3 Jun 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 13.0°C: Another overcast start with the cloud breaking after 08:30 – earlier than for many days. Lighter easterly wind. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:51 BST

* = a photo of this species today

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

(117th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Highlight today was the probability of juvenile Great Crested Grebes. Still hiding on the parent's back so I cannot be 100% sure yet.
- In the almost traffic-free start to the day a Yellowhammer singing to the East could be heard from the dam-top.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 24 Canada Geese: all inbound in four straggling groups
- 3 Greylag Geese: inbound together
- 2 Feral Pigeons: together
- 5 Stock Doves: single and duo
- 3 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Black-headed Gull
- 1 Herring Gull
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 4 Jackdaws
- 1 Sparrowhawk

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

Hirundines etc., noted:
- c.15 Swifts
- 2 House Martins

Counts from the lake area: it remains very quiet
- 20 Canada Geese: arrived more or less together: possibly some of those that had flown over a few minutes earlier
- 2 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 2 (2♂) Mallard: again also a pair on a house roof in Teece Drive
- 3 Moorhens
- 26 + 10 (5 broods) Coots
- *9 + ? (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- *2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

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

Noted on and around the street lamp poles at dawn:
- *White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda)
- *mayfly, probably a Pond Olive (Cloeon dipterum)
- several small flies
- female plumed midge (Chironomus plumosus)
- *a male midge

Noted later: when the wind is in the east it blows on to the sunny areas keeping the insect numbers low.

Butterflies:
- ++*Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas)

Moths:
- *Timothy Tortrix (Zelotherses paleana)
- Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata)

Bees / wasps etc.:
- *Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
- *Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- *Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum): including a nest
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Dragon-/damsel-flies:
- Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)

Hoverflies:
- +*Snouted Duckfly (Anasimyia lineata)
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
- Migrant Field Syrph or Migrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae)
- *Bumblebee Plumehorn (Volucella bombylans)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)

Other flies:
- Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- *Grouse Wing caddis fly (Mystacides longicornis)
- Scorpion Fly Panorpa sp.
- Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)
- *++click beetle sp. possibly Athous haemorrhoidalis

Bugs:
- Red-and-Black Froghopper (Cercopis vulnerata)

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

Noted between the lake and The Flash:
- *Moorhens with juveniles at both pools as usual
- *A family party of Nuthatches at the upper pool. The usual nest site near the primary academy was inspected but did not seem to be used this year. Earlier in the year birds were heard calling from the Ricoh copse and this is the likely source for this family.

Also
- *a Common Pug moth (Eupithecia vulgata) was on the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel

I am sure this Great Crested Grebe is sheltering tiny juveniles on its back. I never managed to see any.

Its wing-moulting time for the large gulls. This immature Lesser Black-backed Gull is missing several of its inner primaries.

For once one of the many singing Reed Warblers deigned to put in an appearance.

 Singing away. Not with so much gusto as Wrens!

My highlight of the morning was my first-ever Small Copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas) at this site. I took a precautionary shot in case it flew away.

It allowed me to reposition for a proper photo. I have often wondered why I have not seen it. Now I have.

I usually only see this Timothy Tortrix moth (Zelotherses paleana) as I flush it from grass at dawn whence it flies in to the distance and buries itself again in the grass. Today I flushed this in daytime and it stayed in view. Not much to look at. The pale yellow flush around its shoulders is about the only feature. 'Timothy' in this context refers to the type of grass the roots of which the larvae / caterpillars eat.

Today's White Ermine moth (Spilosoma lubricipeda), not at such a friendly angle for a photo as the one four days ago.

With a ginger thorax and white tail this is a Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum). This species arrived in the UK in 2001 after a rapid spread across Europe and is now established across much of Great Britain.

A Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius).

Difficult to photograph was this nest of Early Bumblebees (Bombus pratorum) buried in vegetation on the ground. I read there may be up to 100 individuals in a nest.

Look: bumblebees really can fly! An Early Bumblebee shows how.

A hoverfly I do not record every year is this Snouted Duckfly (Anasimyia lineata).

Not a bumblebee as it has short antennae. It is a Bumblebee Plumehorn (Volucella bombylans form 'Plumata').

This mayfly is probably a Pond Olive (Cloeon dipterum) though I don't really know how to separate the species other than knowing that some species have one tail, some (as here) two tails and others three.

A Grouse Wing caddis fly (Mystacides longicornis) I found on the wall of the sailing club HQ. Against the background the long antennae can be better appreciated.

A 'plumed midge' but not I think a Chironomus plumosus as the abdomen seems too narrow, too long and is not obviously banded.

I think this may be the click beetle Athous haemorrhoidalis. Probably a new species for me: certainly one I have not previously identified as such.

Plane(?) of the day. It is a Raj Hamsa X'Air. You may not be surprised to learn this is a home-build kit plane of Indian design. Its owner lives in Denbigh and it was flying out of the small strip near Shifnal. It made it at least as far as Sleap Airfield near Wem where I saw it on the ground later.

Between the lake and The Flash

On the upper pool the juvenile Moorhens are now well-grown.

One of the family party of Nuthatches that were bouncing around in the trees. Not sure whether this is a juvenile or not. There is certainly no sign of a gape line.

Perhaps the same bird. Perhaps not.

A party of Long-tailed Tits was moving through the same trees. This, I think a juvenile. It certainly has a ragged tail.

A virtually unmarked pug moth on the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel. I think a Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata).

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:20 – 07:10

(108th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The post-breeding increase in goose numbers continues. *One of the Greylag Geese was already in advanced wing-moult.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Jackdaws

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

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 8 Swifts
- 2 House Martins

Noted on / around the water
- 52 Canada Geese
- *23 Greylag Goose
- 3 + 4 Mute Swans:
- 24 (21♂) Mallard
- [no all-white duck (Peking(?) Duck) seen]
- 12 (8♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens
- 23+ 6 (5 broods) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes

On / around the street lamp poles:
Nothing noted

Noted elsewhere:
- Alder Leaf Beetles (Agelastica alni): in a sheltered spot

This Greylag Goose has started to moult its wing feathers, especially those in the left wing.

The missing feathers mean that when the wing is folded the white rump and tail are more visible.

A Song Thrush: but what is it doing? Various sources suggest that when thrushes (and blackbirds) cock their heads like this the are listening for prey moving in the soil. Others claim that with eyes at the side of their head all they are doing is looking down. Whatever.

(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

2009
Priorslee Lake
Oystercatcher
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Possible Marsh Harrier
11 Reed Warblers
(Ed Wilson)