30 May 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

9.0°C > 12.0°C: Started cloudy and very dull. A spell of mainly light rain 06:00 to 06:30. Cleared somewhat from the W with a few sunny intervals before dark clouds threatened a shower. Light SW wind throughout. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:54 BST

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:40 – 05:45 // 06:40 – 09:35

(125th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- One of the Mute Swan cygnets was missing. Perhaps not the one that seemed to wander away from the group as one was still doing that.
- Three Mistle Thrushes together flying over Castle Farm Way suggests successful breeding in the area. The bird alongside Teece Drive was noted calling as it flew to its favourite song perch but it did not sing.
- Five juvenile Pied Wagtails seen together on the SW grass and the boating platforms.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 5 Greylag Geese: duo outbound; trio inbound
- no pigeons/ doves
- no gulls
- 7 Starlings
Very quiet

Hirundines etc. noted:
- >30 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler as ever
- 15 (11) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
- 7 (7) Reed Warblers
- 12 (12) Blackcaps
- 3 (3) Garden Warblers
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat

Counts from the lake area:
- 15 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese: 13 in a group flew off
- *2 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 6 (5♂) Mallard
- 3 Moorhens again
- 25 + 13 (5 broods) Coots
- 1 Little Grebe: heard only again
- 4 Great Crested Grebes again
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: adult and third year briefly on the erstwhile football field at 05:30
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 Pale Tussock moth (Calliteara pudibunda): same place for its seventh morning
- *1 red-eyed fly
- *1 unusual fly with thick antennae
- 1 aphid sp.

Noted later:

Butterflies:

None

Moths:
- Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana)
- *Cocksfoot Moth (Glyphipterix simpliciella)
- *Common Roller (Ancylis badiana)

Bees, wasps, etc.
- Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- two different species of ichneumon
- *presumed sawfly, perhaps Dolerus sp.
- Broad-striped Rhogogaster sawfly (Rhogogaster scalaris)

Hoverflies:
- *Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- *Blotch-winged Hoverfly (Leucozona lucorum)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- *Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)

- *Orange-belted Leafwalker (Xylota segnis)

Damselflies:
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
- Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)

Other flies:
- *dagger fly Empis scutellata
- Greenbottle Lucilia ampullacea
- Grouse Wing caddis fly (Mystacides longicornis)
- Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.)
- *Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)
- *green-eyed fly

Beetles etc.:
- *Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)
- *Malthodes minimus, one of the soldier beetles
- *a longhorn beetle, perhaps Grammoptera ruficornis
- *a rotund blue-black beetle
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)
- Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus)

Bugs:
- Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata)

Slugs / snails:
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

Spiders:
- *Cucumber Green Orb Spider (possibly Araniella cucurbitina)
- *crab spider sp. (Misumena vatia)
- *Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)
- Tetragnatha sp. stretch spider

New flowers for the year noted:

None

Only seven Mute Swan cygnets now.

First of the 'yummy: breakfast' photos of the year. A male Reed Bunting with food for the brood.

Since I discovered that not all moths in buttercups are Plain Gold (Micropterix calthella) I have located a number of these Cocksfoot Moths (Glyphipterix simpliciella). Note how small it is against a buttercup petal – a true micro-moth.

The wing-tip of this Common Roller moth (Ancylis badiana) is rather battered. The other markings show up well.

When I saw this I was not sure whether it was a fly or something else. The length of the antennae is more typical of a wasp or similar though I can see no wasp-waist. It cannot be a beetle as the wings are translucent and allow the banded abdomen to be seen. I suspect it is a sawfly, perhaps of the genus Dolerus.

A close-up of a female Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax). The eyes meet on females of most flies. Surprisingly hairy.

This is my first Blotch-winged Hoverfly (Leucozona lucorum) of the year. It is not unlike a Bumblebee Cheilosia (Cheilosia illustrata) but the scutellum (the area between the thorax and the abdomen) is brown on this Blotch-winged Hoverfly but black on the Bumblebee Cheilosia.

One of the Syrphus species of hoverfly – either S. ribesii or S. vitripennis. Only females are separable from photos if the hind femur is visible. It isn't!

With its wings closed you can still just make out this hoverfly is an Orange-belted Leafwalker (Xylota segnis).

I found this fly on a lamp pole pre-dawn. It looks rather unusual in that the antennae look very thick or bushy. No idea of its ID though.

The smallest of the dagger flies and identifiable by its orange body this is Empis scutellata. I need a macro adapter for the camera! You can however see the long pointed mouth-part that gives these flies their name. The 'dagger' is not strong-enough to pierce human skin. It is used to suck the life out of smaller flies. Very pleasant.

A plan view shows a dark stripe down the thorax.

Another fly on a lamp pole pre-dawn. One with red eyes. Species unknown to me.

Another strange fly, this one with green eyes, a green thorax, apparently a banded abdomen, all with copious hairs. Note also the antennae with a thicker basal part.

Did I mention 'copious hairs'? The behaviour of Yellow Dung Flies (Scathophaga stercoraria) might not appeal – someone has to do the recycling job – but they are attractive in their own way.

This is a female Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis). Only the males show the swollen thighs. This species is unusual in that at rest it sits with the green elytra (wing covers) held slightly apart.

A new species of beetle for me. It is Malthodes minimus, one of the soldier beetles.

Another new species of beetle for me though I am not 100% sure of its identity. It is one of the smaller longhorn beetles (the flowers are that of Cow Parsley to give it scale). It is most likely to be Grammoptera ruficornis.

I cannot begin to identify any of the blue-black rotund beetles.

This Cucumber Green Orb Spider (probably Araniella cucurbitina) seems to have neatly severed a wing off of something. The spider's head is hidden so I cannot see whether it is eating a prey item. The red rear-end on this group of spiders is very distinctive.

This is the crab spider Misumena vatia. I have no idea what it is doing with one pair of legs held high (they are not really two-toned – there is a shadow across the end of them).

A Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis) living up to its name – the white ball is a web containing the eggs or spiderlings.

The ball is a significant size for the spider to move around.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:50 – 06:35

(121st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The regular single well-grown and six smaller goslings all present. The more recent brood of three small goslings not seen.
- No Mallard ducklings noted.
- The two juvenile Moorhens were almost certainly from a different brood. They were well-grown and in a different location where I would have expected them to be chased away by the adult nesting in the area.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Cormorants: singles
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 5 Swifts

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 7 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 12 (8) Blackcaps
Juvenile Blackcaps seen out and about with their parents

Noted on / around the water:
- 103 + 7 (2 broods) Canada Geese: of these 10 left together
- 6 Greylag Geese
- 3 Mute Swans
- 15 (14♂) Mallard: no ducklings seen
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 3 (2♂) Tufted Duck again
- 5 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 18 + 4 (2 broods) Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe again

Noted on / around the street lamp poles:
- 1 Pale Tussock moth (Calliteara pudibunda): same position for its eighth day.
Exactly what this Pale Tussock moth is doing is hard to say. Could it be a male sitting and waiting to detect the pheromones of a nearby female? Many moths and butterflies do not feed as adults (imagines).
- 1 Grouse Wing caddis fly (Mystacides longicornis)

Noted elsewhere:
- 1 Grey Squirrel again

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 juvenile Moorhen seen with others and adults heard at the lower pool. 1 adult at the upper pool.
- 1 Chiffchaff singing, today between the upper pool and the academy

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- The Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) chrysalis present.
- 1 Tetragnatha sp. stretch spider

(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

Long Lane, Wellington

13 Ringed Plover

2 Dunlin

(JW Reeves)