1 Jul 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

15.0°C > 16.0°C:  Mostly cloudy at low / medium level. Lifted somewhat and threatened to break: but didn't. Moderate / fresh north-westerly breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise:  04:50 BST

* = a species with a photo today

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

++ =  new species for me at this site.

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

(143rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:

- My second Common Sandpiper on return passage here.

- The Cetti's Warbler had more or less returned to full voice today.

Birds noted flying over here:

- 45 Wood Pigeons

- 1 Cormorant

- 1 Jackdaw

Bad to worse

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):

- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler

- 1 (1) Willow Warbler

- 10 (10) Chiffchaffs

- 8 (6) Reed Warblers

- 8 (6) Blackcaps

- 2 (2) Garden Warblers

- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat

Hirundines etc., noted:

- 5 Swifts

- 2 Barn Swallows

- 12 House Martins

Counts from the lake area:

- 2 + 2 Mute Swans

- *12 (?♂) Mallard

- 2 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens

- 27 + 35 (12? broods) Coots

- 8 + 2 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes

- *1 Common Sandpiper

- 2 Black-headed Gulls: adult and first year arrived separately again

Noted on and around the street lamp poles around dawn:

Moths:

-        1 Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis)

-        1*Clouded Border (Lomaspilis marginata): on a different pole to the one seen yesterday

-        1 Round-winged Muslin (Thumatha senex)

-        1 *unidentified moth dead in web

otherwise:

-        1 Common Spotted Field Syrph hoverfly (Eupeodes luniger)

-        1 *Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius)

Noted later: very little in the rain

Butterflies:

-        Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)

-        *Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)

Moths:

-       Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)

-        Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)

Bees / wasps etc.:

-        *Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

-        Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)

-        Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)

-        *Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)

-        Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

-        German Wasp (Vespula germanica)

Hoverflies:

-        Bumblebee Blacklet (Cheilosia illustrata)

-        Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

-        *Plain-faced Dronefly (Eristalis arbustorum)

-        *Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax)

-        Migrant Field Syrph or Migrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae)

-        Common Spotted Field Syrph (Eupeodes luniger)

-        Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta)

-        Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)

Dragon-/damsel-flies:

-        Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)

Other flies:

-        Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)

-        *Grouse Wing caddis fly (Mystacides longicornis)

-        *'punk' fly

Beetles:

-        +*Rough-haired Lagria Beetle (Lagria hirta)

-        Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus)

Bugs:

-        7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata): adult and pupa

-        *plant bug to be identified

Also

-        White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

-        ++*flowers of Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus)

-        ++*flowers probably of Corn Chamomile (Anthemis arvensis)

A Common Sandpiper stands on one leg and contemplates a sleeping Mallard. I think a duck Mallard.

A rather scruffy group of Mallard. Hard to sex when they are at this stage of their moult. The colour of the bill - greenish-yellow on drakes; brown on ducks - is the most reliable was to separate them at the moment.

A Meadow Brown butterfly (Maniola jurtina). A dark specimen. I had thought you could sex individuals by the extent of the orange in the forewing but the NatureSpot suggests not.

Another Clouded Border moth (Lomaspilis marginata). Good to see this attractive moth again.

A Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) with a good load of pollen on its pollen baskets and also a significant dusting of pollen all over its body as it feeds on Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria).

An Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) buries itself in the yellow flowers of Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis). This bee has lost most of the hair on the thorax (known as its 'pile') through wear.

A male Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax).

Another male hoverfly. With white bands across the abdomen I thought it would be a Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum). But...

It doesn't have a very obvious stripe on the face so it must be a Plain-faced Dronefly (Eristalis arbustorum).

Another view of it with its tongue buried in to one flower of Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium).

I have not seen as many Grouse Wing caddis flies (Mystacides longicornis) as usual. I noted tow today, one dead and this one with the antennae a blur in the stiff breeze.

Pity the front of the 'punk' fly is not quite sharp. How spiky can you get?

A Rough-haired Lagria Beetle (Lagria hirta).

 I'll have to further investigate this plant bug.

A Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius) wrapping up an unidentified moth.

A week or so ago I showed the Common Poppies (Papaver rhoeas) sprouting from the ground disturbed by the construction of the skateboard park. There are more flowers sprouting up...

This is a Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus). It is a while since I saw this much declined species that does not survive under modern farming techniques.

I am less sure about this flower. Probably Corn Chamomile (Anthemis arvensis) and certainly very aromatic. But there are other chamomile species and they are not easy to tell apart.

 Plane(?) of the day. The registration (G-GTFC) is kinda hard to read under the wing. That identifies it as a P & M Aviation built Pegasus Quik, a make of weight-shift flex-wing. The pilot in the pod moves around and uses what appear to be handlebars to control the angle of wing and hence where the aircraft goes. The intrepid owner lives in Leeds and was flying out of the small airstrip near Shifnal.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash:  06:30 – 07:25

(132nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:

- No Mallard ducklings seen and many of the juvenile Moorhens and Coots seemed to be sheltering from the breeze.

- The first Black-headed Gull of, er, Autumn here.

Birds noted flying over here:

None

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):

- 7 (7) Chiffchaffs

- 2 (2) Blackcaps

Hirundines etc., noted:

- 6 Swifts

- 6 House Martins

Noted on / around the water

- 142 Canada Geese

- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose

- 54 Greylag Geese

- 3 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans

- 21 (?♂) Mallard: no ducklings seen

- no all-white feral duck.

- 12 (?♂) Tufted Duck

- 3 Moorhens

- 21 + 4 (2 broods) Coots

- 2 Great Crested Grebe

- 1 Black-headed Gull

- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on / around the street lamp poles around the water:

-        *1 Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare): I suppose they have to sleep somewhere

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

-        Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)

-        Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni): adults and larvae

-        *a dead Common Carp floating in the water.

 Disappointed not to get a chance to sing for the blog yesterday the Wren had a go today.

A male Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare) asleep on one of the street lamp poles.

A dead Common Carp

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash:

-        newly fledged Starlings (second / replacement brood) in trees.

Moths on street lamp poles:

-        1 Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis)

-        ++*1 Small Blood-vein (Scopula imitaria)

-        *1 Riband Waves (Idaea aversata)

also

-       +Rough-haired Lagria Beetle (Lagria hirta)

-        7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata): pupae

This is a Riband Wave moth (Idaea aversata) of the form remutata where the centre band is not filled-in.

I thought this was a Riband Wave with the centre band. But hold on. The band is only partially filled in; there is a prominent dark spot in the centre of the wing; and the wings are a subtly different shape. It is a new moth species for me: a Small Blood-vein (Scopula imitaria).

(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 Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Drake Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)