14 Jul 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

14.0°C: Steadily lowering cloud with rain after 07:00. Light south-south-easterly breeze. Very good visibility, moderate after rain started.

Sunrise: 05:03 BST

A rain-abbreviated visit affecting mainly numbers from the lake.

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 04:55 – 05:35 // 06:40 – 08:00

(152nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- When I arrived only nine Mallard seen. 17 together later
- No juvenile Great Crested Grebe seen from first brood. A single juvenile from the second brood seen clambering back on the adult's back out of the rain: possibly other(s) already on the adult's back.

Count of birds noted flying over here:
- 7 Greylag Geese: together
- 2 (?♂) Mallard
- 11 Racing Pigeons: together
- 54 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Collared Dove
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
** numbers affected by rain.
- 1 Cetti's Warbler: muttering only
- 10 (9) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (3) Reed Warblers
- 5 (5) Blackcaps

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 10 Swifts: early only
- 8 House Martins

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 17 (?♂) Mallard
- no Moorhens
- 60 Coots
- 6 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 19 Black-headed Gulls: most (all?) adults: 14 of these on the football field c.05:30
- 1 Herring Gull: adult, briefly
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult, briefly
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

Noted on and around the street lamp poles around dawn:

Moths:
- *1 micro-moth to be identified
- ++*1 Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (Noctua fimbriata)
and:
- *1 unidentified midge
- 1 unidentified beetle

Noted later:

Butterflies:
- none

Moths:
- Common Grass-veneer (Agriphila tristella)
- +Mother of Pearl (Patania ruralis): no photo – it flew away.

Bees / wasps etc.:
- none

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

Dragon-/damsel-flies:
- unidentified dragonfly

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni) larvae only

Bugs:
- none

Also
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

As good as it got this morning. The high cloud here soon filled in and then lowered ahead of rain by 07:00.

A juvenile Grey Wagtail. On this species of wagtail the tail is almost as long as the rest of the bird.

A micro-moth found on one of the street lamp poles at the West end. I am going to need the recorder's help to identify this.

This moth was also on one of the street lamp poles at the West end is my first record of a Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing moth (Noctua fimbriata). It is a common-enough moth but like many noctuid moths (larger moths that fold their wings over their backs) they tend to come to light early in the night and then hide away later. So I do not find too many.

 A distinctively marked midge that I cannot match with any pictures on the internet.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:40 – 06:35

(141st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Some of the geese at least seem to have found their new wings. A group of nine Greylags were seen in strong flight across the water.
- The Mute Swan cygnets were noted as two duos, well separated from each other and from their equally well-separated adults.
- Black-headed Gulls slowly returning.
- Kingfisher heard only.

Birds noted flying over here:

None

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

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 4 Swifts

Noted on / around the water
- 139 Canada Geese
- 84 Greylag Geese
- no Canada x Greylag Goose
- 3 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 22 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck.
- 9 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 + 6 (4 broods) Moorhens
- ? + 6 (2 broods) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 4 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Kingfisher: heard only

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

Moths:
- *1 Engrailed (Ectropis crepuscularia)

also:
- 2 Alder Leaf Beetles (Agelastica alni): adults

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni): larvae only

An Engrailed moth (Ectropis crepuscularia) on one of the street lamp poles.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the lake and The Flash on / around street lamp poles:

Moths:
- *1 Little Grey (Eudonia lacustrata)
- *1 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata)
- *1 Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata)

and:
- 1 Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *+fairy-ring

Another Little Grey moth (Eudonia lacustrata). Currently this is the most frequently encountered 'grey' moth, each species having slightly different, but overlapping, flight periods.

A difficult-to-get-at Small Fan-footed Wave moth (Idaea biselata) on one of the metal poles of the fence around the academy. It was in the darkest part and behind vegetation. I needed to use the flash to illuminate it. The shadow is that of a branch between the flash head and the moth. The camera lens had an unobstructed view.

Perhaps the best specimen of a Single-dotted Wave moth (Idaea dimidiata) I have photographed this year.

Circling around the left side is a ring of small fungus – a fairy-ring. The ring itself is often, as here, characterised by bare soil from which the fungus emerges. The inside of the ring is characterised by greener and more luxuriant grass due to the work of the mycelium in enhancing the nitrogen levels. Over the years the ring can sometimes increase in diameter. Several species of fungus can produce such rings, usually in Autumn.

(Ed Wilson)

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Priorslee Avenue tunnel

Nothing noted

(Ed Wilson)

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Out and About

Having been away for a few days here are a few images of what I have been up to.

On Monday I was on the Wirral as it started to rain. Barn Swallows were hunting along the sheltered area of the sea-wall as Hoylake. They also found a flatter area around a sluice where they could sit. I think this is a juvenile. There seems to be the hint of a gape-line and there are no tail-streamers.

 Two sheltering here.

A juvenile Starling in flight.

And here feeding on the sea wall. Still no spots at this age. Note the bandit-mask around the eye.

A green-eyes fly was on the outside of the car window.

Staying with friends several miles inland I was astonished to see this group of four Spoonbills fly over on Tuesday.

The ferry across the Mersey provided an opportunity to see some, mainly, Herring Gulls. Here is a juvenile (born this year). On the right wing you can see the inner primaries are being replaced as it moults in to first winter plumage.

Perhaps the same bird in flight. Certainly the same plumage state. Note the all black bill at this age.

This is a first summer (born 2022) is moulting in to second winter plumage. On the left wing there are seven new inner primaries the outer two still growing.

A similarly-aged bird showing just five new primary feathers. The back and the central panel in the wings are adult coloured.

And now a second summer (born 2021) moulting in to third winter plumage. Still some spotting in the tail.

Change of scene. On Thursday I was watching gliders at Husbands Bosworth airfield near Leicester. Linnets are not easy to approach but this one briefly perched close-enough to distract me.

This species is even more richly coloured at the start of the breeding season. This one is rather worn after all the hard work of raising a family. It will soon moult and become even less colourful. Most finch-type birds perform an annual moult in late Summer. Their new feathers have buff tips which wear away during Autumn and Winter to reveal their breeding finery in Spring.

(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

2012
Priorslee Lake
Common Tern
Possible Otter
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
A female Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
A drake Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
Common/Arctic Tern
(Martin Adlam)