Friends of Priorslee Lake Wildlife Site: 17 Jul 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

12.0°C > 15.0°C: A mostly cloudy start; clearer to the South. A rain shower c.08:15. Then mostly sunny. Light / moderate south-westerly wind. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 05:07 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 04:50 – 05:45 // 06:55 – 09:05

(154th visit of the year)

Note that over the next few days contractors working for Severn Trent will be mowing some areas of long grass, mainly in the south-west area. Mown grass will be left in situ for a week or so to allow seed to ripen and fall to the ground. It will then be cleared away. This is part of work to create more diverse habitats around the lake and encourage a range of plants that have been denied light by the grasses. Some of the grassy area will remain untouched. It is over 20 years since the last regular maintenance of some of these areas.

The paths around the lake are to have the encroaching vegetation cut back somewhat to provide a more pleasant experience after rain (you could always wear a waterproof!).

Bird notes:
- *I only noted two juveniles from the original Great Crested Grebe brood. One juvenile was noted with the second brood adult pair, these adults having a serious fight with another two adults (see photos). No juveniles seen with these two. The possible third brood at the West end provided no confirmed sighting of any juveniles.
- Two Sparrowhawks in the air together certainly a male and a female on size. Either or both could have been juveniles from the known local nest site.
- A warbler was heard calling loudly from the area where, if it has nested, the otherwise silent Cetti's Warbler is most likely to be. I could equally well have been a Reed Warbler alarm-calling and nothing was seen.
- I commented about ten days ago that I had failed to hear any Blackbirds singing for the first time since February. Typically one or two birds have been heard many days since then. Two this morning.

Count of birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Greylag Geese: singles outbound
- 3 Feral Pigeons: together
- 73 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Collared Doves: together
- 2 Sparrowhawks: together
- 7 Jackdaws
- 1 Rooks
- 5 Starlings
No overflying gulls again

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- possible Cetti's Warbler: see notes
- 12 (6) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (2) Reed Warblers
- 5 (5) Blackcaps

Hirundines etc., noted:
- c.25 Swifts early; fewer later
- 8 House Martins

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 19 (?♂) Mallard
- 2 + 3 (3 broods) Moorhen
- 64 Coots: including one juvenile from a new brood not seen before
- *8 + >3 (>2? broods) Great Crested Grebes: see notes
- 1 Common Sandpiper: flushed c.05:10 and not seen again.
- 28 Black-headed Gulls: all adults on the football field c.05:30. Only five (of these?) seen later at the lake.
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: worn possible adults

Noted on and around the street lamp poles around dawn:

Moths:
- 1 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata)

and:
- 1 White-legged Snake Millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger)

Noted later:
Most things, including me, retired at the start of the heavy shower!

Butterflies:
- Green-veined White (Pieris napi)

Moths:
- Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner (Cameraria ohridella): first imago (flying insect)
- Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- +*Satin Grass-veneer (Crambus perlella)

Bees / wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- *unidentified presumed sawfly sp.
- *unidentified presumed ichneumon sp.

Hoverflies:
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum)
- Common Spotted Field Syrph (Eupeodes luniger)
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
- *White-clubbed Glasswing (Scaeva pyrastri) [was Pied Hoverfly]
- Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)

Dragon-/damsel-flies:
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)

Other flies:
- greenbottles etc., *etc.

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni)
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
- *Rough-haired Lagria Beetle (Lagria hirta)
- dozens of unidentified small beetles: as yesterday

Bugs:
- ++*plant bug Campyloneura virgula

Also
- *White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
- +first edible Blackberries of the year
- +*Pineappleweed or Wild Chamomile (Matricaria discoidea)
- +fairy ring at East end.

Not an inspiring start to the day.

The second pair of Great Crested Grebes with their one surviving juvenile. The rather strange posture is because there was another pair of adults in close attendance.

Here is what I assume to be the mother and juvenile. She later smoothed her back and I was able to confirm no more juveniles were having a ride.

A fight ensued between what I assume were the two males.

It looked serious stuff. You could easily get an eye poked out.

I have never seen anything like this behaviour before. Normally all you see are underwater chasing with birds dispersing.

Spectacular to see. Less so to participate I would think.

Mother and juvenile look on...

...as battle continues.

Take that!

And that. At this point they separated and went their own ways apparently with only wounded pride. One day I'll remember to press the video button though I suspect in this instance the sequence of stills is probably more interesting.

An uninspiring photo of an uninspiring grass moth. It is my first Satin Grass-veneer (Crambus perlella) of the year. This moth comes in two forms: this apparently all-white form in fact has faint shadow markings that are prominent on the less-frequently encountered form.

A sleeping Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) hanging on to a swaying Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris).

I am fairly certain this is a species of sawfly. There are so many to chose from! It is not a very good photo, taken during the rain. I have kept because...

... I was not expecting the side-view to look like this!

This is more likely to be an ichneumon with its long antennae. Despite its small size it was darting around the leaves, waving those antennae, a typical ichneumon trait. Again I cannot be more specific.

The old name of Pied Hoverfly for this species seems more apposite than White-clubbed Glasswing (Scaeva pyrastri). If you look closely under the rear of the hoverfly you can see part of a shell of a White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis).

Yet another species of fly I cannot begin to identify. This was a small fly.

Braving the rain was this Rough-haired Lagria Beetle (Lagria hirta).

A new plant bug for me. It goes by the scientific name of Campyloneura virgula. It has unusually long and two-tones antennae.

A plant I have been meaning to photograph for several days but always seemed to get distracted. It is Pineappleweed or Wild Chamomile (Matricaria discoidea).

Plane of the day: I may have done this before. It is a AgustaWestland AW109SP GrandNew registered to a company with a London W1 address. I read that it operates out of a private site in the Reading area.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:50 – 06:50

(142nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- No Black-headed Gulls at all here: most odd.

Birds noted flying over here:
- 2 Jackdaws

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 5 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Blackcap

Hirundines etc., noted:
- 4 Swifts
- House Martin(s) heard while I was counting geese but not seen later.

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

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

Moths:
- *1 possible Red-barred Tortrix (Ditula angustiorana)
- 2 Little Grey (Eudonia lacustrata)

other things:
- *unidentified larva / caterpillar

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- ++*cranefly-like insect Ptychoptera contaminata
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni): adult

The closest match I can make for this micro-moth is a faded male Red-barred Tortrix (Ditula angustiorana). Not a species I have seen too often and I will ask the Shropshire micro-moth recorder to confirm or re-identify.

A very distinctive insect that looks like a cranefly. It isn't. It belongs to the family Ptychopteridae or Phantom Craneflies and is known only as Ptychoptera contaminata.

A larva / caterpillar also 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 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata)

and:
- 1 Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- 1 owl midge Psychodidae sp.
I will not specifically mention the fairy ring that will probably be present for weeks.

(Ed Wilson)

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Noted in the Priorslee Avenue tunnel

Moths:
- *1 Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata)
- *1 Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata)
- *1 Double-striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufifasciata)

Other things
- 2 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)