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)