10 Aug 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 21.0°C: Clear skies. Almost calm. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 05:43 BST

* = a photo from today

Priorslee Lake: 04:30 – 06:10 // 07:10 – 09:05

(171st visit of the year)

I was uncomfortably hot and judging by their scarcity the insects found it the same. It was very, very quiet.

Other bird notes:
- The cob Mute Swans seems quite sanguine about all the Canada Geese that arrive and settle right by the swan family.
- I am sure there had been more Coots present before I took the count. I guess they went back in to the reeds to keep cool.
- There are now four Great Crested Grebe broods. The long-standing broods of one and two. The pair at the West end that I thought might have had a brood four days ago have at least three (photo). And the pair along the West part of the North side also have at least two juveniles. Another pair in the South-east corner are still sitting. A lone adult may have a partner somewhere in the South side reeds.
- A juvenile Goldcrest momentarily had me nonplussed. They lack any stripes or gold on the head.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 6 Canada Geese: single outbound; duo and trio inbound
- 2 Feral Pigeons: together
- c.70 Racing Pigeons: together
- 1 Stock Dove
- 66 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Collared Doves
- 12 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 22 Jackdaws
- 18 Rooks
- 1 Starling

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 3 Barn Swallow
- 11 House Martins: two different sized groups stopped off to drink

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 6 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (0) Reed Warblers
- 6 (0) Blackcaps

Counts from the lake area:
- 18 Canada Geese: arrived as a group of 13 and then a quintet
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 17 (?♂) Mallard
- 7 adult / juvenile Moorhens
- 32 adult / juvenile Coots only: see notes
- *11 + 8? (four broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 17 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all briefly
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted on / around the street lamp poles pre-dawn:

Moths:

None

and:
- *1 male Hilara sp. fly, probably H. maura
- *many gnats of several species
- 1 Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea)
- *1 plant bug, possibly Campyloneura virgula
- *1 unidentified bug
- 3 Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- *1 'crazy-paving' spider
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestman
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli harvestman: a male and I did not check which species
- 1 probable Opilio saxatilis harvestman

Noted later:

New for this year:

- *Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis) [also known as Wasp Plumehorn]

Repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)

Moths:
- Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella): very many other grass moths went unchecked

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Hoverflies:
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)

Damsel/Dragonflies
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)

Mammals
- Larger bat sp., perhaps Noctule

You could be thinking that this is yesterday's sunrise photo repeated.

Not so: the aircraft contrail is in a different place.

A pair of Great Crested Grebe with three young just discernible here in the very strong cross-light.

This is a male fly of the genus Hilara. The comb-like structures on the front legs produce silk that he used to wrap a 'gift' of a prey for his mate. Perhaps H. maura, the most common amongst about sixty species in the genus. There is no easy way to separate them.

One of many gnats on the street lamp poles, not all this species.

One of the Mirid plant bugs. I think it might be Campyloneura virgula. I know a man who may be able to help... Watch this space.

Not sure about this. I assumed it was a bug though most bugs have long antennae. The head shape is more reminiscent of a frog- or leafhopper though it is too large and the translucent wings don't fit either.

A tail-on view of a new-for-the-year Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis).

Here is the head-on view.

And the side-elevation. Stephen Falk calls this the Wasp Plumehorn.

The same view enlarged to show the plumed antennae which is unusual in hoverflies but present in all Volucella species.

I have logged this as a 'crazy paving' spider. If that is not its name it ought to be. I suspect it is one of the money-spider group but I cannot match it.

Today's aircraft photo (just the one) taken very early [05:20]. It is a Boeing 747 400 series freighter belonging to Azerbaijan's Silk Way West Airline. It is en route from Cincinnati to Luxembourg with continuation to Baku. Cincinnati's airport is just across the Ohio River and state border in Covington, Kentucky. It is named Northern Kentucky International Airport. I was at this airport three weeks ago. Twelve years ago it had a small area for DHL freighters to swap cargo for onward transmission. Now it is a major freight hub with dozens of huge Amazon Prime warehouses servicing a large fleet of aircraft to destinations world-wide.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:15 – 07:05

(167th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Rather more Coots than yesterday noted: again there seemed no explanation for the variability. Many here are juveniles and I would judge these unlikely to be flying any distance.
- I did not note the 'spare' adult Great Crested Grebe.
- I think four Cormorants. Two birds took off in front of me, circled around and seemed to leave to the South. A few minutes later two birds emerged from the water and sat on the island. I don't think these were the earlier birds that had returned.
- House Martin(s) were again heard calling with begging calls of a juvenile noted. Again I could not see them against the blue sky.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Jackdaws: together

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 23 Canada Geese
- 2 Greylag Geese: stayed less than two minutes
- 6 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 18 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 34 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 13 adult / juvenile Moorhens
- 53 adult / juvenile Coots
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Black-headed Gull only
- *4 Cormorants: two departed
- 1 Grey Heron

On / around the street lamp poles:

Nothing noted

One of the four Cormorants noted here today flies off.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

- Moorhen(s) heard at upper pool only

Throughout the breeding period I have very infrequently seen individuals beside the pools. In earlier years they have often been on the grass and tended to ignore me as I walk by.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- *1 cranefly sp., likely Tipula lateralis
- *1 owl midge Psychodidae sp. yet again.
- 5 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)

The only owl midge Psychodidae sp. I could find. The wings on this individual seem less hairy than usual but I guess the hairs would tend to wear off quickly?

A close-up of the crane fly on the wall of the tunnel. As it does not have a pointed abdomen it is a male. The wing marking suggests it is Tipula lateralis. On this group of true flies the pin-shaped halteres are particularly obvious.

(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

2012

Priorslee Lake

6 Little Egrets

(Ed Wilson)

2009

Priorslee Lake

Kingfisher

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake

1 Little Egret

(Ed Wilson)

Nedge Hill

Location

Redstart

(John Isherwood)

2005

Priorslee Lake

5 Arctic Terns

(Ed Wilson)