21 Jun 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 17.0°C: Clear until after 08:15 when a few fair-weather clouds started to appear. A calm start with a light / moderate south-westerly breeze picking up. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 04:46 BST

* = a species photographed today
! = a new species for me here this year
!! = a new species for me in Shropshire

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:00 – 06:05 // 07:05 – 09:50

(135th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Three Oystercatcher records this morning. Two seen flying West in close company at 07:15: a single bird flew West at 08:00 before wheeling round to return to the East: then at 09:45 one or more birds were heard to the West of the area though I could not see them.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 2 Greylag Geese: outbound together
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 18 Wood Pigeons
- *3+ Oystercatchers
- 5 Herring Gulls
- 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 19 Jackdaws
- 15 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 3 Swifts: two or three throughout; same?
- 1 Barn Swallow
- 2 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 14 (10) Chiffchaffs
- 9 (9) Reed Warblers
- *1 (1) Common Whitethroat
- 13 (11) Blackcaps
'nominal' warbler:
- 2 (2) Goldcrests

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 4 (4♂) Mallard
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 21 + 10 (5 broods) Coots
- 3 Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: on the football field 05:05

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Again nothing. I am well down on the number of moth species recorded so far this year.

Noted later:

Butterflies:
- *Large Skipper Ochlodes sylvanus : one
- Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria
- *Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus : many

Moths:
- Common Marble Celypha lacunana
- *Garden Grass-veneer Chrysoteuchia culmella
- *Burnet Companion Euclidia glyphica

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- *Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
- *Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- ??where are all the wasps this year?

Hoverflies

The first name is according to Stephen Falk. The name in square brackets is that given by Obsidentify. The scientific names are common. The species are presented in alphabetic order of those scientific names.
- Bumblebee Blacklet Cheilosia illustrata
- Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
- Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
- Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
- Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
- *Compost Hoverfly Syritta pipiens [Common Compost Fly]
- Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans
- *Orange-belted Leaf Licker Xylota segnis [Orange-belted Leafwalker]
- *!Golden-tailed Leaf Licker Xylota sylvarum [Golden-tailed Leafwalker]

Damsel-/dragon-flies:
- Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum
- Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans

Other flies:
- *Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus
- *semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus
- *Thick-headed Fly Sicus ferrugineus [Ferruginous Bee-grabber]
****various unidentified flies

Bugs etc.:
- *plant bug Deraeocoris flavilinea: nymph

Beetles:
- *Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
- Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea
- *Pollen Beetle Meligethes sp.
- False Blister Beetle Oedemera lurida or O. virescens
- Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis
- *!Spotted Longhorn Beetle Rutpela maculata [formerly Strangalia maculata]

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

Spiders:
- *lace-weaver spider Amaurobius sp.
- *Cucumber Green Orb Spider Araniella sp.

New flowers noted
- *!Hoary Willowherb Epilobium parviflorum [Small-flowered Willowherb]
- *!Meadowsweet [or Mead Wort] Filipendula ulmaria

The only time I got the camera anywhere near one of the Oystercatchers that flew over.

He looks a bit glum here but the male Common Whitethroat was singing away in full voice.

The only Large Skipper Ochlodes sylvanus I noted today. It is the shading on the wing edges that separates this species from Small Skipper Thymelicus sylvestris. There is no discernable size difference between the species.

Although Ringlet butterflies Aphantopus hyperantus have only been on the wing a few days this one is already looking rather tatty.

The pale morning light gives a yellow tone to this Garden Grass-veneer moth Chrysoteuchia culmella that was on the new fencing. The angled cross-line toward the tip of the wing identifies this species of the often confusing grass moths.

Another insect past its best. A Burnet Companion moth Euclidia glyphica.

One of many Honey Bees Apis mellifera that are a welcome sight after weeks when I saw none.

