9 Sep 21

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

17.0°C > 20.0°C: Very misty and murky to start. Only after c.09:00 did the murk begin to lift. Calm. Poor / moderate visibility becoming good.

Sunrise: 06:33 BST

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:50 – 06:45 // 07:45 – 09:35

(199th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Very few gulls noted only partly attributable to the poor visibility – just 13 Black-headed Gulls noted.
- The early roost dispersal saw 51 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the water with just 6 unidentified 'large gulls' flying over.
- No significant later large gull arrival.

Overhead:
- no Canada Geese
- 8 Greylag Geese; outbound together
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 91 Wood Pigeons
- 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 large gulls only
- no Jackdaws or Rooks
- 2 Pied Wagtails

Hirundines etc., noted:
- >2 House Martins lost in the mist high over the football field 06:40

Warblers noted:
- 8 Chiffchaffs: three in song
- 2 Blackcaps

Count from the lake area:
- *2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 14 (8♂) Mallard
- 7 Moorhens
- 69 Coots
- *10 + 5 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 13 Black-headed Gulls only
- 1 Herring Gull
- 53 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Moths at the lamps pre-dawn:
- *1 possible Cyclamen Tortrix (Clepsis spectrana)
- 2 Square-spot Rustic (Xestia xanthographa)

Other things
- *1 larva / caterpillar
- *1 Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.)
- *1 unidentified male ichneumon sp.
- 1 Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus)
- 2 Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- *1 Stretch spider (Tetragnatha sp.)
- 3 Dicranopalpus sp. harvestmen
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum harvestman

Noted later
Not too much again with very wet vegetation:

- 1 Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- 5 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- 4 Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- very many craneflies, likely mostly Tipula paludosa
- 1 Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis)
- 1 other hawker sp.
- *>10 possible Alder Leaf Beetles (Agelastica alni)
- many Stretch spiders (Tetragnatha sp.)
- many White-lipped Snails (Cepaea hortensis)
- *1 Brown-lipped Snail (Cepaea nemoralis)
- 1 bat sp.: seemed not to be either a Pipistrelle-type or a Noctule-type as it flew fast across the dam-top.
- 4 Grey Squirrels

An unusual sight of all four cygnets and the two adult Mute Swans getting along.

One of the juvenile Great Crested Grebes, this one from the oldest family. By this age the unattractive pink skin between the bill and the eye has become feathered.

Here with one of its parents it is obviously almost full-grown. It will not lose the head-stripes until after the turn of the year.

I think this is a Cyclamen Tortrix moth (Clepsis spectrana). Not a moth I have identified previously so I will check. Note the tiny red-eyed fly – the moth is quite small!

 I would guess this is the larva of a sawfly rather than a caterpillar.

This seems to be a male ichneumon sp. as there is no ovipositor. It could be a sawfly. Anyway I cannot specifically identify it.

Right at the top of one of the lamps was this female Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.) with prey. This is the first year that I can recall seeing Scorpion Flies after the end of July.

One of many what I think are Alder Leaf Beetles (Agelastica alni) – dark metallic blue colour. Here on Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris).

This one is where it should be – on the leaf of an Alder tree (Alnus glutinosa).

A trio of unidentified things on one of the street lamps. Top left a midge sp.; top right one of many red-bodied flies I see most days – not all the same size; I am not at all sure about the fly at the bottom – perhaps a sawfly?

Certainly not a White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis): it is a Brown-lipped Snail (C. nemoralis). Its alternative name is 'Banded Snail' which is not always appropriate. In both species the ground colour can be brown, pink or yellow and they may have between none and five bands along the spirals of the shell. Only the lip-colour identifies the species.

A Clubiona sp. of spider. Not specifically identifiable from photos.

A Stretch spider (Tetragnatha sp.) caught at a good angle showing the pattern on the abdomen. These spiders have obviously long front legs.

(Ed Wilson)

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

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 Common Marbled Carpet (Dysstroma truncata)

and:
- 1 Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea)
- many unidentified gnats, midges and craneflies
- >20 Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber)
- 1 Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus)
- various other unidentified spiders
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum harvestman

A Common Marbled Carpet (Dysstroma truncata). This colour morph does not occur in the very similar Dark Marbled Carpet (D. citrata).

(Ed Wilson)

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

Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 Chiffchaff calling beside the lower pool once more.

(Ed Wilson)

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

The Flash: 06:50 – 07:40

(179th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- It seems that a number of the Tufted Duck have indeed left, presumably after completing their wing-moult and able to fly.
- *Three Grey Wagtails seen together.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 3 Wood Pigeons

Hirundines etc., noted:
None

Warblers noted:
- 6 Chiffchaffs: five in song

On /around the water:
- 6 Canada Geese
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- no Shoveler
- 33 (24♂) Mallard
- 21 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 24 Coots
- 1 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 10 Black-headed Gulls
- *2 Grey Herons

On various lamp poles:
- 1 unidentified Caddis fly
- 6 Dicranopalpus sp. harvestmen

One of the two Grey Herons present.

There was a trio of Grey Wagtails sitting on the hand-rail. This was the only one I could capture before they all flew off on the approach of a dog-walker.

I needed to somewhat over-enlarge this shot. A fly with interesting red- and green-iridescence in the wings has caught a plumed midge.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
3 Shovelers
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
Possible Yellow-legged Gull
Wheatear
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
3 Teal
4 Swifts
1 Sedge Warbler
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)