9 Jun 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 16.0°C: A few wispy high clouds to start. High cloud spread from the W by 08:00 cutting the strength of the sun. More generally cloudy after 09:00. Light SSW breeze increasing somewhat. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:47 BST

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 04:40 – 05:45 // 06:45 – 09:35

(134th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- One Canada Goose was present on the water at 04:50 and was probably present throughout. Five more flew in at 06:50 and also stayed. The cob Mute Swan was 'content' so long as none of them was in the water.
- c.35 Swifts were overhead by 04:55 and although numbers were occasionally slightly lower there seemed to around this figure much of the time.
- I was, as usual, premature in suggesting that the Sedge Warbler, no longer singing along the S side, had probably gone. I saw one carrying food in the area early this morning!
- A Nuthatch was heard twice in different locations. It is several weeks since I last heard this species here.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 3 Canada Geese: outbound together
- 21 Greylag Geese: outbound together
- 5 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 12 Jackdaws
- 5 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- c.35 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow
- House Martins heard only including begging calls of flying juveniles

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 10 (10) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (0) Sedge Warbler
- 8 (6) Reed Warblers
- 15 (10) Blackcaps
- 2 (2) Garden Warblers
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat

Counts from the lake area:
- 6 Canada Geese: see notes
- 2 + 6 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 9 (8♂) Mallard
- 3 Moorhens
- 33 + 16 (7 broods) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:
- 1 Light Emerald moth (Campaea margaritaria)
- 1 Clubiona sp. spider

Noted later:

Rather petered out when the sun went in but a good haul.

These are new sightings for the year:

Butterflies:
- *Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)

Moths:
- *Small Purple & Gold (Pyrausta aurata)
- *Blood-vein (Timandra comae)
Moth species #39 and #40 for me here in 2022.

Bees, wasps, etc.
- *female, presumed ichneumon wasp sp.

Beetles:
- *10 Spot Ladybird (Adalia decempunctata var. decempustulata)
- *flea beetle, possibly Derocrepis rufipes

Grasshoppers etc.:
- *Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus)

Spiders:
- *unidentified spider with egg sac

Newly noted plants in flower:
- *Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis)
- *Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor)

These are repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Moths:
- Common Nettle-tap (Anthophila fabriciana): abundant again
- Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana): " Timothy" in this context is the species of grass: the moth larvae eat the roots.
- Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)
- Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis)

Bees, wasps, etc.
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
- *Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
A more or less 'full house' of bumblebees
- Broad-striped Rhogogaster sawfly (Rhogogaster scalaris)

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

Hoverflies:
- Bumblebee Cheilosia (Cheilosia illustrata)
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- Blotch-winged Hoverfly (Leucozona lucorum)
- *Orange-belted Leafwalker (Xylota segnis)

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

Beetles etc.:
- Lesser Thick-legged Flower Beetle (Ischnomera cyanea)
- Swollen-thighed (Flower) Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)
- Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus)

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

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

Spiders:
- Tetragnatha sp. stretch spider

Mammals:
- Grey Squirrel

The sunrise, such as it was. Just a few wisps of high cloud not picking up any colour.

This is a male Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus) like all 'skipper' butterflies typically sitting with one pair of wings partially closed. It is a male because of the dark line in the centre of the forewing which is a scent gland. It is a Large Skipper not because it is larger than Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) – they are very much the same size – but because the trailing area of the wing is shaded darker.

A side view of the same individual.

One of two new moths for the year. This is a Small Purple & Gold (Pyrausta aurata). I find single examples of this small moth most years along the South side nearer to the water than the hedge shielding the M54.

Trying to get a decent angle on this Blood-vein moth (Timandra comae) caused me to measure my length in thistles and nettles. Luckily the moth did not seem to mind and was still there when I recovered my composure. New for the year and another moth most usually seen when flushed from long grass in daytime.

This Light Emerald moth (Campaea margaritaria) is looking rather pale partly because it is worn and partly due to the camera flash needed to illuminate it hiding under the overhanging street lamp fixture at 04:45.

Red-tailed Bumblebees (Bombus lapidarius) are not that easy to photograph well. They are basically black with a rufous tail.

This one in flight showing what I assume is its long tongue.

This hoverfly is an Orange-belted Leafwalker (Xylota segnis). The orange is covered when the insect is at rest. The contrasting leg pattern and the swollen hind femur providing the clues as to its identity

I must get this the right way around. This is a male Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) with the club-like marking on segment two of the abdomen, The wide blue area on the thorax is another way to separate this from the very similar Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)

This is a female Common Blue Damselfly and yet to get any blue colouration. They have very different markings on their abdomen. Some females stay pale rufous. In flight the wings of this individual were whirring like a helicopter indicating that the wings had not yet fully hardened after emergence, probably earlier today.