 I struggled to identify this bumblebee. Obsidentify was confident it is a Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum but that species has orange hair on the thorax. Eventually by scrolling down Steven Falk's internet pages I found an almost identical photo of a queen Tree Bumblebee. So that is what it is.

Another species of bumblebee I noted today: a Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris.

A rubbish photo but I do not often see this small hoverfly. Steven Falk calls it a Compost Hoverfly Syritta pipiens . Obsidentify uses the name Common Compost Fly.

A species of hoverfly that Steven Falk calls Orange-belted Leaf Licker Xylota segnis and Obsidentify Orange-belted Leafwalker. They do indeed run around on the tops of leaves, apparently feeding as it goes. It is often hard to see the orange belt across its abdomen, hidden behind the folded wings. The swollen rear thighs and yellow markings on the legs are always a clue.

A very similar species. Note the tip of the abdomen is yellow. So it is a Golden-tailed Leaf Licker Xylota sylvarum (or Golden-tailed Leafwalker). Only my second record of this species: that was four years and one day ago!

A female semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus, lacking the white tips to here wings.

Not at a helpful angle is this brute of a fly – a Thick-headed Fly Sicus ferrugineus also known as a Ferruginous Bee-grabber.

A nymph of a plant bug Deraeocoris flavilinea.

What I presume is a pair of Alder Leaf Beetles Agelastica alni. I have seen a number of lone beetles with the wing-cases raised showing the yellow abdomen colour. I wonder if these are all females?

 More beetles. I think these are one of the pollen beetles Meligethes sp. You need to be an expert to get a more detailed identity. The flower is a Nipplewort Lapsana communis, a small flower.

A splendid longhorn beetle that I see every year once or twice. It is a Spotted Longhorn Beetle Rutpela maculata. It was formerly known as Strangalia maculata and many reference books use that name (does anyone else consult books these days?).

For some reason the boxing ring seems to be a good hunting ground for spiders. This is a lace-weaver spider Amaurobius sp.

Another on the boxing ring was this Cucumber Green Orb Spider Araniella sp.

You would think by now I would have learned to include leaves in the photos of plants as they often help differentiate similar species. However I think these flowers are Hoary Willowherb Epilobium parviflorum. Obsidentify calls it Small-flowered Willowherb.

Now coming in to flower is Meadowsweet [or Mead Wort] Filipendula ulmaria. An added bonus: a male Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus is sitting on one of the inflorescences.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- *1 Common Pug Eupithecia vulgata

Another Common Pug moth Eupithecia vulgata liking the tunnel. Presumably a different specimen as it is missing part of a wing.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:10 – 07:00

(138th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- I did not see any supernumerary Mute Swans.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 2 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 7 (7) Chiffchaffs
- 2 (2) Blackcap
'nominal' warbler:
- 2 (2) Goldcrests

Noted on / around the water:
- 204 Canada Geese: goslings not identified
- 35 Greylag Geese
- no Canada x Greylag Goose
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 21 Mallard: no ducklings seen: sexes not determined
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 21 + 4 (4 broods) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- *1 Tawny Grey Eudonia lacustrata
- 1 Common Grey Scoparia ambigualis

Hoverflies:
- *1 Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens [Pied Plumehorn]

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni

The 'grey moths' area a confusing group. There is a very clear illustration of the various species on the internet. The problem is that in real life many look not quite like any of them - or several of them! I believe this to be a Tawny Grey Eudonia lacustrata.

Hovering, as hover flies should, in front of me was this Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens.

 Autumn already with spider webs draped in dew!

'Plane'(?) of the day was this hot air balloon. Trading as Virgin Balloon Flights is a local company AirXcite Ltd. Balloons do not usually appear on the flight trackers. Their route is, in the words of the great JJ Cale, "anyway the wind blows". It was too far away for me to read its identity. However the company only operates Cameron Balloons constructed in Bristol.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2013
Priorslee Lake
Possible Black-necked Grebe seen by locals yesterday evening.
(Ed Wilson)