13 Jun 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 14.0°C: Early broken cloud cleared for a while before more 'fair weather' cloud developed. Light WNW wind. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 04:46 BST still

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:40 – 05:45 // 06:40 – 09:25

(137th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I found the fifth Mute Swan cygnet barely alive, lying in shallow water beside the SW grass and with a large gaping bloody hole in its right flanks. I regret to say that while I know the best thing to have done would have been to wring its neck I could not steel myself to do so.
- Quite what the seven Mute Swans were doing flying South at 06:45 I have no idea. I was looking in to the light so I was unable to age any of them.
- No Mallard duckling seen.
- Some of the juvenile Coots are wandering well away from their nest sites and it is no longer realistic for me to specify how many broods there are.
- Less of a 'grebe morning':
There were five Great Crested Grebes on the water and one flying around and around at 05:00. The flying bird flew off West soon after and was, I presume, the sane bird that flew high overhead a few minutes later.
One or more Little Grebes were heard only, calling along the North side.
- Rather oddly two Sparrowhawks flew steadily East more or less in line astern. There was no apparently size difference – females are significantly larger than males. I would think these were two females, perhaps an adult and a juvenile, though I did not see the breast pattern well-enough to confirm that.
- Two Great Spotted Woodpeckers flew across Castle Farm Way together suggesting they have breed in the area. I have heard nothing of this species in from the Ricoh copse for several months and I doubt they bred there this year.
- A Sedge Warbler seen feeding another. I could not tell whether it was feeding a young bird or was perhaps courtship ahead of a second brood.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 3 Canada Geese: pair outbound; single inbound
- 1 Greylag Goose: single outbound
- 7 Mute Swans: together
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 11 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Herring Gulls
- 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant again
- 2 Sparrowhawks: together
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 4 Jackdaws
- 2 Rooks again

Hirundines etc. noted:
- c.10 Swifts only
- 1 Barn Swallow again
- 3 House Martins again

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 11 (10) Chiffchaffs
- *2 (0) Sedge Warblers
- 12 (10) Reed Warblers again
- 16 (12) Blackcaps
- 2 (2) Garden Warblers
- 1 (0) Common Whitethroat

Counts from the lake area:
- 6 Canada Geese: arrived together
- 2 + 5 (1 brood) Mute Swans: but see notes
- 10 (8♂) Mallard: no duckling seen
- 2 Moorhens
- 38 + 24 (? broods) Coots: see notes
- Little Grebe(s) heard only
- 6 Great Crested Grebes: see notes

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 Clubiona sp. spider

Noted later in often cloudy conditions once more:

New sightings for the year:

Butterflies:
- *Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)

Moths:
- *Yellow-barred Longhorn (Nemophora degeerella): moth species #41 here this year for me.

Hoverflies:
- *Eristalis sp.

Beetles etc.:
- *A small black presumed flea beetle

Spider:
- *Common Candy-striped Spider (Enoplognatha ovata)

Flowers:
- *Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- *Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)

Moths:
- Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana): just two noted
- Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana).
- Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis)
- Burnet Companion (Euclidia glyphica)

Bees, wasps, etc.
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- *Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

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

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Migrant Field Syrph or Migrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae)
- Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus)
- *Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta) [or Long Hoverfly]: female

Other flies:
- Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- *Broad Centurian (Chloromyia formosa): female
- Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- *Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.)

Beetles etc.:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)
- Common or Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis)
- Swollen-thighed (Flower) Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)

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

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

Spiders:
- *Tetragnatha sp. stretch spider

Another none too inspiring sunrise.

A Sedge Warbler with a mouthful of food gazing suspiciously at me.

This is a bit confusing. I took this photo a few seconds later and thought that it was the same bird. If so it has eaten the food itself! It was good at hiding though and may well have 'done a swap' while I was trying to find it again.

A Song Thrush contemplates a snail. The pale tips to the median wing coverts on the folded wing indicate this is a juvenile. It is old enough to have lost the yellow around the gape.

Access must be difficult without any hands.

"Delicious. Just what I wanted"

None too easy to see is a Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) peering out at me with wings closed. I knew if I moved to a better angle it would fly off. It did.

A more cooperative butterfly is this male Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus). Another insect that likes buttercups.

This is one of the Eristalis genus of hoverfly – the drone flies. But which? I was struck by the strength of markings at the edges of the tergites (the abdomen segments). The paler areas on the abdomen are also more extensive than usual, though this is a variable feature in all the species in the group. I would plump for Stripe-winged Dronefly (Eristalis horticola) except that the wings do not look especially striped. It seemed too large for several of the other species.

For me an unusual sighting of a female Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta) [or Long Hoverfly]. In fact I am not certain I have ever knowingly seen a female before. The females are not 'long' and are significantly differently and very attractively marked on the abdomen.

Today's new moth species: an aptly-named Yellow-barred Longhorn (Nemophora degeerella). It is moth species #41 here this year for me. I see this daytime flying species most years.

I am sure this very pale-looking bumblebee has to be a Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum). The rubric in Steven Falk's Field Guide to Bees says the collar is bright yellow but several photos are as pale as this specimen.

The same individual from a different angle shows slightly more colour in the midriff band.

A very metallic-looking thorax with 'dents' in it indicates this is one of the soldier flies. The pattern of black and yellow on the legs suggests this is a Broad Centurian (Chloromyia formosa) and the relative narrowness of the abdomen indicates it is a female. Only some individuals in photos on the internet have 'dents' in the thorax and there is no explanation as to the reason.

It is a while since I showed a Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.). There are two species that occur in the UK and separation requires you to know what detail to look for in the male genitalia – the 'sting in the tail'. I don't.

I do not have much hope to being able to identify this small beetle – the flowers are of Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium). It is likely a flea beetle though it seems more elongate and with shorter antennae than any I can find on the internet.

A Common Candy-striped Spider (Enoplognatha ovata) with prey. It is one of the comb-footed spiders and comes in a number of forms with red or black markings on a pale green or white background.

A Tetragnatha sp. stre-e-e-e-tch spider resting along a blade of grass.

I found this Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) almost hidden in the long grass and nettles.

Oh dear! Until yesterday there were hundreds of flowers of Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) and Common Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) here. There aren't any more.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:50 – 06:35

(133rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The pen Mute Swan and her brood were on the island to start with where, as yesterday, they were accompanied by another swan. Which one though? It did not seem interested in following when the pen and the cygnets left to get some food.
- I noted a duck Mallard with one or more ducklings disappear in to the reeds at the top end. From the glimpse I had these were not tiny new brood ducklings. I never saw them again.
- One of the pairs of Tufted Ducks was noted mating.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 8 Swifts again
- 3 House Martins

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 174 + 9 (3 broods) Canada Geese
- 49 Greylag Geese
- 7 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 15 (12♂) + >1 (1 brood) Mallard: see notes
- 1 all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 11 (7♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 17 + 8 (4 broods) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes

On / around the street lamp poles or elsewhere:
Nothing noted

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- No Moorhens heard at either pool.
- 1 Blackcap calling beside the upper pool.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- The Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae): day 14 in the chrysalis stage
- many midges again

(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 Flash

1 Greylag x Canada Goose

(Ed Wilson)