30 Jun 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

12.0°C > 16.0°C: Early broken cloud with scattered outbreaks of light rain gave way to alternate dark clouds and hot sun. Light SSW wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:49 again

* = a photo today

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

(151st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- A very noisy Greylag Goose flew East at 04:50.
- A skein of large gulls (is that the right word for gulls?) flew South at 05:00 when it was too dark to specifically identify them.
- A Sedge Warbler was singing continually from cover at the West end until another called once after which they both were silent. A third bird was seen moving around in the South side reeds. Then what seemed a fourth was doing dancing display-flights further along the South side. Could there be three pairs here?
- Reed Warblers were popping up singing in several 'non reed' locations. A family group was in the NW area.
- The long-term singing Garden Warbler was back in full voice, the only one heard or seen today.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 4 Stock Doves: two singles and a duo
- 37 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Black-headed Gull: adult
- 10 unidentified large gulls
- 1 Common Buzzard again
- 7 Jackdaws
- 4 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 5 Swifts
- 3 Barn Swallows
- 1 House Martin

All these flew straight through singly.

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 12 (11) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (2) Sedge Warblers
- 16 (13) Reed Warblers
- 10 (6) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 12 (9♂) Mallard
- 4 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 49 + 30 juvenile Coots
- 6 Great Crested Grebes again
- 3 Black-headed Gulls: all adults
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult, briefly
- 1 Grey Heron
- *1 Kingfisher: early only

Noted on / around the street lamp poles post-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- *1 Barred Marble (Celypha striana)
- *1 Blood-vein (Timandra comae): male

also
- *1 lacehopper Tachycixius pilosus

Noted later:

New for this year:

Moths:
- *Leaf mines only of the Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner (Cameraria ohridella)

Hoverflies:
- *Furry Dronefly (Eristalis intricarius)
- *Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum)

Plants:
- *Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta)
- *Snowberry (Symphoricarpos sp. probably S. albus)
- *Hairy Tare (Vicia hirsuta)

Repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- Large White (Pieris brassicae)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- *Comma (Polygonia c-album)

Moths:
- Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)
- Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Hoverflies:
- *Bumblebee Cheilosia (Cheilosia illustrata)
- *Two-banded Wasp Hoverfly (Chrysotoxum bicinctum) [Two-banded Spearhorn]
- *Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- *Dead-head Hoverfly [or Batman Hoverfly] (Myathropa florea)
- Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)
- Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens) [Pied Plumehorn]

Dragon/Damselflies
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

I am sure there were Azure Damselflies around: I just could not be bothered to look through the 100s of 'blues' to find one.

Other flies:
- Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Lucilia sp. greenbottle
- Grouse Wing caddis fly (Mystacides longicornis)
- Semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus

Beetles:
- pollen beetles as usual.

Plants:
- *Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
- *Cut-leaved Crane's-bill (Geranium dissectum)

No prizes will be won. A distant Kingfisher at 05:00. The basic shape and colour are unmistakeable.

 I am always happy to see a Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album) and take its photo.

The marks on these leaves are made by the larvae of the tiny Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner moth (Cameraria ohridella). There are obvious exit holes where adults have emerged though I have yet to see one this year. The moth was first described from Macedonia in 1986 and arrived in the UK by 2002. Since then it has spread throughout the UK. The moths and their larvae seem not to have any impact the host tree.

On a lamp pole pre-dawn this typically surprised-looking Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella) has lost most of its markings. The angled cross-line towards the wing-tip is enough to separate this from other grass moth species.

Also on the same lamp pole was this Barred Marble moth (Celypha striana). Moth species #51 here for me this year.

Another pre-dawn lamp pole inhabitant was this Blood-vein moth (Timandra comae). A male with the feathered antennae to detect any female's pheromones. Apologies for the blue cast as I had to illuminate this with an LED torch – I was too close to use camera flash. The ground colour should be pale yellow and the cross line a deep shade of red - like congealed blood.

