16 Jun 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

14.0°C > 24.0°C: Much as yesterday. Almost cloudless. Light, mainly easterly breezes. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:46 BST once again: as early as it gets?

* = a photo of this species today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:00 – 06:10 // 07:15 – 09:40

(128th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The adult and two cygnet Mute Swans were on the water at 05:15 after which they retreated to their hidden nest area.
- A trio of Swifts was hunting over the water at 05:30 but had gone by 05:50. Thereafter numerous small groups of up to six birds powered in to drink and move on. How many individuals?
- *A Common Buzzard was circling over the Ricoh wooded area being harassed by a Carrion Crow. It reminded me how scarce buzzards have been in the area this year.
- A Sedge Warbler gave a few strangled notes at the West end and the was quiet.
- An adult and two juvenile Garden Warblers were together at 05:30.
- Two family groups of Common Whitethroats seen.
- Back in April Nuthatch(es) were very vocal at the top end of Teece Drive (opposite the houses). They have been silent for some weeks. Today I heard them calling in the same general area; also at the West end of the lake; and along the North side. I guess they were quiet while breeding and the young have probably now fledged.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 10 Feral Pigeons: together
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 7 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 8 Jackdaws
- 3 Rooks

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 1 (1) Willow Warbler
- 9 (9) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (0) Sedge Warbler
- 12 (11) Reed Warblers
- 12 (11) Blackcaps
- 3 (1) Garden Warblers
- 5 (1) Common Whitethroats

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

Counts from the lake area: it remains very quiet
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 2 (2♂) Mallard
- 2 Moorhens
- 34 + 32 (12 broods) Coots
- 11 + 4 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- *1 Grey Heron: departed

+ = my first sighting of this species here this year.
++ = new species for me at this site.

Noted on and around the street lamp poles around dawn:
- 1 stretch spider Tetragnatha sp.

Noted later:
Somewhat fewer species today as I concentrated on areas I do not always visit

Butterflies:
- Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- +*Comma (Polygonia c-album)

Moths:
- Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana)
- *Small Purple & Gold (Pyrausta aurata)
- Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis)

Bees / wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

Dragon-/damsel-flies:
- *Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
- unidentified dragonfly flying with abdomen curved underneath

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- Common Spotted Field Syrph (Eupeodes luniger)
- +*Common Copperback (Ferdinandea cuprea) [Bronze Sap Hoverfly]
- Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus)
- *Large Narcissus Fly (Merodon equestris)

Other flies:
- Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- *unidentified fly sp.

Beetles:
- Lesser Thick-legged Flower Beetle (Ischnomera cyanea)
- +*tiny black beetles

Bugs:
- *Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus)
*** An updated identification to the Mirid Bug I photographed yesterday. The Shropshire recorder tells me it is Leptopterna dolabrata. Thanks Keith.

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

The sunrise beat me to the water's edge...

Not a very good photo but in my defence they were a long way away. A Common Buzzard twists its neck to look up at the Carrion Crow that was dive-bombing it.

A reflective Grey Heron at dawn.

A recently fledged young wagtail. But what species? Good question. There were six wagtails, all immatures, flying around and one, I thought this one, was calling and obviously a Grey Wagtail. I cannot be sure it was! When just fledges Grey and Pied Wagtails are very similar.

Is this the same one? I cannot be sure. What is in its mouth? I am not sure! I don't think it is sticking its tongue out at me.

My first Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album) of the year.

My second Small Purple & Gold moth (Pyrausta aurata) of the year.

Life is confusing. You might think this ought to be a Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum) but its isn't. When seen from above...

...it is just a Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax). This species also has a stripe down its face. It is more robust and the abdomen somewhat differently marked than the Stripe-faced Dronefly.

A species of hoverfly I do not record every year is this Common Copperback (Ferdinandea cuprea). Also known as the Bronze Sap Hoverfly.

Another hoverfly that can be mistaken for a bumblebee is this Large Narcissus Fly (Merodon equestris). Bees always have more than just stumps as antennae. The larvae of the hoverfly like to eat daffodil bulbs but mostly they eat the bulbs of wild bluebells.

As usual a male Syrphus sp. and hence not separable between S. ribesii and S. vitripennis.

I don't know what species of fly this is. Not that it is dusted in pollen. There is an argument to be made that flies etc. are better at pollination than bees, especially Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), in that they don't take pollen away and store it in hives but just blunder about transferring it between plants.

A freshly-emerged Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) preparing to take its first flight from the 'boxing ring'. I noted several take-offs in just a few minutes.

A Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus) where it ought to be: sitting on a dock leaf.

I'll try and do better. One of the umbels of a Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) had dozens of these tiny black pollen beetles crawling over it. Not sure of the species, the most common species suggested by some internet sites seems to specialise in yellow plants and oil-seed rape in particular.

I think this spider I found on the 'boxing ring' is one of the Larinioides species but this way up I cannot tell which.

A stretch spider Tetragnatha sp. with its legs apart on its web waiting to feel food flying in to the web.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:15 – 07:10

(118th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Not sure why I logged fewer Canada Geese today when many are apparently flightless. They were more scattered which did not help.
- A brood of four Mallard ducklings was seen running around on the edge of the island. They seemed older than any brood I have previously seen this year.
- A Great Crested Grebe was seen in flight on three occasions, always crashing in to the water. With legs so far back for fast swimming this species has no alternative but to belly-flop. I could only ever find two individuals at any one time.

Birds noted flying over here:

None

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 6 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (3) Blackcaps

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 1 Swift

Noted on / around the water
- 113 Canada Geese
- 32 Greylag Geese
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 29 (24♂) + 4 (1 brood) Mallard
- no all-white duck (Peking(?) Duck)
- 15 (9♂) Tufted Duck: of these a pair flew off North
- 5 + 3 (1 new brood) Moorhens
- 22+ 5 (2 broods) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

Noted on / around the street lamp poles around the water:
- *1 Figure of Eighty moth (Tethea ocularis)

Noted elsewhere:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *Common Spotted Field Syrph (Eupeodes luniger)
- +*Humming Syrphus (Syrphus ribesii)

Almost quiet now. This Wren did have a short sing but not to camera.

The most-cleanly marked Figure of Eighty moth (Tethea ocularis) so far. All three I have seen here this year have been on different street lamp poles.

A Common Spotted Field Syrph hoverfly (Eupeodes luniger).

A Humming Syrphus hoverfly (Syrphus ribesii). For once my photo shows the whole of the hind leg which is entirely yellow and so this cannot be the confusion species Glass-winged Syrphus (S. vitripennis).

(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

2008
Priorslee Lake
Spotted Redshank
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)