: arrived again
- 1 Grey Heron again

On / around the street lamps pre-dawn:

Moths:
- 1 Ermine sp. (Yponomeuta sp.) possibly Spindle Ermine (Y. cagnagella)
- 1 Notch-wing Button (Acleris emargana)
- 2 Flame Carpets (Xanthorhoe designata)
- 1 Square-spot Rustic (Xestia xanthographa)

and
- 1 presumed Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea)
- 1 possible Plumed midge (Chironomus plumosus?)
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- 3 Dicranopalpus sp. harvestman
- 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman

In the sailing club shelter pre-dawn:

Spiders etc.:
- Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- Large House Spider-type: Eritigena group from E. duellica, E. atrica and E. saeva

Later:
Even less seen

Bees / Wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Hoverflies
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)

Other flies:
- 1 presumed Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea) warming its feet on one of the flashing Belisha beacons in Teece Drive.

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snails (Cepaea hortensis) as ever

Both parent Mute Swans are intent on harassing one cygnet. I have no idea why. It remains a puzzle: some four weeks ago one cygnet appeared noticeably smaller than its three siblings and then was missing for over a week. Then one the same size appeared and continues to grow at the same rate as all the others. Was it taken in to care, recovered and brought back but not accepted? Was it replaced by an orphan from elsewhere? Or did it just recover and if so why is it being ostracised?

Yesterday I photographed an octet of young Black-headed Gulls at The Flash now in first-winter plumage. This one still has many juvenile feathers on the back and nape and looks very different as a result.

A juvenile / first-winter Herring Gull. Note the powerful-looking bill and extensive hind-neck markings. Does not look as dark on the mantle and wings as would a similarly-aged Lesser Black-backed Gull.

This moth will have to be recorded as an Ermine sp. (Yponomeuta padella / malinellus / cagnagella sp.) though as it was close to Spindle Tree perhaps Spindle Ermine (Y. cagnagella) is a better than even bet.

I intended to show these unripe fruits of the Spindle-tree (Euonymus europaea) yesterday but I messed up the photo. Perhaps some of the ragged leaves were eaten the caterpillars of the Spindle Ermine moth (above).

A reasonably distinctive micro-moth with an almost unique wing shape. It is a Notch-wing Button (Acleris emargana).

Yes: another one of those presumed Common Green Lacewings (Chrysoperla carnea). In this photo the wing venation is much clearer. Does not help me confirm its ID as I don't know of a key to separate the other possible but less likely species.

This male plumed midge is more the length of a typical Chironomus plumosus but seems rather narrow-bodied and short winged. So?

The pale central line on the thorax of this spider and the pattern on the abdomen fit the Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis). I am not entirely convinced as it does not seem elongated-enough and the front legs look too short. May be a foreshortening effect of looking ten feet up a pole? I will check.

Yet another for the Shropshire spider man. I have been learning and now know the large palps mean it is a male.

I have puzzled over this. Is it a midge? Is it a caddis fly? Is it a moth? I think caddis fly is most likely as midges don't seem to have long thread-like antennae and moths have two pairs of wings, though this is not always obvious when they are at rest.

More "answers on a postcard" please! I did not know what this was when I took its photo and I do not have any more idea now. An empty larva case? If so of what?

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 2 Chiffchaffs: singles calling beside each pool.
- 1 Blackcap calling between the pools and The Flash

Noted on a lamp pole:
- 1 Small Dusty Wave moth (Idaea seriata): for its third day in exactly the same location

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- 1 Single-dotted Wave moth (Idaea dimidiata): seemed to be a different specimen to the one present yesterday.
- 1 presumed Common Marbled Carpet moth (Dysstroma truncata): its fourth day, though in a slightly different position
- 1 Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria)

A quite splendid and fresh Green Carpet moth (Colostygia pectinataria). I have been unable to find out why this and similar moths are named 'carpet moths'. There surely are moths, the larvae of which will eat your carpets. As far as I know these are a quite different family of moths. Typical are Case-Bearing Carpet Moths (Tinea pellionella) which are small and very different in appearance (as I can attest, as I have an infestation!)

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 08:55 – 09:45

(176th visit of the year)

Note the later time for my visit: I suspect that this may well have affected Mallard and Coot counts with birds having finished breakfast and gone to rest e.g. inside the island. It also meant I was present when many of the geese returned.

For the first time in a long while there was not a single fisherman present.

To those of you who bothered... yes there were eight pairs of Black-headed Gull legs on the bridge rail yesterday. All juvenile / first-winter birds. Thanks to Martin Adlam for spotting my inability to count.

Bird notes:
- The Mute Swan cygnets are emulating their kin at the lake and for much of the time were nowhere near any of the adults.
- I could only find a single drake Shoveler. I thought I heard wings of two others as they flew past me: I could not locate them.
- There is certainly an additional adult Great Crested Grebe present. Whether there is a partner on another nest somewhere is unclear. They are good at hiding nests from view

Birds noted flying over here:
- 4 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 10 House Martins

Warblers noted:
- 7 Chiffchaffs: no song heard
- 1 Blackcap

On /around the water:
- 120 Canada Geese: 106 of these arrived
- 49 Greylag Geese: three of these arrived
- 2 Greylag x Canada Geese: one of these arrived
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 1 (1♂) Shoveler only located
- 39 (?♂) Mallard
- 31 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 9 Moorhens
- 26 Coots again
- 3 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes again
- 15 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

On various lamp poles:

Moths:
- 1 Blood-vein (Timandra comae)
- 1 August Thorn (Ennomos quercinaria)

Other things:
- 1 possible female Plumed midge (Chironomus plumosus)
- 5 Dicranopalpus sp. harvestmen

One of the Canada x Greylag Geese lurking at the edge of the island. Another very similar-looking hybrid flew in...

 ... in this group. Good luck in finding it!

After the uncertainty over the thorn moth on Tuesday this August Thorn (Ennomos quercinaria) can be positively identified. The inner cross-line is sharply angled near the wing edge and the trailing edge of the wing is edged brown.

Two Dicranopalpus sp. harvestmen get friendly. The bunched legs is typical of this group, though not when they are moving about. The long, forked pedipalps are a consistent identification feature.

(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

2011

Priorslee Lake

Common Sandpiper

c.65 House Martins

(Ed Wilson)

2006

Priorslee Lake

Kingfisher

Swifts

(Ed Wilson)