24 May 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

9.0°C > 15.0°C: Fine and clear start. Cloud bubbled after c.08:00 but then tended to fade away again after 09:15. Light to moderate north-westerly breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:01 BST

* = a photo of this species today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:00 – 06:25 // 07:30 – 09:45

(108th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- This morning a Garden Warbler was singing, briefly, along the South side.
- I heard nothing of the Lesser Whitethroat but, confusingly, a Common Whitethroat was singing from deep within the same bush.
- A Mistle Thrush was singing from the Ricoh copse alongside the pedestrian crossing in Teece Drive when I arrived. Some 45 minutes later it, or another, was singing from the north-side wood. Then c.09:30 one was singing by the Teece Drive gate.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 9 Canada Geese: three duos outbound; a single and duo inbound
- 4 Greylag Geese: duo outbound; two singles inbound
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 1 Stock Dove
- 28 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 9 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 2 (2) Willow Warblers
- 10 (8) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Sedge Warbler
- 8 (8) Reed Warblers
- 10 (10) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
- no Lesser Whitethroat
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 6 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 1 House Martin

Counts from the lake area: it remains very quiet
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 5 (4♂) Mallard
- 5 Moorhens
- 27 + 14 (6 broods) Coots
- 6 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

On the street lamp poles around dawn

Yet again nothing noted

Noted later: a moderate breeze kept the numbers down somewhat
+ = my first sighting of this species this year

Butterflies:
- none

Moths:
- Plain Gold (Micropterix calthella)

Bees / wasps etc.:
- Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Dragon-/damsel-flies:
- Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
- *Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula)
In the grassy areas parallel to the M54 there many hundreds of 'blue' damselflies.

Hoverflies:
- Early or Late Buttercup Cheilosia Cheilosia ranunculi (Early ...) or C. albitarsis (Late ...)
- +*Spring Epistrophe (Epistrophe elegans)
- *Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- Common Spotted Field Syrph (Eupeodes luniger)
- *Blotch-winged Hoverfly (Leucozona lucorum)
- +*Pipiza sp. possibly P. noctiluca

Other flies:
- *Greenbottle, perhaps Lucilia caesar
- Grouse Wing caddis fly (Mystacides longicornis)
- Tiger Cranefly (Nephrotoma flavescens)
- Scorpion Fly Panorpa sp.
- Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)
-. *Green- or Blue-bottle
-. *Three other unidentified fly species

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)
+*soldier beetle Cantharis decipiens
- +*Swollen-thighed Beetle [or thick-legged flower beetle] (Oedemera nobilis)
- +*unidentified rove beetle
Surprisingly no ladybirds as yet

Bugs:
- *nymph of the plant bug Calocoris alpestris
- Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata)

Also
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
- stretch spider Tetragnatha sp.

One that almost got away. This female Great Spotted Woodpecker zoomed across Teece Drive and then shinned up one of the trees lining the entrance to the academy. As it was 06:10 I felt pointing a camera at the school was not likely to be misinterpreted.

Juvenile Long-tailed Tits look rather different from the adults with a larger area of black around the face.

They can look rather fluffy!

A male Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). It is unusual for this species to rest with the wings held slightly apart and give such a clear view of the abdomen markings. Females have varying amounts of additional black markings on the abdominal segments.

Not as I initially thought a Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax). The markings looked unusual but anyway with eyes well apart it is a female and only males of that species are 'tapered'. This looks more 'pointed' than 'tapered' and is my first Spring Epistrophe (Epistrophe elegans) of the year.

A Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) about to close its wings and hide the distinctive abdomen markings.

A very smart Blotch-winged Hoverfly (Leucozona lucorum).

The swollen hind black femur on this hoverfly suggests it is one of the Pipiza species and possibly the most common P. noctiluca. The abdomen markings on this group are variable and separation is not possible from photos.

This may or may not be the Greenbottle Lucilia caesar. There are numerous 'greenbottle' flies in several different families. I saw individuals of three different sizes today. Generally all insects of any species appear to be the same size to the naked eye, though males may differ in size from females.

 I'll leave it you to decide whether this is another greenbottle or a bluebottle!

I am currently mystified by this long-legged fly. I assumed it would be a species of snipe- or dagger- fly but those groups do not have hairy legs. So...

There were several around. Here is another.

Another mystery at the moment. There are not many flies that have a bright yellow scutellum. It looks like a hoverfly though I cannot trace anything similar with narrow yellow bands on the abdomen.

And another. This distinctively-marked fly seems similar in structure to the Muscid house fly group if rather small for that group. I cannot match the pattern on the thorax with any illustrations on the internet.

The markings on the thorax identify this soldier beetle as Cantharis decipiens.

This seems to be a female Swollen-thighed Beetle [or thick-legged flower beetle] (Oedemera nobilis). This species because the elytra (wing cases) are held slightly apart and a female because it lacks the swollen thighs of the male.

The shape of this insect suggests it is a rove beetle. There are over 1000 species in Europe and I have no experience of them at all.

This has been a dual struggle. I have been trying for some days to get a half-decent photo of this insect that I have typically found on nettles. It usually runs away as I approach. But then what is it? Seems it is a nymph of the plant bug Calocoris alpestris.

Two more 'planes of the day'. First another Boeing 747 Jumbo freighter. This one of Silk Way West Airlines of Azerbaijan. The airline name is just about visible under the nose: the aircraft is over seven and a half miles above me!

Here is the FlightRadar24 data for the flight. The Boeing customer code 'R7' indicates this 24 year-old aircraft was ordered by and delivered to Cargolux International Airlines of Luxembourg.

We can't let Boeing have all the planes. This is an Airbus A330 of Kuwait Airways who are following the fashion of painting the airline name under the fuselage. The successful Airbus A330 twin-aisle range of aircraft was updated at the very end of 2018 with the introductions of the 'neo' (new engine option). This is an 800 series, the smaller of the two neo models. This is a 2022-build aircraft configured to seat 235 people.

The FlightRadar24 data shows it almost exactly half way through its journey from the USA to Kuwait. Airbus has never used customer codes as part of the type designation. Here the type designation '41' indicates it has Rolls Royce engines ('4') and it has the first model of that make of engine to be fitted to the type ('1').

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:30 – 07:25

(99th visit of the year)

Thanks to one of the regular dog-walkers for alerting me to an unusual call he had heard. As a result I have added Sedge Warbler to my year list from this site. The bird was singing, uncharacteristically, very sporadically in only short bursts and would have been easy to overlook. It wasn't going to show either. Species #70 for me this year.

Other bird notes:
- I only noted seven Mute Swan cygnets though I only saw them at some distance. It is possible the eighth was riding on the pen's back.
- A party of at least 15 Long-tailed Tits zipped past me. This seems too many for a single family party and may suggest that families are aggregating in to the roaming groups they will keep throughout the Winter.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 2 Jackdaws

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 4 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Blackcaps

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 9 Swifts
- 1 House Martin

Noted on / around the water
- 16 Canada Geese
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 14 (11♂) Mallard: no ducklings
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Peking(?) Duck)
- 4 (2♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhens
- 23+ 5 (2 broods) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

On / around the street lamp poles:

Nothing noted

Noted elsewhere:
- *Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)
- *Common Spotted Field Syrph (Eupeodes luniger)
- *Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)

An Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) seems to be sleeping in the sun.

A Common Spotted Field Syrph hoverfly (Eupeodes luniger) also basks in the early sun.

A Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria) does the same.

(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

2007
Priorslee Lake
Cuckoo
(Ed Wilson)