This bee seemed too large for any of the many mining bee species yet rather too hairy for a Honey Bee (Apis mellifera). Checking against images on Steven Falk's web site confirms this is indeed a worker Honey Bee.

A Bumblebee Cheilosia hoverfly (Cheilosia illustrata). I am not entirely sure why it is in the Cheilosia genus as the other members are mostly all-black and not at all furry.

Another insect always worth a photo is this Two-banded Wasp Hoverfly (Chrysotoxum bicinctum). Steven Falk's name for this is Two-banded Spearhorn and you can see why with antennae like this.

A Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) deep inside a favourite food source – the style of a Field Bindweed flower (Convolvulus arvensis).

A striking insect. The apparent lack of antennae indicates it is not a bee. It is a Furry Dronefly (Eristalis intricarius), a species that was new for me last year.

This is almost certainly a Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum) though to be absolutely sure I would have needed to see the stripe on its face. It is by far the most common dronefly with the tergites (segments) of the abdomen cleanly bordered white.

The markings on the thorax are supposed to give this hoverfly the vernacular names of either Dead-head Hoverfly or Batman Hoverfly (Myathropa florea). I don't see it myself. Perhaps I did not read enough comics in my youth.

One from the lamp poles that I put in the 'pending' tray. I thought at the time it was perhaps one of the 'flat body' group of micro moths but now the image is on my PC I see that the head shape and the position of the eye is all wrong for any group of moths. Thanks to Keith Fowler, the Shropshire bug man, I can tell you it is a lacehopper and specifically Tachycixius pilosus.

Two for the price of one here. The upper flower is Lady's Smock, also known as Cuckooplant (Cardamine pratensis). The lower plant with small white flowers on more rigid stems is, I think, Hairy Bittercress (C. hirsuta). The PlantNet app. was none too sure with its top suggestion (at 21%) being the rather unlikely Sand Bittercress which does not appear in my Flora. I knew this plant as 'touch-me-not'. The seed heads, when ripe, rapidly unfurl when touched hurling the seeds some distance.

The first flower I have seen this year of Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare).

The previous example of Cut-leaved Crane's-bill (Geranium dissectum) that I photographed was a rather trampled specimen. This one is better. The vernacular name of this group of plants derives from the shape of the seed head. To the left of the flower are several unopened flowers illustrating that basic shape.

Coming to the end of its season with just a few flowers remaining at the top of the spike is this Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris).

The tiny flowers of Snowberry (Symphoricarpos sp. probably S. albus). There are many cultivars of this popular shrub even though the fruits are poisonous.

Among the 'vetches' growing here (the blue / mauve Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca) and yellow Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis)) I find this very pale lilac, almost white, plant with narrow leaves. I have previously recorded it as Hairy Tare (Vicia hirsuta) and this indeed is what the PlantNet app. suggested it was. I felt quite chuffed. I am sort of ignoring the fact that it does not look 'hairy'! But neither does the illustration in my Flora.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:45 – 06:40

(147th visit of the year)

*Surprise today was a group of three Common Sandpipers on the island. Perhaps a family group, though rather too far away to be certain.

Other bird notes:
- Oddly the number of Greylag Geese continues to increase. I suppose they must be flying in still?
- *The two growing Mallard ducklings seen again with their mother.
- An increase in the number of Tufted Ducks, all drakes with some of yesterday's ducks not seen.
- The most recent brood of Coots was out on the water and noted as being six strong. I noted one other brood of three recent juveniles. Just one well grown, independent juvenile noted. Where do they go?

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 2 Jackdaws: together

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Swift
- 1 House Martin

Both of these few straight through.

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 6 (6) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Blackcap only

Noted on / around the water:
- 210 Canada Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 79 Greylag Geese
- 7 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *32 (25♂) + 2 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 14 (13♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 + 7 (4 broods) Moorhens
- 19 + 10 (3 broods) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- *3 Common Sandpiper

Noted on / around the street lamp poles or elsewhere
- 1 Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- *1 Light Emerald moth (Campaea margaritaria)
- 1 plant bug perhaps Anthocoris nemorum

Mum Mallard with her two fast-growing off-spring. The right-hand bird is showing signs of moulting in to adult feathers at the top of the back.

