12.0°C > 14.0°C: Mostly cloudy with a few breaks. Also two light passing showers. Moderate south-westerly breeze. Very good visibility.
Sunrise: 04:52 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 – 06:15 // 07:20 – 09:40
(145th visit of the year)
Bird notes:
- I did not locate any juvenile Great Crested Grebes today. Perhaps they were sheltering from the wind.
Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 51 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 1 Jackdaw
Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 1 (1) Willow Warbler
- 9 (9) Chiffchaffs
- 8 (8) Reed Warblers
- 5 (5) Blackcaps
- 2 (2) Garden Warblers
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat
Hirundines etc., noted:
- c.40 Swifts: mainly early
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 4 House Martins
Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 10 (?♂) Mallard: [yesterday's figure should have read '11 (?♂)' and not '1 (?♂)']
- 1 + 3 (2 broods) Moorhen
- 32 + 39 (? broods) Coots
- 7 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Black-headed Gull: first year throughout
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: both adults, briefly, separately
- 1 Grey Heron: departed
Noted on and around the street lamp poles around dawn:
Moths:
- 1 Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis)
- 1 *+Barred Red (Hylaea fasciaria)
otherwise:
- 2 Leiobunum rotundum harvestmen
Noted later in breezy, cool and mostly cloudy conditions:
Butterflies:
- Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
- Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
- *Comma (Polygonia c-album)
Moths:
- Common Marble (Celypha lacunana)
- *Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- +Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba): got away!
Bees / wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
- *Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
- Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
- Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
Hoverflies:
- Bumblebee Blacklet (Cheilosia illustrata)
- Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
- *Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum)
- Migrant Field Syrph or Migrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae)
- Common Spotted Field Syrph (Eupeodes luniger)
- *Tiger Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus)
- Common Twist-tail (Sphaerophoria scripta)
- Syrphus sp. (S. ribesii / S. vitripennis)
- Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens)
Dragon-/damsel-flies:
- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
- Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
Other flies:
- Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
- Dagger fly Empis tessellata
- Semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus
Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni): larvae
- *Rough-haired Lagria Beetle (Lagria hirta)
- *Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
Bugs:
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata): adults
Also
- *+unidentified spider sp
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
Newly photographed flowers:
- *+Rosebay Willowherb or Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium)
- *+Hairy Tare (Vicia hirsuta).
About as good as it got most of the time: broken cloud.
A butterfly I always like to see is Comma (Polygonia c-album).
And when they pose like this how could I resist.
line toward the rear of the wing. Only the camera would pick that up.
A very washed out and sleepy Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum).
A rather better specimen with the conspicuous yellow band across the midriff.
The only drone fly I noted today and rather a puzzle at that. It looks hairy-enough to be a bee though the short antennae dictate otherwise. Searching Steven Falk's Flickr photos there are several
female Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum) that look this hairy and with very little orange marking on the abdomen.
female Stripe-faced Dronefly (Eristalis nemorum) that look this hairy and with very little orange marking on the abdomen.
'Stripe-faced' indeed!
Perhaps a better photo of a Rough-haired Lagria Beetle (Lagria hirta).
Another in my growing collection of photos of unidentified spiders.
Plane of the day. With a bit of tweaking I was able to reveal the registration painted under the cabin. This enabled me to identify it as a AgustaWestland AW109SP GrandNew registered to Hadleigh
Aviation LLP. with a London W1 address. Which doesn't tell me much.
(Ed Wilson)
The Flash: 06:20 – 07:15
Aviation LLP. with a London W1 address. Which doesn't tell me much.
(Ed Wilson)
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The Flash: 06:20 – 07:15
(134th visit of the year)
*A most unusual experience. As I was walking past the back of the academy to start my circumnavigation I met a walker, her dog on its lead with an almost full-grown Canada Goose gosling waddling along behind. The walker told me that the gosling has been walking toward Priorslee Avenue but saw her and tagged along. She said that her dog usually chased geese but it was ignoring the gosling. The gosling promptly transferred its attentions to me and followed me to Derwent Drive where I tried to persuade it in to the water. It seemed disinterested in taking to the water and stayed looking confused in the middle of the road. The question arises as to where it came from. During the breeding season no goslings survived for more than a few days old either here or at the Balancing Lake.
Other bird notes:
- Another very new brood of Coots. Some of the earlier broods seem to have disappeared.
Birds noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 3 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Blackcaps
Hirundines etc., noted:
- 2 House Martins
Noted on / around the water
- 161 Canada Geese
- 62 Greylag Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Geese
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 21 (?♂) Mallard: no ducklings seen
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck.
- 18 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 22 + 12 (5 broods) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Grey Heron: departed
Noted on / around the street lamp poles around the water:
- 1 Common Grey (Scoparia ambigualis)
- 1 Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- 1 *Small Fan-footed Wave (Idaea biselata)
Noted elsewhere around The Flash:
Dull and windy here.
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni): larvae
- *+Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni): larvae
- *+Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
Here is the Canada Goose gosling that followed me around.
Two Common Red Soldier Beetles (Rhagonycha fulva) getting friendly here as well as at the lake.
(Ed Wilson)
Between the lake and The Flash on / around street lamp poles:
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Between the lake and The Flash on / around street lamp poles:
Moths:
- 1 *Little Grey (Eudonia lacustrata)
- 1 *+Treble Brown Spot (Idaea trigeminata)
- 1 *+Small Dusty Wave (Idaea seriata)
and:
- 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata): pupa
...such as this Small Dusty Wave (Idaea seriata) (and the Small Fan-footed Wave seen at The Flash)
(Ed Wilson)
Note
And some catching up courtesy of the Shropshire micro-moth recorder.
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And some catching up courtesy of the Shropshire micro-moth recorder.
Thanks Mike.
(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
Grasshopper Warbler reeling
(Ed Wilson)
2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Common Sandpipers
2 drake Ruddy ducks
(Ed Wilson)