10 Sep 23

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

17.0°C > 20.0°C: Early broken medium level cloud filled in with rain after 08:15. Cleared c.09:00 with a few sunny intervals. Humid again. Light and variable breeze. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:35 BST

+ = my first sighting of this species at this site this year.
++ = new species for me at this site.
* = a species photographed today

Best today was a duck Shoveler at The Flash. The Tawny Owl was calling again near the Priorslee Avenue tunnel.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:20 – 06:50 // 07:50 – 09:40

(186th visit of the year)

Bird notes:

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 81 Canada Geese: 38 outbound in six groups; 43 inbound in six groups
- 55 Greylag Geese: 17 outbound together; 38 inbound together
- 1 Stock Dove
- 31 Wood Pigeons
- 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 19 large gulls: none visited the lake
- 7 Jackdaws
- 74 Rooks
- 2 Pied Wagtails
- 4 Greenfinches: together

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 10 (4) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (1) Blackcaps

Hirundines etc., noted:
- House Martin(s) heard high over c.08:00: not located

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- no Mallard
- 2 Moorhens
- 95 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- *151 Black-headed Gulls on the football field c.06:30, one of these a very recently fledged juvenile. A maximum of 21 seen at the lake later
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: three of these, two adults and one first winter, on the football field c.06:30
- 1 Grey Heron: only seen c.08:10

On or around the street lamp poles at dawn:

Moths:
- none

Other things:
- *1 Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris)
- 2 small ichneumon sps.
- *1 cranefly Tipula paludosa
- - 1 plumed midge (Microtendipes pedellus)
- 2 other green-bodied midges
- 1 Muscid fly Phaonia pallida
- *several unidentified flies
- 1 springtail Pogonognathellus longicornis
- 1 Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes)
- *2 Clubiona sp. spiders
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider (Larinioides sclopetarius)
- 2 Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus harvestman

Around the sailing club HQ or in the sailing club shelter:
Nothing unusual

Noted later: most things hiding from the rain

Butterflies:
- none

Moths:
- none

Bees / wasps etc.:
- Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)

Hoverflies:
- Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)

Dragon-/damsel-flies:
- +*Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta)

Other flies:
- an unidentified fly!
- *cranefly Tipula confusa
- cranefly Tipula paludosa

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni); adults

Bugs:
- none

Spiders / Harvestmen:
- none

Fungus
- +*Shaggy Inkcap or Lawyer's Wig (Coprinus comatus)

Also
- White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
- ++*flowers of Wavy Bittercress (Cardamine flexuosa)
- +*fruits of the Spindle-tree (Euonymus europaea)

 Street lights still on. The very early morning colour.

Not a common sight hereabouts. In the Castle Farm Way lay-by are four red Maseratis, one white Porsche, a white Mercedes sports and souped-up VW Golf. A new Maserati will set you back c.£100,000.

An illustration shot only. In the centre a very brown/ginger-looking juvenile Black-headed Gull that looks to be very recently fledged. An adult winter bird on the left.

Always against the light! A Long-tailed Tit.

Always worth another photo.

A Dunnock drying out after the rain.

Off after a morsel.

A different individual. Note the white tips to the freshly moulted greater coverts. These will wear off during the Winter. Note the ripening Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) berries ready for when the first of the Redwings arrive toward the end of the month.

 A male Greenfinch among the Hawthorn berries.

A Common Wasp (Paravespula vulgaris) probably up to no good around a street light pre-dawn.

This species of Tipula cranefly is unusual in often resting with wings folded over its back. The wings are more patterned than most species. It is T. confusa.

A female cranefly Tipula paludosa.

One of today's unidentified flies. Its red abdomen and distinctly tubby appearance would appear to make it an easy candidate for ID. Sadly not.

This is not the same individual but looks to be a candidate for the same species.

With the wind in a slightly different direction this hawker dragonfly was side-on today and identified as a male Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta).

Not enough light to 'freeze' the wings. This dragonfly is on the wing later than other hawkers and is probably separable by its slightly smaller size.

Darwin in action: the survival of the fittest. A Clubiona sp spider has captured a plumed midge (Microtendipes pedellus).

A fungus I have no trouble identifying and which emerges every year on the grass alongside Teece Drive and outside the academy grounds. It is Shaggy Inkcap or Lawyer's Wig (Coprinus comatus). The fruiting bodies quickly deliquesce and will probably look very different tomorrow.

My app tells me this is Wavy Bittercress (Cardamine flexuosa) and checking with my Flora that seems to be correct.

These are the fruits of a Spindle-tree (Euonymus europaea). Not a common tree, I know of three around the lake.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:55 – 07:45

(172nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- The four Mallard ducklings were seen again.
- A small Moorhen juvenile was a surprise. From a very late brood.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Cormorant

Warblers noted (the number singing in brackets):
- 5 (1) Chiffchaffs

Hirundines etc., noted:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 3 Canada Geese
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 34 (23♂) + 4 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- *58 (>19♂) Tufted Duck
- 9 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens: a very small and recent juvenile
- 67 Coots
- 5 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- *26 Black-headed Gulls
- 4 Cormorants: one of these departed and another(?) arrived later
- 1 Grey Heron

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

Moths:
- none

Other things
- 1 Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes)

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Bees / wasps etc.:
- *Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) perhaps on Hybrid Coralberry (Symphoricarpos x chenualtii) (S. microphyllus x S. orbiculatus)

The water rapidly being covered with weed and algae, here at the bottom end where the growth has drifted in the breeze and toward to outlet.

The duck Shoveler. I do not often record this species this early in Autumn. It is more of a Spring passage bird through here.

 A Tufted Duck formation team.

Well that rather spoils things as they break to settle on the water. Two ducks at the front with a drake breaking away. He has whiter belly and flanks only a narrow brown line between the underwing and the belly.

A smug-looking first winter Black-headed Gull.

Rather overexposed as at 07:00 I had to use flash to freeze the action of one of many Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) already active. The plant they were feeding on was identified by Obsidentify as Hybrid Coralberry (Symphoricarpos x chenualtii), further defined as S. microphyllus x S. orbiculatus. I can find little information about the non-native shrub other than it is sold in many garden centres, with probably many cultivars involved. This photo was taken opposite the medical centre where this shrub is abundant.

(Ed Wilson)

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

Nothing noted


(Ed Wilson)

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Noted in the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- *1 Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata)

Other things:
- 1 cranefly Tipula sp.
- 24 White-legged Snake Millipedes (Tachypodoiulus niger)
- 20 Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber)
- *1 male spider probably a Black Lace-weaver (Amaurobius ferox)
- the usual array of mostly unidentified spiders

A Common Marbled Carpet moth (Chloroclysta truncata). A variable species with this form relatively common: there was one in my garden today.

This male spider is probably a Black Lace-weaver (Amaurobius ferox). It is certainly of that genus.

(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

2011
Nedge Hill
2 Wheatear
2 Yellow Wagtail
1 Raven
(John Isherwood)

Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
Wheatear
(John Isherwood)

2010
The Flash
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
2 Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Pochard
Common Gull
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
A juvenile Arctic Tern
(Ed Wilson)