22 Aug 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

14.0°C > 18.0°C: Early broken cloud with very good visibility. Mist and low cloud over fields to the East rolled in after 06:00, mostly clearing by 07:15. A light shower for good measure. Then mostly cloudy with a few sunny intervals. A calm start with a light SSE breeze later. Very good visibility except during mist.

Sunrise: 06:03 BST

* = a photo from today

Priorslee Lake: 04:40 – 06:20 // 07:25 – 09:15

(179th visit of the year)

Highlight this morning was the brief visit by a Common Snipe. I was on the grass in front of the sailing club shelter at 08:45 scanning to the North and trying to count the distant House Martins when the snipe flew through my field of view. I followed it as it circled and pitched in alongside the concrete boat ramp. I gingerly headed towards where it appeared to have landed. There was no obvious sign of it. As I got closer it shot up more or less from under my feet, having hunkered down in an area of long grass. My second record of this species here this year after one on 09 February.

Other bird notes:
- For the first time I can remember I saw one of the Coots apparently fly in from elsewhere. It arrived low and fast from the West over the Ricoh building.
- With most of the Great Crested Grebe juveniles now happy on the water it is increasingly difficult to census the adults as they are straying from their 'home turf' and also spending long periods diving after fish to feed their broods.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 14 Canada Geese: outbound in three groups: others heard but lost in the mist
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 1 Stock Dove again
- 48 Wood Pigeons
- no Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 18 Jackdaws
- 16 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 7 Barn Swallows
- >25 House Martins high to N 09:10

Warblers noted:
- 7 Chiffchaffs: one of these in quiet, sporadic song
- 3 Blackcaps
- 1 Sedge Warbler

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 8 (?♂) Mallard
- 9 Moorhens
- 81 Coots
- 14 + 11 (five broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Common Snipe, briefly, as highlighted
- 32 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gulls: adult on the football field briefly
- 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

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

Moths:
- *9 Common Grass-veneers (Agriphila tristella)
- *1 Straw Grass-veneer (Agriphila straminella)
- *1 unidentified dew-covered grass veneer sp.
- 1 Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis): wings only

and:
- *1 Broad-banded Epistrophe hoverfly (Epistrophe grossulariae)
- 2 caddis flies
- *1 possible Yellow Swarming Fly (Thaumatomyia notata)
- *1 large house spider type (Eratigena sp.)
- *1 Noble False Widow spider (Steatoda nobilis)
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestman
- 1 Leiobunum blackwalli harvestman

Noted later:

New for the year

- *ichneumon sp.

Repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

Moths:
- *Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)

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

Hoverflies:
- Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)

Damselflies:
- *Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)

Other flies:
- Lucilia sp. of greenbottle
- *Phaonia pallida (Muscid fly)

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

Beetles:
- *Alder Leaf Beetle-type (Agelastica alni?)

Slugs / snails:
- *Brown-lipped Snail (Cepaea nemoralis)

Spiders etc.
- Leiobunum blackwalli harvestman

Mammals:
- pipistrelle-type bat
- Grey Squirrel

The oldest of the juvenile Great Crested Grebes is almost starting to get head-plumes even while it still has a stripey face. I always think the eyes are not where I expect them to be.

Well: you can tell it is a Barn Swallow. A group of seven stopped off for a while and a refill of insects.

And two here. The bird on the right must be an adult with long tail streamers.

I found two of these Common Marble moths (Celypha lacunana) today. They must be from a new brood as I have not seen any for at least six weeks.

Here is the other one.

There were nine of these Common Grass-veneer moths (Agriphila tristella) on the street lamp poles.

 A good comparison with this Straw Grass-veneer (Agriphila straminella)

This was the frustrating dew-covered grass moth. It was considerably smaller than the others and could have been my first Barred Grass-veneer (Agriphila inquinatella). However there are other less likely possibilities including a Common Grass-veneer that has lost part of its wing. Being unable to see through the dew means I will never know.

A rather soggy and / or worn Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) tucks in to a Knapweed flower.

