20 Jun 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 15.0°C: A strange morning with cloud feeding from the North, staying clear to the West but cloudy to the East. Light N wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:45 BST again again

* = a photo today

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

(143rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The Wood Pigeons (and to a lesser extent the local Starlings) are appreciating the fenced off football field and the absence of dogs to chase them. There have been more than 60 feeding (and no doubt defecating) on the grass the last few mornings.
- Four Swifts were over the lake early but none was seen thereafter.
- I heard the Cetti's Warbler just twice and both times from along the South side.
- I think four singing Garden Warblers today though it is hard to be sure. The long-term singing are moving around rather more and singing intermittently. The two additional songster today were both in locations where birds sang soon after the species arrived and they may well have nested. Both locations were, frustratingly, just out of earshot of the regular birds to be certain that it wasn't these wandering about.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 3 Feral Pigeons: together
- 35 Racing Pigeons: together
- 4 Wood Pigeons only
- 2 Collared Doves: together
- 1 Herring Gull: immature
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: in heavy wing-moult
- 3 Cormorants: together
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 32 Jackdaws
- 23 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 4 Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 2 House Martins

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 11 (10) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
- 9 (7) Reed Warblers only
- 12 (8) Blackcaps only
- 4 (4) Garden Warblers: see notes
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 11 (8♂) Mallard
- 3 Moorhens again
- 37 + 28 juvenile Coots: two new broods noted
- 9 Great Crested Grebes still
- 1 Grey Heron: departed 05:10

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- *Clouded Border moth (Lomaspilis marginata)
- Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius)

Noted later:

New sightings for the year:

Butterflies:
- *Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus): ***my first ever here

Hoverflies:
- *Two-banded Wasp Hoverfly (Chrysotoxum bicinctum)
- *Broad-barred Fleckwing (Dasysyrphus venustus)

Ichneumon:
- *unidentified small ichneumon sp.

Bug:
- *unidentified small green bug sp.

Flowers:
- *Convolvulus sp. probably Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
- *Pineappleweed or Wild Chamomile (Matricaria discoidea)
- Common Plantain (Plantago major); also known as Broadleaf Plantain, White man's Footprint, Waybread, or Greater Plantain
- *Knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare)

Repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Moths:
- Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana)
- Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana)
- Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)
- Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- *Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
- Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Broad-striped Rhogogaster sawfly (Rhogogaster scalaris)

Hoverflies:
- Bumblebee Cheilosia (Cheilosia illustrata)
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)

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

Other flies:
- Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- Grouse Wing caddis fly (Mystacides longicornis)
- Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)
- Yellow Swarming Fly (Thaumatomyia notata)

Beetles:
- Swollen-thighed (Flower) Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)

Bugs:
- Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus)

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

Spiders:

None

Flowers
- *St John's-wort (Hypericum sp.)

Not exactly sunrise. An interesting cloudscape soon after.

A rather pot-bellied Song Thrush. These seem to be having a good year here with at least nine singing birds in the area and I also noted five non-singing birds today.

Definitely sighting of the day for me was this Small Heath butterfly (Coenonympha pamphilus). It is the first I have ever recorded here. It is a common-enough species in grassland and I have always been puzzled as to why I have never seen one. It was very flighty and I could not get a clear shot. The underwing pattern is diagnostic as its size, about two-thirds that of other grassland butterflies.

Found high up a lamp pole this morning was this Clouded Border moth (Lomaspilis marginata): moth species #45 here in 2022 for me.

A very flighty hoverfly that would insist on being too close for my telephoto setting and too distant for my macro setting. So the result is blurred. But no disputing this is a Two-banded Wasp Hoverfly (Chrysotoxum bicinctum). Note that for a hoverfly (indeed most species of fly) it has rather long antennae.

I could not get a better angle on this hoverfly but I am fairly certain it is a Broad-barred Fleckwing (Dasysyrphus venustus).

I like Tree Bumblebees (Bombus hypnorum): they are attractively scruffy.

One of the smallest ichneumons I can recall seeing. Identification? Not a chance with several thousand to choose from and no literature or web sites for all but the most obvious.

Anyone any idea what this tiny creature is? If it did not have such long antennae I might suggest an aphid. I am always amazed that something this small has such distinctive markings – antennae to die for!

I am sure none of these Convolvulus flowers was open yesterday. There were dozens of what I think is Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) today.

I tried using my app. to confirm which species of St John's-wort (Hypericum sp.) this is. Unhelpfully it gave me the most likely (at just 25%) as H. anulatum which does not appear in my Flora at all. So I am none the wiser. It might be better to try the foliage next time as that seems to be more diagnostic.

From this angle, lying on the ground (the camera, not me), this Pineappleweed or Wild Chamomile (Matricaria discoidea) looks gigantic. In fact only a few inches tall. So-named because when crushed it apparently smells of pineapple. I can rarely smell such things so I cannot comment. Another plant that seem to survive trampling on the dam-top.

A very unprepossessing plant that my app. confirmed as Knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare). I was not prepared for the tiny flowers, just about visible here...

 ...to look like this! I wonder what pollinates such tiny flowers?

(Ed Wilson)

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

The Flash: 05:50 – 06:40

(139th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- One of the normal seven adult Mute Swans was not noted. Probably 'the other side of the island'.
- The same group of four well-grown Mallard ducklings were noted again: also two smaller ducklings with another duck Mallard.
- The Coots seem to be having a very bad season here with many of those that were quite well-grown and more or less independent no longer apparent.
- I did not see the 'third' Great Crested Grebe at the top end. There was a fisherman unusually in that area. He was wearing chest-waders and out in the water up to his waist (are fishermen allowed to do this?). Perhaps the grebe had gone to cover somewhere.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Jackdaw again

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

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 214 + 8 (2 broods) Canada Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 22 Greylag Geese
- 6 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *25 (19♂) + 6 (2 broods) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 6 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 + 3 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 19 + 4 (2 broods) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

Noted on / around the street lamp poles:
- *1 Satin Grass-veneer moth (Crambus perlella)
- *1 Riband Wave moth (Idaea aversata)

Noted elsewhere:
- 1 Grey Squirrel

These two Mallard ducklings have been around about a week now. They are not exactly out of danger but fingers crossed...

This grass moth was at the very top of a lamp pole so not a great shot. It is a Satin Grass-veneer (Crambus perlella). My moth species #13 here this year.

Another moth at the top of a lamp pole is this Riband Wave (Idaea aversata). A very common moth I am sure I will see many more of. The 'band' in its name refers to the nominate form where the area between the two cross-lines is solidly darker. This latter form is known as remutata and while generally the two forms occur in roughly equal numbers in this area I rarely see the remutata form. Moth species #14.

(Ed Wilson)

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

Between the lake and The Flash:

- an adult and at least one juvenile Moorhen calling at the upper pool
- two adult and three juvenile Moorhens seen at the lower pool.
- one Chiffchaff singing alongside the lower pool again.

(Ed Wilson)

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

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- *1 Treble Brown Spot (Idaea trigeminata) on the roof

I nearly overlooked this moth on the roof as another Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata). Then I noted it was much more heavily marked and there was a dark area along the front of the wing. It is a Treble Brown Spot (Idaea trigeminata).

(Ed Wilson)

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

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

A pair of Siskins

(Ed Wilson)

2008

Priorslee Lake

A drake Ruddy Duck

(Ed Wilson)