26 Jun 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

9.0°C > 14.0°C: Variable amounts of cloud. Fresh feeling and fresh SSE wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:47

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:40 – 05:40 // 06:40 – 08:15

(148th visit of the year)

Best today were three Gadwall that flushed off the SW grass at 05:00 – I had assumed they were the local Mallard that take little notice of me. An early date for this species to be returning here post-breeding. One was certainly a drake. I am not sure about the others, seen too briefly

Other bird notes:
- I did not hear the Cetti's Warbler again.
- After several weeks of relative quiet a Sedge Warbler was being noisy and doing its dancing display flight. Perhaps the prelude to another brood.
- In contrast the Reed Warblers were conspicuously quiet perhaps due to the wind blowing the reeds around.
- Common Whitethroats seen courtship feeding.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Stock Dove
- 14 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Collared Doves: together
- 1 Herring Gull
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: singles
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 6 Jackdaws
- 14 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 5 Swifts again
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 1 House Martin

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- no Cetti's Warbler again
- 12 (10) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
- 6 (5) Reed Warblers only: a bit breezy in the reeds
- 12 (10) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
- 2 (0) Common Whitethroats

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 3 (1♂?) Gadwall: departed
- 7 (6♂) Mallard
- 2 Moorhens still
- 39 + 24 juvenile Coots
- 7 Great Crested Grebes
- no gulls
- no Grey Heron

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 Uncertain / Rustic moth (Hoplodrina octogenaria/blanda)
- 1 Tetragnatha sp. stretch spider
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum harvestman: female

Noted later

Very little in cool and breezy conditions. I did not stay so long as usual.

New for this year:

Nothing

Repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)

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

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)

Hoverflies:
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Common Spotted Field Syrph (Eupeodes luniger)

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

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

I arrived slightly too late to see any colour in the sunrise. This was about as clear as the skies ever were.

Slightly fuzzy around the head as I was shooting this Common Whitethroat through waving grass stems. I suspected that had I moved it would have flown away.

I did reposition and its didn't fly away but, typically, it is now behind twigs. I had seen this bird being fed by another and I assumed that it was therefore a juvenile. The photo shows otherwise with no sign of immature plumage or a gape line.

The eye-colour indicates this is a female. Also a male would have a more obviously grey head. So it must have been courtship feeding.

A very grey-looking Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella) unusually pointing upwards. Features to note are the way the longitudinal line splits in to 'fingers' and also the just about discernible 'U-shaped' mark toward the wing tip.

Probably to stay out of the wind this Common Marble (Celypha lacunana) settled on the ground.

A typically rather scruffy Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum). The white tail separates this species from the Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) that also has a ginger-haired thorax but pale ginger (often almost white) across the abdomen.

A 7 Spot Ladybird pupa (Coccinella 7-punctata).

All the creatures on the street lamp poles around dawn had the decency to stay put until the sun was up and they were better illuminated. It was not too much help here as this is one of the Uncertain / Rustic group of moths (Hoplodrina octogenaria/blanda). Unless an individual very fresh and cleanly marked these species can only be separated by dissection. The rather washed-out appearance points more to an Uncertain even though the Rustic moth has the scientific name 'blanda'. My 48th moth species here this year – whatever it is!

A well-displayed Tetragnatha sp. stretch spider

And the female Leiobunum rotundum harvestman (for those who like to be politically correct perhaps a 'harvestperson' – pah!). Only the males have almost circular bodies = 'rotundum'.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:45 – 06:35

(144th visit of the year)

Best here today were apparently two Kingfishers that flew in quick succession from the overhanging trees at the top end. I was peering through a gap in the trees counting the geese on the opposite side when one bird shot past. It seemed to be carrying a fish. A few seconds later another did the same thing - I do not think the first bird had time for a circuit so I doubt it was the same bird passing again. All rather strange as there were three fishermen at the top end and this species is normally quite shy. Where might the nest be? They need a bank to burrow in to. Perhaps they have finished breeding and are now dispersing. But why would one be carrying a fish?

Other bird notes:
- The Peacock was again waking the neighbourhood at 05:45.
- A brood of two growing Mallard ducklings with an adult duck. Probably at least a week old and growing fast.
- The most recent brood of five juvenile Coots was not counted today – they were being brooded on the nest by a parent.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Jackdaws: singles again

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 191 Canada Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 50 Greylag Geese exactly
- 7 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 25 (20♂) + 2 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 5 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 + 6 (4 broods) Moorhens
- 18 + 6 (4 broods) Coots
- 2 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:

- One adult and two juvenile Moorhens at the upper pool.
- One juvenile Moorhen on the grass beside the lower pool.
- One Blackcap singing by the lower pool.
The long-term Chiffchaff songster seems to have moved his territory in to the Ricoh copse across the other side of Priorslee Avenue.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- just a few midges

(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

Grasshopper Warbler

(Ed Wilson)

2012

Priorslee Lake

Special this morning was rather bizarre: an all-white, apparently albino, Budgerigar(!) sheltering in the copse between the football field and the playground!

(Ed Wilson)

2008

Priorslee Lake

Common Sandpiper

Another slight puzzle this morning. It sounded like a 'Blackcap with a difference' with an extended song with lots more variety than usual and many notes recalling Garden Warbler, Song Thrush and Blackbird. It was clearly NOT the bird from earlier but I was curious. It was always singing well above head-height (Acros tend to be below head-height) and never had the rhythm of an Acro but the long and flowing song was very strange (and very loud). In the end the bird gave itself up and proved to be what I thought - a 'Blackcap with a difference' - lots of testosterone? It proved my 'rule of thumb' - if you are not sure whether it is a Blackcap or a Garden Warbler it is a Blackcap.

(Ed Wilson)