11 Aug 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

15.0°C > 22.0°C: Clear skies. Almost calm. Good visibility – a bit hazy at times.

Sunrise: 05:44 BST

I am mostly out of time for sorting photos from today. * = a small selection below: more to follow tomorrow?

Priorslee Lake: 04:30 – 06:10 // 07:20 – 09:15

(172nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Coots numbers returned to about normal. So where were they yesterday?.
- The Cetti's Warbler woke from a bush I was standing beside. After calling for a while and moving around in the bush it flew off a short distance and was neither heard nor seen again.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 40 Canada Geese: outbound in four groups
- 14 Greylag Geese: 12 outbound in a very loose group; duo inbound
- 2 (?♂) Tufted Duck: flew through at 05:00
- 5 Stock Dove: single and two duos
- 56 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 16 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 4 Jackdaws only
- 8 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 2 House Martins

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 1 (0) Cetti's Warbler
- 7 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (0) Reed Warblers
- 1 (0) Blackcap only

Counts from the lake area:
- 9 Canada Geese: arrived together
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 17 (?♂) Mallard again
- 6 adult / juvenile Moorhens
- 72 adult / juvenile Coots only: see notes
- *11 + 8? (four broods) Great Crested Grebes
- *1 Common Sandpiper
- 22 Black-headed Gulls
- *4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls again: all briefly
- 1 Grey Heron again

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

Moths:
- *3 Common Grass-veneers (Agriphila tristella)
- *1 Brindled Flat-body (Agonopterix arenella)
- *1 micro-moth to be identified
and:
- an array of small flies
- *1 plumed midge sp.
- 1 Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperia carnea)
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis-type
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spiders (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- 2 other spiders of different species
- 2 Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestman
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli harvestman: a male again and I did not check which species
- 1 Paroligolophus agrestis harvestman

Noted later:

Very little – we were all hiding from the heat

New for this year:

Nothing

Repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus): just one!

Moths:
- Dark-triangle Button sp. (Acleris laterana/comariana)
- Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella): as usual most 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)
- *Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus)

Damsel/Dragonflies
- Two different-looking dragonflies in flight: different sexes or different species?

Bugs:
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)

Spiders:
- *the crab spider Misumena vatia

Two juveniles for this Great Crested Grebe. I am still not sure there is not a third.

A very cooperative Common Sandpiper. The very well marked plumage indicates this is a juvenile and it is likely it has had little exposure to humans and is there less wary.

Worth another view.

An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull leaving. They are supposed to have yellow legs and feet....!

A Brindled Flat-body moth (Agonopterix arenella) on vegetation beside one of the street lamp poles pre-dawn.

A Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella) above a hitherto unseen moth, until I looked at the enlarged photo. Need to work on this one.

It is a while since I have seen one of these plumed midges.

Also a while since I saw one of these Tiger Hoverflies (Helophilus pendulus).

I managed to coax this crab spider Misumena vatia out of its hiding place in the Knapweed. I found this very close to where I photographed one back in April.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:15 – 07:15

(168th visit of the year)

Unusual today was a group of seven Teal that circled over the area for at least five minutes. They appeared to eventually descend below the tree line though I did not note them settling on the water. These were presumably birds returning from their breeding site in Northern Europe and whilst this early date in not unusual at favoured locations this species is not common here.

A drake Gadwall was also a most unexpected new arrival.

Other bird notes:
- House Martin(s) were yet again heard calling somewhere overhead.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 15 Feral Pigeons: together: not apparently the birds that typically frequent the area.
- *7 (?♂) Teal: as highlighted
- 5 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Warblers noted (figures in brackets relate to singing birds):
- 2 (0) Chiffchaffs
- no Blackcaps

Noted on / around the water:
- 31 Canada Geese
- 7 Greylag Geese: arrived together
- 6 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 21 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 33 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 9 adult / juvenile Moorhens
- 59 adult / juvenile Coots
- 3 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Black-headed Gulls: no juveniles
- 2 Cormorants: arrived together
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on / around the street lamp poles:
- 1 Dark-triangle Button moth sp. (Acleris laterana/comariana)
- 1 Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes)
- 1 spider sp.

A drake Gadwall. Care is needed when ducks are moulting as the white could be showing through due to moulted flight feathers on, say, a Mallard.

Here with an equally distant Mallard for comparison we can see the more slender head and neck and the smaller bill. If you measure it then the Gadwall is smaller but it is not easy to tell from a casual look.

Six of the seven Teal that circled for a while.

How do they do that then? Cormorants look rather ungainly but this one is managing to, more or less, stand on top of a dead tree on the island.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

I think we can say that Moorhens have bred at both pools and are present daily. The pools are too overgrown to provide meaningful counts and I will drop reporting this species from here

Otherwise noted:
- 1 Chiffchaff calling beside the lower pool
- *1 well-grown Common Frog (Rana temporaria)

This Common Frog (Rana temporaria) was sitting on the path and seemed unconcerned about me.

So I shot it in profile.

"Look in to my eye... and you will see a reflection of the photographer"! When I moved to try and get a plan view it decided enough was enough and hopped away.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- *1 Dun-bar moth (Cosmia trapezina)
- 4 owl midges Psychodidae sp. yet again.
- 4 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)

A Dun-bar moth (Cosmia trapezina). The area between the two cross lines is often completely shaded - hence the 'dun bar'. Not in this specimen. My first of the year.

(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

2011

Priorslee Lake

Green Sandpiper

Tree Pipit

(Ed Wilson)

2008

Priorslee Lake

Wheatear

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake

Possible Wood Sandpiper

A female Peregrine

(Ed Wilson)