8 Aug 22

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 17.0°C: Mainly thin high cloud patches to the East and overhead. To the North and West low cloud patches that mostly broke up before blown over the area. Mainly westerly wind, mostly light. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:39 BST

* = a photo from today

Priorslee Lake: 04:45 – 06:00 // 07:10 – 09:15

(169th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- This morning it was the turn of the Rooks to pass over in a group (32) and to be followed by the Jackdaws, these mostly in dribs and drabs with many already noted in obvious pairs.
- The Cetti's Warbler called very intermittently at the West end c.05:45. Presumably the same bird was calling equally intermittently from the hedge beside the M54 at c.08:30.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Canada Geese: inbound together
- 2 Greylag Geese: outbound together
- 2 Feral Pigeons: together
- 1 Stock Dove
- 69 Wood Pigeons
- 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 103 Jackdaws
- 43 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 3 House Martins

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

Counts from the lake area:
- 8 Canada Geese: arrived as two quartets
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 22 (?♂) Mallard yet again
- 6 adult / juvenile Moorhens
- 74 adult / juvenile Coots
- 12 + 6 (three broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 25 Black-headed Gulls
- *1 possible Caspian Gull
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: all briefly
- *2 Cormorants: arrived separately again
- 1 Kingfisher once again

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

Moths:

None

and:
- *1 ichneumon sp.

- *1 small fly

- *1 probable small caddis fly
- *1 springtail, perhaps Tomocerus vulgaris
- *1 springtail or perhaps barkfly
- *1 stretch spider Tetragnatha sp.
- 2 Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestman
- 1 Leiobunum rotundum/blackwalli harvestman: a male and I did not check which species

Noted later:

New for this year

- *an Ancistrocerus wasp species, probably a Wall Mason Wasp (A. parietum)
- *male Compost Hoverfly (Syritta pipiens)
- *female Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum)

Repeat sightings:

Butterflies:
- *Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
- *Peacock (Aglais io)

Moths:
- Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
** most grass moths were not checked

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Hoverflies:
- *Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)
- *Dead-head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea) [Batman Hoverfly]

Damsel/Dragonflies
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
- unidentified hawker sp. in flight only

A clear morning with no colour to the sunrise.

This is not the pair of Great Crested Grebes that I noted might have new juveniles yesterday. Are there two or three juveniles visible? I think three.

An adult Black-headed Gull rapidly losing the black on its the head as it moults in to winter plumage.

Aside from the brown around the eye this gull had an unusually white-looking head and prompted me to search my literature. The very heavily marked belly and almost complete absence of white in the folded tertials (ahead of the black wing tips) suggest this may well be a juvenile / first-winter Caspian Gull. I do not have enough experience with birds of this age to make a firm identification.

A very smart Cormorant with a blue-green eye.

With just one white spot in the black circle on the wing this must be a Meadow Brown butterfly (Maniola jurtina). It is about the end of the flight season for this species.

Unmistakeable: a Peacock butterfly (Aglais io).

I had great difficulty getting a decent shot of this wasp as it kept disappearing under vegetation before briefly emerging a few feet away. It is one of the Ancistrocerus sp., probably a Wall Mason Wasp (A. parietum), the most common of the trio that need more detailed examination than I am prepared to undertake on a live wasp.

I have not been able to identify this small creature. I am sure it is an ichneumon with the wasp-waist and very long antennae. It is a female with the long - very long - ovipositor. It shows a brassy green end to the abdomen and the wings show a prominent dark area, none of which helps!

Another very small insect I have enlarged as much as I dare. The well-separated and rounded head suggests this is a cranefly species though I have never seen one this small before. It is wading through the dew on a street lamp pole.

A very small fly covered in dew also on one of the street lamp poles.

Another small fly with an even smaller companion that I presume is a springtail (or perhaps a barkfly).

This is more like the springtails I am used to seeing. It looks like a photograph on the web noted as Tomocerus vulgaris though there are many similar species.

This male Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax) even looks 'tapered' - as it should.

These Dead-head Hoverflies (Myathropa florea) are very attracted to the Wild Angelica flowers (Angelica sylvestris)

This very small hoverfly zoomed in and away and I only managed this rather blurred photo. The main feature is the very swollen hind femur. Thanks to friend Leon, a hoverfly expert living in Cornwall I can tell you it is a male Syritta pipiens which Stephen Falk calls the Compost Hoverfly. It is the only UK member of the genus and a new species for me.

A female Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum). She lacks the black tail of the male and her abdomen is a much paler blue. I found this specimen where I usually see it - sunning on bare earth that doubles as the path along the South side of the lake.

A male stretch spider Tetragnatha sp. Males show the long palps, usually showing what are colloquially known as 'boxing gloves'.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flash: 06:05 – 07:05

(165th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Another low count of Mallard
- Another high count of Coots.

I was told by one of the residents of a probable brood of at least three Tufted Ducks seen 'several weeks ago' for one day only. Last year there was a successful nest with a brood of four fledging.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Jackdaws: singles

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 24 Canada Geese
- 6 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 15 (?♂) Mallard only again
- 1 all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 34 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 17 adult / juvenile Moorhens again
- 67? adult / juvenile Coots
- 3 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes again
- 11 Black-headed Gulls: three juveniles
- 1 Cormorant: arrived
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

Noted on / around the street lamp poles:
- 1 Black Arches moth (Lymantria monacha)
- 1 Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestman

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Between the lake and The Flash:

- Moorhen(s) heard at both pools again today.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

- *1 Single-dotted Wave moth (Idaea dimidiata)
- 1 Small Phoenix moth (Ecliptopera silaceata)
- 1 owl midge Psychodidae sp. again.
- *3 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)

A Single-dotted Wave moth (Idaea dimidiata). This species seems to like lurking here

This White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger) cannot decide which way to go.

(Ed Wilson)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Ruddy Duck

(Ed Wilson)

2008

Priorslee Lake

Wheatear

(Ed Wilson)