Yes well. It is an awfully long way to the island and get a decent photograph of birds that are smaller than Blackbirds. Three Common Sandpipers. This is the third year running that groups have appeared here on post-breeding dispersal. On Spring migration they usually appear singly.

A Light Emerald moth (Campaea margaritaria) resting head-down on a lamp pole. When fresh this species is pale green but the colour soon fades to give it a rather a washed-out appearance. The pale cross-line remains distinct.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- 1 adult Moorhens at the lower pool.
- A singing Blackcap distantly from around the estate somewhere.

and
- *1 Common Grey moth (Scoparia ambigualis)

I am fairly confident that this is a Common Grey moth (Scoparia ambigualis). The 'greys' are a difficult group to get to grips with. This individual shows no white cross-line at the one-third point in the wing which supports my determination.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- *1 Small Dusty Wave moth (Idaea seriata)
- the usual few midges of various sizes.

My first Small Dusty Wave moth (Idaea seriata) of the year. Moth species #19 here for me this year.

(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

2010

Priorslee Lake

Common Sandpiper

(Ed Wilson)

2006

Priorslee Lake

1 drake Ruddy Duck

(Ed Wilson)

29 Jun 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 16.0°C: A rain-delayed start. The rain clouds clearing to the East to be replaced by low cloud and misty condition. Cloud began to lift and break after 08:00. Light / moderate SSE wind. Very good visibility after the cloud lifted.

Sunrise: 04:49

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 05:15 – 05:35 // 06:40 – 09:25

(150th visit of the year)

Highlight today was an adult Common Gull that flew NE at 07:55. An unusual date to see this species inland though these days any sighting here is unusual.

Other bird notes:
- Not sure what has caused the bumper number of Coots to appear. There were two new broods of juveniles though that does not explain the significant increase in the number of adults counted.
- A juvenile Common Buzzard was heard begging from the Ricoh copse.
- There were new, presumed second brood, Great Tits noted.
- Despite checking several tit parties over the last few days I have neither heard nor seen anything of the Marsh Tit noted on the 16th.
- Just one Sedge Warbler still doing its dancing display flight along the South side.
- The long-term singing Garden Warbler that seemed to have desisted a few days ago was singing very briefly and intermittently first thing only. The other bird is singing away.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 11 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 1 Common Gull
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 3 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook

My somewhat later arrival may have affected number slightly. Nevertheless a very quiet morning.

Hirundines etc. noted:
- no Swifts
- 3 House Martins

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 15 (11) Chiffchaffs
- *1 (1) Sedge Warblers
- 11 (9) Reed Warblers
- 10 (9) Blackcaps again
- 2 (2) Garden Warblers
- no Common Whitethroat

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 10 (8♂) Mallard
- 2 Moorhens
- 43 + 30 juvenile Coots: bumper count
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Cormorant: briefly
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on / around the street lamp poles post-dawn:
- 1 unidentified caddis fly sp.

Noted later:

New for this year:

Moths:
- *Triple-blotched Bell (Notocelia trimaculana)

Beetles:
- *the soldier beetle Cantharis flavilabris (formerly C. nigra)

Bug:
- *a plant bug perhaps Anthocoris nemorum

Flowers:
- *Common Centaury (Centaurium erythraea)
- *Hemp-agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum)
- *Tall Melilot (Melilotus altissima)

Repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)

Moths:
- Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana)
- *Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Hoverflies:
- Bumblebee Cheilosia (Cheilosia illustrata)
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)

Dragon/Damselflies
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Other flies:
- Lucilia sp. greenbottle
- Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus

Beetles:
- pollen beetles as usual.

The Sedge Warbler was happy to do song flights but always landed back in cover. This was all I could see of him through multiple layers of vegetation. On this individual the creamy-yellow eyebrow is not as pronounced as usual being broken behind the eye.

