12 Jun 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 14.0°C: Early barely broken cloud cleared after 08:00. Blue skies for a while with puffy clouds after 09:15. Light / moderate north-westerly wind making it feel chilly in exposed places. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:46 BST

* = a photo in today's blog.
! = a new species for me here this year
!! = a new species for me in Shropshire

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:05 – 06:20 // 07:15 – 09:45

(126th visit of the year)

Note
Firstly some information courtesy of Lorna, wife of bee man Simon. Her brother brought a bat detector last Saturday night (8/9 June) with the following results from the analysis of the recordings made:

Bats:
Common Pipistrelle
Soprano Pipistrelle
Daubenton's Bat
Leisler's Bat
Lesser Horseshoe Bat
Noctule

also
probable Hazel Dormouse

and
possible Green Silver Lines moth

An excellent addition to our knowledge of the local fauna. Thanks to all involved in getting the information and passing it on.

Now on to today

Bird notes:
- *two of the Great Crested Grebes were seen having a big fight with the third looking on.
- *Song Thrushes seem to be doing well. I noted ten birds in song with another two seen collecting food.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 3 Feral Pigeons: together
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 9 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 4 Cormorants: together
- 5 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. noted:
- *>50 Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 4 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 12 (10) Chiffchaffs
- 7 (7) Reed Warblers
- 9 (9) Blackcaps
'nominal' warbler:
- 2 (2) Goldcrests

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 3 (3♂) Mallard
- *4 Moorhens
- 28 + 8 (5 broods) Coots
- *3 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Grey Heron: departed at 05:15

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 !White Plume Pterophorus pentadactyla
- 1 White Ermine Spilosoma lubricipeda : same as three days ago
- *1 !Treble Brown Spot Idaea trigeminata

Spiders:
- 1 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

Noted later:
Despite the sunny conditions the recent chilly weather seemed to keep numbers low. There were masses of Common Blue Damselflies, Black Snipeflies and Swollen-thighed Beetles. It was welcome to see a few Honey Bees. Otherwise numbers were minimal.

Butterflies:
- *!Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina
- Common Blue Polyommatus icarus

Moths:
- *!Burnet Companion Euclidia glyphica

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- *Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris

Hoverflies:
- Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
- Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
- Blotch-winged Hoverfly Leucozona lucorum [Blotch-winged Whitebelt]
- *Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans

Damsel-/dragon-flies:
- !Brown Hawker Aeshna grandis
- Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum
- *Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans

Other flies:
- Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus: males only noted
- other midges and flies, species unknown

Bugs etc.:
- none

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
- *False Blister Beetle Oedemera lurida or O. virescens
- *Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis [Thick-legged Flower Beetle]

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

New plants noted
None

While photographing Swifts this scruffy Moorhen flew by.

As previously noted if you take enough photos of Swifts speeding past a few will turn out reasonably well. Thanks to the photo editor here are a few. This one is another with a full crop of, I presume, insects.

A more typical view with the bird looking black.

This one was dropping down for a quick drink of water.

One with a glint in its eye.

The same bird a split second later.

And later.

Another with a full crop.

Last one for today scything through the air.

A Song Thrush looking for food.

Are birds listening when they do this or, because their eyes are on the side of their head, merely looking hard.

A battle among the Great Crested Grebes with the two on the left having a real scrap while the one on the right looks on.

My first Meadow Brown butterfly Maniola jurtina of the year.

New moths for the year today start with this White Plume Pterophorus pentadactyla.

This one is Treble Brown Spot Idaea trigeminata. A similar species lacks the brown along the front of the inner wing.

I could not persuade this Burnet Companion moth Euclidia glyphica in to the open. The name derives from, in some places, with its concurrent appearance with Burnet moths. Here we get the Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet moth Zygaena lonicerae which will not normally fly for a few weeks.

It is several weeks since I saw any Honey Bees Apis mellifera. This one has a load of pollen on its sacs.

A Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum tucks in to Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra.

Another Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans. All the individuals I have seen so far this year are of the form with a white end to the abdomen (var. plumata). My literature suggests the rufous-tailed form is the more common.

A Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans.

 In front is a male Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis. The other looks too small to be a female and I think it is one of the False Blister Beetles Oedemera lurida or O. virescens.

Plane of the day. Not at a very helpful angle. It is a Flight Design CTsw with a owner on the Isle of Wight. The aircraft is of German design professionally assembled from a kit in the UK. The original owner in London chose the 'lucky' moniker and none of the subsequent owners chose to change it.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Only a single midge seen

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:25 – 07:10

(129th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the cob Mute Swan was well away from all the other swans and relentlessly chasing Coots, or perhaps juvenile Coots.
- this will be the last day for a while when I will be recoding the sex of the Mallard. The drakes are now beginning their post-breeding moult and the plumage difference is becoming hard to discern. The drakes will keep their all green-yellow bill but I am not inclined to spend ages checking. Normal service from September onwards.
- two Stock Doves were calling from trees near the academy.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
None

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 House Martin

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 4 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (4) Blackcaps
'nominal' warbler:
- no Goldcrest

Noted on / around the water:
- 166 Canada Geese: no goslings seen
- 2 Greylag Geese
- 8 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 24 (18♂) Mallard
- *6 (4♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 + 2 (2 broods) Moorhen
- 22+ 2 (1 brood) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- *1 Common Pug Eupithecia vulgata
- *1 Treble Brown Spot Idaea trigeminata

Beetles:
- many Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni

A pair of Tufted Duck. Note that the flanks of the drake are starting the post-breeding moult and the breeding condition white flanks are becoming sullied with grey.

A slight hesitation here. The rufous tones in the centre of wings suggests this might be a Tawny Speckled Pug moth Eupithecia icterata. But that species does not fly before July and would show a dark spot in the middle of each forewing. I think it has to be a Common Pug Eupithecia vulgata.

There was a Treble Brown Spot moth Idaea trigeminata here as well.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)