20 Aug 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 17.0°C: Variable amounts of cloud. Some sunny spells: also very light showers. Moderate SW breeze. Very good visibility except in showers.

Sunrise: 05:59 BST

* = a photo from today

Priorslee Lake: 04:40 – 06:20 // 07:20 – 08:50

(177th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The pair of Great Crested Grebes that nested in the NW area have three juveniles. There are five pairs with juveniles. One pair does not have a nest. A lone bird may or may not have a partner on a nest in the reeds.
- A male Peregrine powered over at 05:50.
- A Reed Warbler was heard calling from bushes adjacent to the South bank of the water.
- No Pied Wagtails seen or heard.

Birds noted flying over here:
- *51 Canada Geese: outbound in six groups
- 2 Greylag Gees: outbound together
- 4 Stock Doves: duos
- 47 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 20 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: together
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 1 Peregrine
- no Jackdaws
- 30 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Sand Martins flew through
- 1 Barn Swallow stopped off for a while
- 1 House Martin high overhead

Warblers noted (no singing birds):
- 8 Chiffchaffs
- 3 Blackcaps
- 1 Reed Warbler

Counts from the lake area:
- 4 Canada Geese: arrived together
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 11 (?♂) Mallard
- 6 Moorhens again
- 79 Coots again
- 13 + 11 (five broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 56 Black-headed Gulls
- 15 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

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

Moths:
- 3 Common Grass-veneers (Agriphila tristella)
- *1 Flounced Rustic (Luperina testacea)
- *1 Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis)
and:
- 1 plant bug
- *1 black ant, perhaps a Negro Ant (Formica fusca)
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- 2 Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestmen
- *4 Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli harvestmen: probably the same male still too high up for me to check which species

Noted later: 

A very limited log: while I was in the sunny area it was rather windy and it was dull by the time I got in to shelter

New for the year

- *Plain-faced Dronefly (Eristalis arbustorum)

Repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- *Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

Moths:
- Straw Grass-veneer (Agriphila straminella)

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)

Other flies:
- *Lucilia sp. of greenbottle

Mammals
- Pipistrelle-type bat
- large bat sp.

Some colour in the sky early this morning.

And five Canada Geese outbound at dawn.

An incoming shower caused this rainbow and caused me to scuttle away early.

The only butterfly I saw this morning was this Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria).

This Flounced Rustic moth (Luperina testacea) was resting at a difficult angle, high up on a street lamp pole. The dark markings on the inner part of each forewing are diagnostic. I do not record this species every year. It is a species in the large group of moths known as Noctuids. These seem to be rather scarce around the street lamps in the morning. Many species in this group are attracted to light but I suspect more usually in the early part of the night and they have moved on to shelter before I start out.

A Straw Dot moth (Rivula sericealis) in typical head-down position. What was not so typical was that this specimen flushed off a street lamp pole on to adjacent vegetation pre-dawn. Usually I flush this species from long grass in daylight.

From head-on we can see the lack of facial stripe on this hoverfly making it a Plain-faced Dronefly (Eristalis arbustorum).

From the side this rather small species looks rather tapered. It also looks rather hairy! The markings on the abdomen of all Eristalis species are very variable and cannot be the sole feature used to identify them.

There are many species of Lucilia greenbottle so I cannot identify this at the species level. Probably L. caesar the most common in the genus.

This ant was crawling up one of the street lamp poles. It may or may not be a Negro Ant (Formica fusca)

A seven-legged male Leiobunum rotundum harvestman. It can be separated from L. blackwalli by the lack of white around the eyes.

This one only has five legs!

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:25 – 07:15

(173rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Two of the Mute Swans went for a long fly-around but all within the confines of the water.
- A very late brood of Moorhens.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 7 Jackdaws: all singles

Warblers noted (no song recorded):
- 2 Chiffchaffs

Noted on / around the water:
- 21 Canada Geese: nine of these flew off
- 6 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 19 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 36 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 17 Moorhens
- 60 Coots
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 7 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Cormorants: departed separately
- 1 Grey Heron

On / around the street lamp poles:
Nothing noted

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

Noted:
- *1 Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer (Agriphila geniculea)

The last of the common grass moths that I have managed to photograph is this Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer (Agriphila geniculea). The 'elbow-stripe' markings do not show too well here as this small moth was long way up a street lamp pole. We can see various marks on the wings which are sufficient to identify it.

On this rather distant view the elbow-stripe is just about visible.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 1 Red Underwing (Catocala nupta)
and
- 1 owl midge Psychodidae sp.
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger)

(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

1 Common Sandpiper

(Ed Wilson)

2007

Priorslee Lake

1 Wheatear

(Ed Wilson)