14 Apr 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

4.0°C > 10.0°C: Mostly clear start. A few clouds developing later. Light mainly southerly breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:13 BST

There were once again very many Willow Warblers at both the Balancing Lake and The Flash. I did not expect this as I assumed that the large numbers noted on last Monday were the bulk of the migrants. Just as strange is that today's numbers occurred after a clear night. Conventional wisdom is that on clear nights migrants pass overhead to their breeding grounds without stopping.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:35 – 06:35 // 07:35 – 09:45

(80th visit of the year)

Of yesterday's new summer visitors:
- the Sedge Warbler was not recorded.
- *the Common Whitethroat was again heard singing and calling from behind the sailing club shelter at c.05:55. Another was heard and then photographed along the south side.
- a Grasshopper Warbler was again giving its 'reeling' song but only once and very briefly at c.05:50. The same bird?

Other bird notes:
- a drake Gadwall was noted after c.08:15. Could this be the same bird seen earlier at The Flash?

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 6 Canada Geese: a single, a pair and a trio outbound
- 2 Greylag Geese: a pair inbound
- 9 Wood Pigeons
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 9 Jackdaws
- 3 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 14 (13) Willow Warblers
- 17 (14) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Grasshopper Warbler
- *2 (2?) Common Whitethroats: see notes
- 10 (4) Blackcaps

Counts from the lake area:
- 5 Canada Geese: a pair throughout: a trio visited and departed of their own volition
- 2 Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall: arrived? not seen early
- 2 (2♂) Mallard
- 10 (5♂) Tufted Duck
- 2 Moorhens
- 21 Coots
- 5 Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Common Sandpipers
- 2 Grey Herons: departed separately

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Flies:
- 1 female plumed midge
- 1 Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperia carnea

Beetles:
- 4 Alder Leaf Beetles Agelastica alni

Springtails:
- 1 springtail Tomocerus vulgaris-type

Earwigs:
- *1 male Common European Earwig Forficula dentata

Spiders:
- 1 Stout Sac Spider Clubiona sp.

Noted later:

Bees wasps etc.:
- *Tawny Mining Bee Andrena fulva
- *Orange-tailed Mining Bee Andrena haemorrhoa aka Early Mining Bee
- *Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis
- *Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- *Spring Epistrophe Epistrophe elegans aka Spring Smoothtail
- *Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
- Short Melanostoma Melanostoma mellinum
- *Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare
- *Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis

Flies:
- dung fly Scathophaga inquinata
- *owl midge Psychodidae sp.
- Alder Fly Sialis lutaria
- some other unidentified flies

Beetles:
- *2 Spot Ladybird Adalia bipunctata
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
- *Eyed Ladybird Anatis ocellata: *** a new species for me
- *7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata

Spiders:
- unidentified spider

Newly emerged flowers:
- *Lady's Smock / Cuckooplant / Milkmaid Cardamine pratensis
- *Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna

A better start to the day.

This Common Whitethroat is a bit of a puzzle. The greyish brown head and slightly ginger cheeks suggest a female. Males have grey heads and the flight feathers are more contrastingly black with brown edges. Yet my attention was drawn to this bird because it was singing, albeit rather quietly. It is most unusual for female birds to sing. In the UK I only know of Robins that do so and then only in Winter when females defend their own feeding territory.

Another view of the same bird.

 From the same brood as the bird I photographed last Friday if not the same individual juvenile Robin.

Butter wouldn't melt....

One of the best mining bees: a female Tawny Mining Bee Andrena fulva. Males of all mining bees are smaller and generally less colourful than females.

This is an Orange-tailed Mining Bee Andrena haemorrhoa also called the Early Mining Bee. On most individuals you have to look very hard to see a few orange hairs at the tip of the abdomen. These, as here, are often obscured by the folded wings.

I cannot get a positive identity for this Andrena mining bee.

A Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis.

A Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris distinguished by parallel-sized yellow mark along the side of the thorax.

My first Spring Epistrophe hoverfly Epistrophe elegans of the year. A species also known as Spring Smoothtail.

A male Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax

It is only male Tapered Droneflies that have a tapered abdomen and even then it is variable – as seen here.

A Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare.

A Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis. As usual I cannot get a clear view of the hind leg and therefore ascribe to particular species.

Until the last few days I had seen very few of these owl midges Psychodidae sp. Now I am seeing many, usually, in the day time.

A 2 Spot Ladybird Adalia bipunctata.

I nearly overlooked this ladybird. With plenty of spots I initially assumed it was a Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea but the pale surrounds to those black spots seemed unusual even for a species as variable as the harlequin. It is in fact an Eyed Ladybird Anatis ocellata: my first ever.

And a 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata.

This is the same male Common European Earwig Forficula dentata that has been on a street lamps pole for two mornings.

Just opening is the flower of Lady's Smock / Cuckooplant / Milkmaid Cardamine pratensis. This is the food plant for the larvae of the Orange-tip butterfly Anthocharis cardamines – hence the similarity in the scientific names.