Not a very good photo of a rather grey-toned Song Thrush collecting food. I included it because the pale tips on some of the feathers indicate these are new feathers. Since an adult would normally not yet be undertaking its post-breeding moult these must be the first adult feathers acquired by a bird born this year.

A close-encounter with a Common Marble moth (Celypha lacunana). Probably because it was still cloudy this individual did not seem disposed to fly off in to the middle distance when I approached it. Note the tuft of raised scales behind the head, a not uncommon trait amongst some groups of micro moths. I cannot find any explanation for this feature. This moth is just about a quarter of an inch long (7mm for those who know about such things).

This moth, trying to look like a bird dropping, is a Triple-blotched Bell (Notocelia trimaculana). I record this species most years. The larvae feed on Hawthorns which are abundant in the area. Moths species #50 for me here in 2022.

I found this dark beetle on the wall of the sailing club HQ. It seems to be the soldier beetle Cantharis flavilabris, a species I have not previously recorded. The eakringbirds.com web site notes it as common in grassy meadows.

A small plant bug that I think might be Anthocoris nemorum. It certainly matches the genus and this is the commonest member of, according to the NatureSpot web site, "a very difficult group of plant bugs".

A new plant for me at the lake is this Common Centaury (Centaurium erythraea) that I found growing on the dam.

We had better have another view of it. A common-enough plant that I am sure I must have overlooked before – or more likely given up on. Armed with the PlantNet app...

A flower I can recognise on my own is Hemp-agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum). Not yet fully in flower but unmistakeable nevertheless.

The PlantNet app. gave me a choice of several melilot species for this flower, also growing on the dam.

I thought the leaves might help. The app. gave me the same choice of species but ranked in a different order! Back to the Flora to resolve. The denseness of the flowers in the racemes and the sharply toothed leaves point to this being Tall Melilot (Melilotus altissima).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:40 – 06:35

(146th visit of the year)

It has reported that a family group of perhaps six Pied Wagtails has been visiting a garden in the area (exact location unspecified). I have not seen any in and around The Flash for some weeks though I have recently seen juveniles both with and, later, without parents on the boating platforms and the dam-face at the balancing lake.

Bird notes:
- A return to expected numbers of Canada Geese. The erstwhile goslings can now only be separated by their slightly smaller size having now acquired adult-type plumage.
- There seemed to be four full-grown young Mallard together. I used their bill pattern to determine their sex and these are now included in the adult figures. No obvious ducklings seen.
- The most recent brood of Coots not included today as an unknown were being sheltered by a parent.
- I did wonder about a fourth Great Crested Grebe today. I had seen one at the top end. Later there were three together near the island (including the bird sitting on the nest). I could not relocate any at the top end but there were so many geese in the way I do not think I have a definitive answer

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 3 Jackdaws
- 3 Starlings: together

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 3 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Blackcap

Noted on / around the water:
- 207 Canada Geese: goslings not separated
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 66 Greylag Geese
- 7 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *25 (19♂) Mallard: see notes
- 1 all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 8 (6♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 + 6 (4 broods) Moorhens
- 19 + 5 (3 broods) Coots
- 3 (4?) Great Crested Grebes

On / around the street lamp poles or elsewhere

Nothing noted

Here are what I reckon are a group of four fully-grown ducklings raised here. Looking at the bill colour then the two on the right are drakes and the two on the left are ducks, these showing orange / brown along the edges of the mandibles. It always gives me pleasure to wind people up by noting that it is only the duck Mallards that 'quack-quack-quack-quack'. As evidenced by the bird on the left.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- Five juvenile Moorhens at the lower pool: another briefly seen scampering off the grass looked to be an older brood immature.
- A singing Blackcap preceding me alongside both pools.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- the usual few midges of various sizes.

