13 Jun 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

16.0°C > 22.0°C: Some medium level cloud melted away leaving it wall-to-wall blue skies. Light to moderate easterly breeze. Very good visibility. Fresher feeling.

Sunrise: 04:46 BST again

* = a photo of this species today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:05 – 06:15 // 07:30 – 09:40

(125th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- More strange behaviour by the Mute Swan. Just one adult emerged from around the hidden nest site.
- Great Crested Grebes continue to confuse - as ever. At 05:30 there were none visible on the water with probably two heard calling from reeds. Later I managed to see nine adults and the four juveniles. I suspect at least one more was lurking and perhaps other(s) on nests.
- The Sedge Warbler was singing lustily again from its new location but again only first thing.
- As well as birds seen in flight and heard calling at the West end a Mistle Thrush was singing for a while from near the Castle Farm Interchange.
- I think the reason there are still so many Starlings around (29 today) is that the residents around the estate are having a second brood. The RSPB site says "Normally, only one brood is raised in a year, but if the first clutch is laid early and is successful, a second clutch may follow."
- No fewer than five juvenile Pied Wagtails were around the boat launching area with just one adult accompanying them. A larger than usual brood? Or two families?

Birds noted flying over here:
- 8 Canada Geese: outbound together
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 2 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Cormorants: together
- 3 Jackdaws

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

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

Counts from the lake area: it remains very quiet
- 1 Canada Goose: arrived; departed and presumed same returned
- 1 Mute Swan only seen
- no Mallard
- 2 Moorhens
- 34 + 20 (9 broods) Coots: two of these were new broods
- 9 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes

+ = my first sighting of this species here this year.

++ = new species for me at this site.

On and around the street lamp poles around dawn:

Nothing noted. It has been a very disappointing year around the lamp poles

Noted later:
Apart from masses of bumblebees and a blue haze of damselflies it was another quiet day for insects. Too hot? Too breezy?

Butterflies:
- Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
- Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

Moths:
- Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana)

Bees / wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
-. Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
- *Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Dragon-/damsel-flies:
- Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis)
- unidentified 'blue' dragonfly in flight only
- *Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- *Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- *Common Spotted Field Syrph (Eupeodes luniger)
- Large Narcissus Fly (Merodon equestris)

Other flies:
- Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)

Beetles:
- *Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

Bugs:
- none

Also
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
- +*Broad-leaved Willowherb (Epilobium montanum)

All this early cloud soon melted away.

The family of Great Crested Grebes. Often one of the four juveniles seems to wander off: the same one?

A bumblebee species I had not photographed for a while is Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). And I am not surprised as it was very active flying around.

A pair of Common Blue Damselflies (Enallagma cyathigerum) in the 'mating wheel' position, the female positioned to collect the male's sperm as he holds her in his claspers at tip of his abdomen. Meanwhile a male Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) slightly out of focus in the foreground.

Two for the price of one: at the bottom a Common Spotted Field Syrph hoverfly (Eupeodes luniger). At the top a male Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

A slightly different angle on a male Swollen-thighed Beetle shows its abdomen colour, normally hidden by the elytra (wing cases).

The first flowers of Broad-leaved Willowherb (Epilobium montanum) this year.

Plane of the day #1: A Singapore Airlines Cargo Boeing 747-412 en route from Los Angeles to Brussels. Unusually this was built as a freighter and delivered new to Singapore Airlines in 2006 though the airline has also converted some of its passenger configured aircraft to be freighters. A word about vapour trails / con(densation)trails. These are ice crystals (clouds) that form from water from the engine's exhaust. For any given atmospheric condition there is an upper and lower level between which trails appear. The upper level is rarely above 45000' and the lower level rarely below 28000'. Typically they occur when an aircraft is cruising between 41000' and 31000'. Some days the two levels coincide and there will be no visible trails. Trails are usually more obvious early in the morning. The composition of the engine exhaust is exactly the same whether there are trails or not - just as your breath is the same whether you can see it in chilly weather: or not.

Plane of the day #2: a familiar site in our area is the bright red West Midlands Air Ambulance en route from an incident to PRH in Telford or perhaps Stafford Hospital. This Airbus Helicopters-built Eurocopter EC 145T2 is operated for the charity by Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore Ltd. (Bond Helicopters as was) headquartered at Gloucestershire Airport (Staverton as was).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:20 – 07:25

(115th visit of the year)

New for my this year's bird list here was a Mistle Thrush calling as it flew over. 2023 bird species #71 here.

Other bird notes:
- Yesterday I noted "As yet none of the geese assembling to moult has been a hybrid Canada x Greylag". One was being chased on to the island by the cob Mute Swan. My first 'hybrid' this year.
- A lone juvenile Coot from what had been a brood of at least four was possibly predated by a fish as I walked past. A big splash, a noisy adult Coot and I could no longer see the juvenile. It is just possible it was spooked by fish spawning and had dived for cover, though spawning is about over here (still going on at the lake).
- All the four Great Crested Grebes were seen in open water with no sign of juveniles.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Cormorant
- 7 Starlings: together
- 1 Mistle Thrush

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

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

Noted on / around the water
- 146 Canada Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 25 Greylag Geese
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 32 (24♂) Mallard
- no all-white duck (Peking(?) Duck)
- 11 (6♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 24+ 6 (3 broods) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes

Noted on / around the street lamp poles around the water:
- *1 Garden Grass-veneer moth (Chrysoteuchia culmella)

Elsewhere:
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- *Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus)
- +*first flowers of Biting Stonecrop (Sedum acre)

A distant Cormorant fly-by. This adult still has a trace of the white thigh-patch from the breeding season.

A small moth at an awkward distance at the top of a lamp pole. The camera would not focus when zoomed in: yet when zoomed out the image was too small. Nevertheless there is enough detail visible with the V-shaped mark at the rear of the wing identifying it as the very common Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella).

Yesterday I saw one of these weevils and wondered where the 'snout' had gone from what otherwise looked like a Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus). Here are two mating. Looking at more photos on the internet I now think they are indeed Nettle Weevils

I see this attractive plant every year growing on the wall that separates Derwent Drive from the water. It is Biting Stonecrop (Sedum acre).

A bit of a cheat. I found this moth in my house last evening. It is a Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis). I should be seeing a few on lamp posts soon, probably not allowing me to get so close.

(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

2013
Priorslee Flash
1 Greylag x Canada Goose
(Ed Wilson)