Before the sun disappeared this Greenbottle fly, presumed Lucilia sp., was glowing well.

This Muscid fly was doing the is it / isn't it a bluebottle trick depending upon how it caught the light. Here the abdomen is blue and the thorax almost green.

I cannot say too much about this insect. It is clearly a female with an ovipositor. I see very few such insects. I suspect it is an ichneumon wasp rather than a sawfly though it is difficult to see whether it is wasp-waisted or not. It did not hang around.

Two Broad-striped Rhogogaster sawflies (Rhogogaster scalaris) getting friendly – or perhaps not.

 A close-up of another specimen.

I found this tiny beetle. It surely is a flea beetle. I suspect Derocrepis rufipes.

Everybody loves a buttercup even this 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata).

When I emerged from crashing about in some vegetation I found this tiny 10 Spot Ladybird (Adalia decempunctata) on my sweater. A very variable species, this form being given the name decempustulata.

Amazing as it may seem I have never previously recorded any grasshoppers here, probably because they start singing later in the day. So this Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus) was a bonus.

I was wondering when I would see the yellow flowers of Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis). Checking my logs this is a day earlier than last year.

A bit of a saga here. For many years I logged Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor). Then I had doubts about my identification and decided I had been misidentifying Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon). This is most certainly not Yellow Archangel and I am reasonably confident it is Yellow Rattle, so named because when ripe the seeds detach inside their hard seed-pod and the plant rattles in the wind.

I cannot identify this spider, obviously a female carrying an egg sac. The strange thing was there were four of these spiders all on the same plant with at least three of them carrying egg sacs.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:50 – 06:40

(130th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Gulp: seven full-size Mute Swans and well as the four cygnets. I could not see whether any of the swans had been ringed to try and sort out who was who. As far as I could tell the additional three birds contained two more 2021 first years and one older bird. Where did they come from? All seemed peace and harmony.
- When the adult swan took the cygnets on to the island to rest one of the other swans accompanied them. Again I could not say which.
- I could only see one of the tiny Mallard ducklings.
- Several of the drake Tufted Ducks are already starting to moult out their white flanks and it will soon become difficult to separate the sexes.

Birds noted flying over here:

None

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

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 146 + 8 (2 broods) Canada Geese
- 17 Greylag Geese
- 7 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 19 (14♂) + 1 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 9 (7♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens only
- 20 + 9 (5 broods) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

Noted on / around the street lamp poles:
- *Grouse Wing caddis fly (Mystacides longicornis)

Noted elsewhere:
- 1 Grey Squirrel

A typically-marked Grouse Wing caddis fly (Mystacides longicornis) showing off its 'longicornis'. I wonder why so many insects have banded antennae?

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- A juvenile Moorhen seen at the lower pool
- No Moorhens at the upper pool apart from the dead adult on the grass mangled by the council grass-cutting yesterday.
- 1 Chiffchaff back singing alongside the lower pool.
- 2 Blackcaps singing: one alongside the lower pool; and one between the upper pool at the academy.
- *My first juvenile Goldfinches of the year,
also
- 1 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata) on a street lamp

My first juvenile Goldfinch of the year. The pale bill is about the only clue to its identity since the yellow in the wing is hidden. It will be October / November before it acquires the familiar red face. It was of course sitting on top of the highest tree it could find.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- The Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) chrysalis remains.
- 1 Common Pug moth (Eupithecia vulgata) on the roof
- many 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

2009

Priorslee Lake

7 Reed Warblers

2 Willow Warbler

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake

3 Great Crested Grebe

1 Ruddy Duck

1 Great Spotted Woodpecker

2 House Martin

2 Swallow

Reed Warbler

1 Sedge Warbler

3 Blackcap

1 Garden Warbler

2 Willow Warbler

3 Chiffchaff

4 Bullfinch

2 Reed Bunting

(Martin Adlam)

2006

Priorslee Lake

4 Great Crested Grebes

1 Heron

2 Cormorants

2 Tufted Ducks

1 Kestrel

3 Stock Dove

3 Swift

4 Swallow

11 House Martin

6 Reed Warblers

1 Lesser Whitethroat

9 Blackcap

5 Chiffchaff

7 Greenfinch

3 Bullfinch

6 Reed Bunting

(Ed Wilson)