My first Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna flowers this year. Another name for this plant if of course "May", from the date it used to flower. There is much debate about the relevance of the date. I know from my time in Cornwall that plants on Bodmin Moor would flower at least four weeks later than plants by the coast and "May" was appropriate. Another explanation references the 'lost' 11 days when we moved to the Gregorian Calendar. Then there is the very similar Midland or Woodland Hawthorn C. laevigata. And of course there is the impact of climate change. I can say that this is two days earlier than my previous early date of 16 April 2022. Note the small plumed midge on the right-most flower.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies etc.
- 1 female plumed midge
- 1 owl midge Psychodidae sp.

Arthropods:
- 2 Common Shiny Woodlouse Oniscus asellus

Spiders:
- *1 Stout Sac Spider Clubiona sp.
- *1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.

A Stout Sac Spider Clubiona sp.

At a strange angle is a Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the Balancing Lake and The Flash:

On street lamp poles:
- 1 Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:40 – 07:30

(82nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- a drake Gadwall seen: see notes from the Balancing Lake; same?
- after yesterday high number of Mallard I noted very few today.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 14 (14) Willow Warblers
- *6 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 10 (7) Blackcaps

Noted on / around the water:
- 27 Canada Geese
- 7 Greylag Geese
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 14 (13♂) Mallard
- 9 (6♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 Moorhens
- 22 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- *1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: second year; arrived

Noted elsewhere:

Beetles:
- 7 Alder Leaf Beetles Agelastica alni; two on fencing; five on street lamp poles

A second summer / year Lesser Black-backed Gull dropped in for a while. A first year would show an almost all-dark bill and the head would not usually be so clean white.

This Chiffchaff was singing at the bottom of squirrel alley. Look closely: it has a ring on its right leg.

The ring is seen more clearly in this photo. Now I took a photo of a ringed Chiffchaff at the Balancing Lake back in March. Could they be the same bird? It does seem unlikely that two out of about 20 now resident birds would have been ringed.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2014
Priorslee Lake
3 Great Crested Grebes
12 Cormorants over
3 Grey Herons
2 Tufted Duck
4 Common Sandpipers
c.6 Sand Martins
1 Swallow
Green Woodpecker
9 Blackcaps
7 Chiffchaffs
2 Willow Warbler
193 Jackdaws
(Ed Wilson)

The Wrekin
Tree Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Willow Tit
Marsh Tit
5 Pied Flycatchers
2 Common Redstarts
Willow Warblers
Siskins
(Ed Wilson)

2013
Priorslee Lake
2 Little Ringed Plover
6 Willow Warbler
5 Chiffchaff
1 House Martin
4 Sand Martin
(Martin Grant)

2012
Priorslee Lake
Willow Warbler
Chiffchaff
Blackcap
Willow Tits
2 Jays
(Martin Grant)

Nedge Hill
4 Common Redstart
31 Wheatear
(John Isherwood)

The Wrekin
5 Pied Flycatcher
1 Common Redstart
2 Tree Pipit
6 Willow Warbler
Marsh Tit
Goldcrest
Green Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Siskin
Lesser Redpoll
Crossbill
(Glenn Bishton)

2011
Priorslee Lake
4 Common Sandpiper
1 Reed Warbler
(Ed Wilson)

Nedge Hill
4 Wheatear
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
1 Osprey
4 Gadwall
12 Sand Martin
2 Swallows
6 Willow Warblers
4 Chiffchaffs
1 Blackcap
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
1 Common Sandpiper
6 Willow Warbler
4 Chiffchaffs
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock
5 Sand Martin
Swallows
4 Willow Warbler
2 Chiffchaffs
(Ed Wilson)

Nedge Hill
2 Swallows
1 Willow Warbler
2 Chiffchaffs
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
1 Pintail x Mallard
17 Tufted Duck
1 Grey Heron
2 Willow Warblers
8 Chiffchaffs
5 Blackcaps
20 Wrens
2 Linnet
6 Reed Bunting
(Martin Adlam)

Nedge Hill
2 Willow Warblers
1 Blackcap
2 Chiffchaff
1 Fieldfare
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
1 Swallow
1 Buzzard
4 Skylark
2 Meadow Pipit
4 Yellowhammer
3 Greenfinch 3
4 Linnet
(Martin Adlam)

2006
Priorslee Lake
5 Great Crested Grebes
1 Heron
7 Tufted Ducks
2 Ruddy Duck
1 Water Rail
3 Common Sandpiper
8 Chiffchaff
5 Willow Warbler
5 Blackcaps
1 Garden Warbler
3 Swallows
1 Kestrel
2 Great Spotted Woodpecker
1 Skylark
1 Willow Tit
2 Siskin
5 Reed Bunting
(Martin Adlam)
(Ed Wilson)