12 Jun 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 16.0°C: Another mainly clear start with cloud increasing all the while thereafter. Moderate W wind. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:46 BST again

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:45 – 05:50 // 06:45 – 08:35

(136th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- A Mallard duckling was a surprise. Seemed to be several days old.
- Otherwise it was a 'grebe morning':
There were 10 Great Crested Grebes on the water at 05:00 with three pairs doing some desultory displaying. Are they ever going to settle down to breed?
A Little Grebe shot out of the West end reeds at 05:00 and landed on the water right in front of me. It was difficult to see the plumage detail against the light. It was full-size but appeared not to be in breeding plumage. Odd. A few minutes two more birds also skittered across the water from the West end and settled in front of me. One of these at least was a breeding plumaged adult. These stayed visible for some while. My most recent record of this species here is from about a week ago when one or more birds were heard only, calling from the North side on several days.
- A Sedge Warbler sang once, briefly, from the scrub behind the sailing club shelter. Another was seen on a feeding foray along the South side. Could there be two pairs breeding here this year?
- A group of at least nine Starlings flew from the fenced football field. The calls suggested the flock included recently fledged juveniles.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 3 Feral Pigeons: together
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 3 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Herring Gull
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls again
- 1 Cormorant
- 18 Jackdaws
- 2 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- c.30 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 3 House Martins

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- *1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 8 (8) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (1) Sedge Warblers
- 12 (10) Reed Warblers
- 13 (12) Blackcaps
- *2 (2) Garden Warblers

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *10 (8♂) + 1 (1 brood) Mallard
- 3 Moorhens
- 33 + 23 (8 broods) Coots
- *3 Little Grebes
- 10 Great Crested Grebes

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis)

Noted later:
No new sightings for the year: all these are repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- *Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Moths:
- Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana): just two noted
- Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana).

Bees, wasps, etc.
- Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

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

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus)

Other flies:
- *Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.)

Beetles etc.:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)
- Swollen-thighed (Flower) Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- *unidentified small pollen beetle

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

Spiders:
- Tetragnatha sp. stretch spider

It is an increasing struggle to arrive before dawn. My best shot of the sunrise on what was a clear start to the day.

A duck Mallard with a single duckling. They both seem to be watching me out of the corner of their eyes.

A lot of 'tweaking' to make anything of this 'against the light' photo of a Little Grebe. It is certainly not in breeding plumage with a very blotchy rufous neck yet it shows yellow at the base of the bill and no sign of any head-stripes. I think it must be an adult moulting out of plumage very early.

This view of two Little Grebes was taken about 90 minutes later. The bird on the right is in full breeding plumage. There were three birds present and I am not sure whether the bird on the left is the bird I photographed earlier or a different somewhat similarly-plumaged bird.

I took over six months to capture the first shots of the Cetti's Warbler and less than two weeks for a follow up. If this bird had not been singing at its usual ear-splitting volume I might have been tempted to suggest it was a juvenile – look at the base of the bill and there appears to be the sort of loose skin around the gape that recently-fledged birds show.

A typical pose of this species with tail cocked

One of the two non-stop singing Garden Warblers. I wonder how much longer they will carry on before they give up trying to attract a mate. I think their only chance would be if a female from a failed nesting attempt elsewhere were to pass by.

A 'grab shot' of something you do not see too often. A Bullfinch, in this instance a male, on the ground.

It was cloudy and breezy when I found this Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) trying to get some warmth in a sheltered spot.

Despite an appearance that might suggest otherwise this is a Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus). It looks like this because it is a female and the abdomen markings differ between females and males in this group of flies. In scientific terms the species are sexually dimorphic. I only became aware the this when, some years ago, I found a pair mating. I see many fewer females than males.

A rather splendid Tree Bumblebee with a superb 'pile' of ginger hair on its thorax and white tail. A Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) has a ginger 'pile' but a paler and lightly banded abdomen with no white tail.

A tiny pollen beetle enjoying a buttercup.

I struggle to find words to describe my feelings about this. Until yesterday the mown grass area shown here was covered in dozen of species of wildflowers and grasses. Among them were hundreds of buttercups on which I have found and photographed a myriad of different insects. Other plant species had their own insects pollinating then and feeding off them. Many of the plants will have set seed and these will be in the soil and will germinate to live another year. Not all the insects and their larvae will have escaped the flailing blades of the mower. I though we were supposed to be looking after our declining stock of insects. The work of the Tidiness Police. I call it Environmental Vandalism.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:55 – 06:40

(132nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- There were probably more adult Canada Geese than I have reported below. They were milling about in multiple groups, sometimes coalescing and then moving apart and that gave me the 186 total, as best as I could determine. A later 'sweep' count gave 183 with more birds probably hidden the other side of and inside the island.
- The single gosling with its parents was seen again, these keeping apart from the other eight goslings and their parents.
- A single small Mallard duckling was with a duck Mallard alongside the island.

Birds noted flying over here:

None

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 8 Swifts
- 1 House Martin

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 186 + 9 (3 broods) Canada Geese
- 38 Greylag Geese again
- 7 + ? (1 brood) Mute Swans: cygnets being brooded by adult on the island and number not determined
- 20 (16♂) + 1 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 6 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 18 + 6 (3 broods) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes again

Noted on / around the street lamp poles:
- 2 Tetragnatha sp. stretch spiders

Elsewhere:

Nothing of note

 The lone Canada Goose gosling is still small, yellow and fluffy.

I had to look twice at this Tetragnatha sp. stretch spider. It is sitting at an unusual angle. Although almost all spider species show great variability in patterning on their abdomen this one is typical and so its identity is not in doubt.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- An adult and juvenile Moorhen(s) heard at the upper pool despite the demise of one parent.
- Adult Moorhens only heard at the lower pool.
- 1 Chiffchaff back singing beside the lower pool.
- 2 Blackcaps singing again: one beside the lower pool; one between the upper pool and the academy.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- The Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) chrysalis remains. It must be about to emerge?
- many midges as usual

(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

2006

Priorslee Lake

2 Ruddy Duck

(Ed Wilson)