And really digs in.

A small and delicate ichneumon sp. clings to a grass stem. There are far too many species of ichneumon and most are not illustrated.

Not many of these Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) still flying around.

This liver-coloured fly is most likely the Muscid fly Phaonia pallida.

Not a very sharp photo but then this possible Yellow Swarming Fly (Thaumatomyia notata) is only about 2.5mm (a tenth of an inch for us oldies).

Well I suppose they have to sleep somewhere but a dew-covered street lamp pole seems an unlikely place to find a Broad-banded Epistrophe hoverfly (Epistrophe grossulariae).

You are about to be run over by a 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata).

This looks rather like an Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni) though it is on a thistle and not an Alder leaf. I was prevented from further investigation when it fell off in to the undergrowth.

This appears to be a Brown-lipped Snail (Cepaea nemoralis). The two tentacles pointing towards me are the seeing tentacles. As far as I can determine the black object in contact with the leaf is one of its lower tentacles that it uses for smelling and feeling.

My first large house spider type (Eratigena sp.) of the year. They will soon be in your bath!

I am not 100% certain about this spider which I think is a Noble False Widow (Steatoda nobilis).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:25 – 07:20

(175th visit of the year)

Most of last week's weed /algal bloom that was covering the water has dispersed / sunk / gone down the sluice (though the Wesley Brook remains dry)

Bird notes:
- I am not sure how many adult Mute Swans I saw. The resident pen was on the warpath again. There were certainly three others. On one scan I thought five in total. I could not find the five again.
- The drake Gadwall was very visible again alongside Derwent Drive. Later I flushed two duck Gadwall from vegetation at the South end.
- Fewer Tufted Ducks. They are however harder to find now the weed has dispersed being in multiple locations and also diving continually.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Cormorant: in addition to those at the lake
- 3 Jackdaws: singles

Warblers noted (no song recorded):
- 4 Chiffchaffs

Noted on / around the water:
- 23 Canada Geese: four of these flew off
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 4? + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- *3 (1♂) Gadwall
- *19 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 24 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 15 Moorhens
- 71 Coots
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 13 Black-headed Gulls: no juvenile / first-winter birds
- 2 Cormorant: one departed
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on / around the street lamp poles:
- 1 Common Grass-veneer moth (Agriphila tristella)
- *1 Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes)
- *1 small unidentified ichneumon sp.
- *1 unidentified spider

The drake Gadwall was alongside Derwent Drive when I arrived.

And here is one of the two duck Gadwall that came out of vegetation at the bottom end. The same white patch visible in the folded wing. Note the extensive orange tone to the side of her bill. The drake's bill is all black.

Here both ducks, the one closest having just finished flapping her wings.

For the last few months all the Mallard have been renewing their flight feathers. As they are flightless for a period while they do this the drake acquire a camouflaged appearance, the so-called eclipse plumage. This drake is well on the way to moulting back in to breeding plumage with the head needed some more gloss to the green. Note the all-yellow/green bill.

Here are two drakes still very much in eclipse plumage but still identifiable by their bill colour.

This is a duck Mallard with, at all times, a dark bill with just a hint of a brown edge at the base. Contrast that with the duck Gadwall's extensive orange-toned edge. The blue patch in the wings is another give-away but does not always show.

A small unidentified ichneumon sp. was on one of the street lamp poles.

As I photographed the Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes) a spider scuttled away never to be seen again!

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

Noted:
- 1 Chiffchaff calling by the lower pool

and
- 3 Common Grass-veneer moths (Agriphila tristella) on just one of the street lamp poles

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:

None

and
- many and various midges
- 2 owl midges Psychodidae sp.
- 2 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)
- 1 Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber)

(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

Peregrine Falcon

Yellow Wagtail

(Ed Wilson)

2006

Priorslee Lake

3 Sandwich Terns

Common Tern

Kingfisher 

Tree Pipit

(Ed Wilson)

2005

Priorslee Lake

Common Tern

Raven

Kingfisher

(Ed Wilson)