(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

15 Cormorants

(Ed Wilson)

2011

Priorslee Lake

Common Sandpiper

(Ed Wilson)

2010

Priorslee Lake

Juvenile Yellow Wagtail

(Ed Wilson)

2009

Priorslee Lake

Siskin

(Ed Wilson)

2006

Priorslee Lake

2 drake Ruddy Ducks

(Ed Wilson)

28 Jun 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 15.0°C: Broken medium-level cloud dispersed leaving patchy high cloud. Lower cloud developing after 08:00 and mainly overcast by the time I departed. Moderate SE wind increasing fresh at times. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:48

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:40 – 05:40 // 06:45 – 09:30

(149th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- What seemed to be a noisy family party of Jays along the North side.
- The Cetti's Warbler may well have gone.
- A Sedge Warbler again doing its dancing display flight along the South side. Another was singing intermittently from cover at the West end.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 10 Feral Pigeons: two groups
- 16 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Cormorants: together
- 12 Jackdaws
- 6 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 10 Swifts
- 2 House Martins

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 10 (9) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Sedge Warblers
- 10 (6) Reed Warblers
- 10 (9) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler again
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 12 (9♂) Mallard
- 3 Moorhens
- 31 + 24 juvenile Coots
- 7 Great Crested Grebes again
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: both adults; separately and briefly

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- *1 Willow Beauty moth (Peribatodes rhomboidaria)
- *2 male Opilio canestrinii harvestmen

Noted later:

New for this year:

Butterflies:
- *Comma (Polygonia c-album) (first imago)

Hoverflies:
- *Barred Ant-hill Hoverfly (Xanthogramma citrofasciatum)

Flies:
- *unidentified flesh fly in the genus Sarcophagidae

Repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- *Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)
- *Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)

Moths:
- Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)
- *Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Hoverflies:
- Bumblebee Cheilosia (Cheilosia illustrata)
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- Dead-head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea) [Batman Hoverfly]
- *Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta) [was Long Hoverfly]
- *Pellucid Fly [or Pied Plumehorn] (Volucella pellucens)

Dragon/Damselflies
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
- unidentified hawker-type

Other flies:
- Lucilia sp. greenbottle
- Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- *Semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus

Beetles:
- pollen beetles as usual.
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)

Bugs:
- *Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina)

Snails etc.:
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

Flowers:
- *Black Medick (Medicago lupulina)
- *Cleavers (Galium aparine)
- *Goat's-beard or Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon (Tragopogon pratensis minor): seed head only

This morning's sunrise was well worth getting up for. Slightly too early for me to get it at its best reflected in the lake. This is what it looked like through the new fence around the football field as I parked my car.

This is what it looked like when I scampered(?) down to the lake-side.

I hope this Dunnock is OK. It seemed rather lethargic though it did eventually fly off strongly. The scruffy-looking flanks are probably signs of post-breeding moult and that may be why it was none too perky.

This is the first female Large Skipper butterfly (Ochlodes sylvanus) I have noted this year. Females have no scent gland in the forewing. It also seems to have more extensive and contrasting dark areas along the wing edge. I don't know whether that is a characteristic of females, an indication this is a freshly emerged individual or just normal variability.

I could not see why this Ringlet butterfly (Aphantopus hyperantus) was not showing the rings of the underwing. Only when I looked at the photo did I realise that it was sitting with its wings drooped and I was looking on the top of the wing with just two indistinct marks on the hindwing visible.

A very smart Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album).

A Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella). Well it has the 'grass' bit right. I bet it gets good reception on those antennae.

A Willow Beauty moth (Peribatodes rhomboidaria). Moth species #48 here this year (though I have already recorded it at The Flash)

This rather furry-looking hoverfly sent me back to scour the literature. I knew it was a female Eristalis but was it really 'just' a Tapered Dronefly (E. pertinax)? A paper in a recent edition of British Wildlife suggested that this species is less abundant between June and mid-August. The photo clearly shows the diagnostic leg-pattern of this species so it must be furry because it is a fresh specimen.

