12 May 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 11.0°C: A clear start. Cloud with very few breaks after 06:30. Moderate WSW wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:18 BST

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:50 – 05:55 // 06:50 – 09:40

(109th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- All seven Mallard were on the edges of the football field before 05:45 and were presumed to be the birds seen at the lake later.
- No Moorhens seen or heard: odd.
- One Coot was seen to walk across Castle Farm Way somehow avoiding the rush-hour traffic. Since it was walking towards the lake perhaps it made two eventful journeys?
- A Grey Heron was present at 05:45 but flew off shortly afterwards. One was seen flying far to the W at c.08:10. At c.08:20 a(nother) bird flew in. All the same?
- Probably a third singing Garden Warbler, this one in the Ricoh hedge. Just possibly one of the others still staking out its territory.
- Two juvenile Pied Wagtails on the dam-face with their parents.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Greylag Goose: single outbound and inbound – same bird?
- 2 Stock Doves: pair
- 9 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Herring Gull: immature
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: (near) adults
- 1 Grey Heron: very distant
- 5 Cormorants: quartet and single
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc. noted:
- c.40 Swifts
- 3 Sand Martins: briefly
- 3 Barn Swallows: briefly
- 2 House Martins: also briefly

Good to hear screaming parties of Swifts overhead, many apparently already pairing up.

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 14 (12) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
- 7 (7) Reed Warblers
- 19 (15) Blackcaps
- 3? (3) Garden Warblers: see notes
- 2 (2) Common Whitethroats

Counts from the lake area:
- 6 + 2 (1 brood) Canada Geese: goslings still surviving; another pair departed; and a third pair arrived and were chased off
- 2 Mute Swans: pen seen still on nest. Must be hatching soon.
- 7 (6♂) Mallard
- no Moorhens
- 24 + 10 (3 broods) Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes again
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: (near) adult briefly
- 1 or 2 Grey Herons: see notes

On / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:
Nothing noted

Noted later:
In mainly cloudy conditions:

Butterflies:
- none

Moths
- *Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana)

Bees / wasps etc.
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)

Hoverflies:
- *Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- *Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta) [also known as Long Hoverfly]

Dragon- / damsel- flies:
- none

Other things:
- Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.)
- plus the usual many other flies of many species
- *Common Malachite Beetle (Malachius bipustulatus)
- *Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus)
- *Common European Earwig (Forficula dentata)
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
- *Cucumber Green Orb Spider (possibly Araniella cucurbitina)
- Crab spider Misumena vatia
- *flowers of Wood Avens (Geum urbanum)

 A clear sky and rather chilly start. Clouded by 06:30.

An attractive and common small moth. It is a Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana). Why would it needed banded antennae?

I am fairly certain this is a Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare). From this angle the markings on the abdomen cannot be seen. I thought the photo worth including as it clearly shows the compound eyes that all flies possess.

This hoverfly puzzled me. It is a female Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta) [also known as a Long Hoverfly]. I am used to seeing males which have a longer abdomen and as a result their yellow markings are more separated.

Disappearing in to a buttercup and showing its distinctive red tip to the elytra is this Common Malachite Beetle (Malachius bipustulatus).

Again. This species almost qualifies as a long-horn beetle. I do not seem to have previously recorded what is reported to be a very common beetle.

There were many of these Nettle Weevils (Phyllobius pomaceus) around this morning. Note the thick thighs on all the legs.

Here is another one marching along.

Seems we will be seeing this species next year as well.

I suppose this has to be a Common European Earwig (Forficula dentata). It just looks really strange in that as it twists its body it exposes usually unseen paler areas. It is a female – males have much more curvature to their pincers.

This small spider is known as Cucumber Green Orb Spider. It is probably Araniella cucurbitina but there another spider in the same genus that cannot be visually separated. A. cucurbitina is the more common.

With five well-separated yellow petals this is a Wood Avens (Geum urbanum) flower. My first this year.

(Ed Wilson)

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

The Flash: 06:00 – 06:45

(106th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Just the one brood of a single Canada Goose gosling: probably from the first brood seen.
- *One group of three Greylag Geese goslings.
- Again only the two 2021 immature Mute Swans noted.
- Three Mallard ducklings seen alongside the island: no parents nearby
- The original brood of three Coots turns out to be four juveniles. Where has the fourth been hiding?

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Starling

Hirundines etc. noted:
None

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 5 (5) Chiffchaffs again
- 5 (4) Blackcaps

Noted on / around the water:
- 33 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- *9 + 3 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 2 Mute Swans
- 21 (17♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 4 (2♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhens again
- 22 + 4 (1 brood) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes again

On / around the street lamp poles
Nothing noted

Noted elsewhere:
- *Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)

The only Greylag Geese I saw with goslings this morning.

A Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) feeding on White Dead-Nettle (Lamium album).

(Ed Wilson)

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

Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 Moorhen at the lower pool.
- 1 Chiffchaff singing beside the lower pool.
- 1 Blackcap singing between the upper pool and the academy.

(Ed Wilson)

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

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- a very few plumed and other midges
- *1 small crane-fly
- 1 Tetragnatha sp. stretch spider

A small cranefly I found on the wall of the tunnel. Beyond suggesting that it belongs to the Limomid group that tend to fold their wings over their back when at rest I can provide no more information.

(Ed Wilson)

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