One of the smaller and daintier hoverflies is this Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta) [formerly known as Long Hoverfly]

This Pellucid Fly [or Pied Plumehorn] (Volucella pellucens) is anything but dainty. This one seems to have been in the wars with very ragged wings.

I think this is my first-ever Barred Ant-hill Hoverfly (Xanthogramma citrofasciatum). It differs from the similar Superb Ant-hill Hoverfly (Xanthogramma pedissequum) in that the upper of the three yellow bands on the abdomen is not obviously triangular in shape and the dark cloud in the wing is less contrasting. This group of hoverflies has longer antennae than all other hoverflies, indeed longer than most flies and almost as long as some bees.

A male Semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus. It is the males that show the white wing-tips. The eyes and thorax show green or orange tones depending on the angle of the light.

From this angle the thorax is bright green.

And this angle shows how hairy it is. I love those antennae.

Another in the occasional series of 'exciting-looking flies'. This one of the flesh flies in the genus Sarcophagidae though which is not possible to determine which specific species it might be from a photo. Most species in this group lay their eggs in carrion, dung or other decaying material, all part of nature's recycling processes.

This Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) seems to have lost one of its antennae.

When I found one of these harvestmen a few days ago I noted it as a female Leiobunum rotundum. When I found these two together I wondered whether it was likely two females would sit like this. I think the dark saddle extends too far at both ends for that species and although not very clear in the photo I think the trochanters (the 'sockets' that the legs appear to plugged in to) are pale. I now think these are two male Opilio canestrinii harvestman (females show white faint banding across their saddle). They are doing their best to hide against an old sign on one of the lamp posts.

A rather better photo of the flowers of Black Medick (Medicago lupulina) than I took a week ago. Then the flower was on the dam-top and was suffering from trampling. This one was growing in the long grass.

The tiny inconspicuous flowers of Cleavers (Galium aparine). A plant with many vernacular names one of which is sticky willie. The numerous hairs that so easily attached themselves to whatever passes are easy to see.

The very distinctive seed-head ('clock') of Goat's-beard or Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon (Tragopogon pratensis minor).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:45 – 06:40

(145th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The Peacock was yet again waking the neighbourhood at 05:45.
- Puzzling discrepancy in geese numbers with c.50 fewer Canadas and c.15 more Greylags. I have seen no evidence that any of the geese can fly at the moment so all rather confusing.
- The brood of two growing Mallard ducklings with an adult duck again. A trio of apparently full-grown youngsters staying together.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 6 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Swift
- 2 House Martins

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 2 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Blackcap only

Noted on / around the water:
- 144 Canada Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 67 Greylag Geese exactly
- 7 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *20 (15♂) + 5 (2 broods) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 13 (11♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 + 6 (5 broods) Moorhens
- 18 + 9 (5 broods) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes

Noted on / around the street lamp poles
- 1 male Opilio canestrinii harvestman

I reckon these are three Mallard from the same brood that are now more or less full-grown but staying together. By now it should be possible to sex them from bill colour but only one of the bills is clear enough here. The right-most bird shows extensive orange suggesting it is a duck. They all paddled away from me and refused to show their bills more clearly.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- One adult and two juvenile Moorhens at the lower pool.

also
- 1 Small Grey moth (Eudonia mercurella)
- *1 Common Shrew (Sorex araneus) dead on the path

The dead Common Shrew (Sorex araneus). It had a nasty wound on the other side. I am not sure what would have done that and left the dead animal behind.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- *1 Willow Beauty moth (Peribatodes rhomboidaria)
- the usual few midges of various sizes.

A very different looking Willow Beauty moth (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) sitting at an unhelpful location on the roof of the tunnel.

(Ed Wilson)

NOTE

Ed Wilson visited Gronant in North Wales a couple of times in early June. His wonderful photos of the Little Terns there can be found HERE.

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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

2009

Priorslee Lake

Yellow Wagtail

(Ed Wilson)

2006

Priorslee Lake

Common Tern

(Ed Wilson)