30 Jun 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 14.0°C: Early cloud after overnight rain soon clearing. Cloud developing again after 08:45. Fresh north-westerly breeze. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 04:50 BST

Photos to come.
! = a new species for me here this year
!! = a new species for me in Shropshire

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:00 – 06:10 // 07:10 – 09:55

(141st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the Mallard brood, assuming it is the same brood, now down to three ducklings.
- a Garden Warbler still singing from the south-west copse. Most of the time today. This against the trend of much less song from the warblers.
- no Starlings on the football field and none seen around the estate. The first time for several moths.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 40 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Black-headed Gull
- 43 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Sparrowhawk
- 29 Jackdaws
- 8 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- >40 Swifts
- 4 Barn Swallows
- 4 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 15 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 9 (5) Reed Warblers
- 8 (7) Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
- 1 (0) Common Whitethroat
'nominal' warbler:
- 1 (1) Goldcrest

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 4 (3♂) + 3 (1 brood) Mallard
- 4 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 28 + 10 (6 broods) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Black-headed Gull
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- 1 Tawny Grey Eudonia lacustrata
- 1 Drinker Euthrix potatoria (caterpillars only noted previously this year)

Noted later:
Too cool and windy for many insects to be about

Butterflies:
- Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus

Moths:
- Common Marble Celypha lacunana

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum
- wasp sp. either Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris or German Wasp Vespula germanica

Hoverflies:

The first name is that used by Stephen Falk. The name in square brackets is that given by Obsidentify or other sources if different. Scientific names are normally common. The species are presented in alphabetic order of those scientific names.
- Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
- Common Twist-tail Sphaerophoria scripta [Long Hoverfly]
- Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens [Pied Plumehorn]

Damsel-/dragon-flies:
- Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum
- Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma najas
- Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans

Other flies:
- Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus
- !!long-legged fly possibly Chrysotus laesus
- long-legged fly Dolichopus wahlbergi
- greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus
- more unidentified flies

Bugs etc.:
- !Red Bug Deraeocoris ruber : nymph
- Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni : adult and !larva

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

Spiders:
- none

New flowers noted

None

A fresh-looking Ringlet butterfly Aphantopus hyperantus showing the markings that give this species its name.

An unusually common moth this year: a Tawny Grey Eudonia lacustrata on a street lamp pole around dawn.

Not sitting at a helpful angle on a street lamp pole was this Drinker moth Euthrix potatoria. I previously noted caterpillars crossing the path this year.

A typically scruffy-looking Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum

A very worn Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum. Just look at the battered edges to the wings. Much of the body hair has worn away and faded and it was a challenge to identify it.

Against a grass seed-head the small size of a Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare can be appreciated.

An unusual angle showing the abdomen and confirming that this is a male with the square yellow markings. The female has triangular yellow markings.

The bright yellow scutellum (the half moon-shaped area behind the thorax) is the best clue that this small hoverfly is a Common Twist-tail Sphaerophoria scripta.

A very common hoverfly at the present: it is a Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens.

A Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma najas. This year I have seen more individuals over a longer period than usual.

 A male semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus. Note how the eyes appear two-toned: red or green depending on the angle of the light.

There was the usual array of flies that I have neither the time nor the inclination to research when they occur in profusion. Here is #1.

And a particularly hairy #2.

"All the better to see you with". Fly species #3.

Here is #4.

Another: #5.

Now #6

Last one and another hairy one: #7.

I know this greenbottle is a Lucilia sp. but I cannot say which.

A tiny creature, It is most likely the nymph of a Red Bug Deraeocoris ruber. Many bug nymphs are very similar but the red bug is by far the most common plant bug.

A Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius. This species emerges from the cuckoo-spit – the white frothy liquid secreted by the nymphs of these sap-sucking bugs. The adults are very variable in markings. When threatened the froghoppers can jump two feet high with an acceleration of 400g! Difficult to catch - which is the idea.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 1 !Single-dotted Wave Idaea dimidiata

Molluscs:
- 1 (Common) Striped Woodlouse Philoscia muscorum

I found my first Single-dotted Wave moth Idaea dimidiata on the wall of the tunnel. They seem to like this location: I saw many there last year.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:15 – 07:05

(144th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- another increase in Mallard numbers.
- where have many of the increased number of Coots come from​? There were about 14 nest sites so that means 28 adults. I have not noted 14 juveniles progressing to the stage where they are, even at some distance, indistinguishable from adults though I did not note any juveniles today.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Common Buzzard
- 7 Jackdaws

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Swifts
- 7 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 6 (5) Chiffchaffs
- 4 (4) Blackcaps
'nominal' warbler:
- 1 (1) Goldcrest

Noted on / around the water:
- 203 Canada Geese
- 67 Greylag Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 3 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 47 + 5 (1 brood) Mallard
- 17 (14♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 42 Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- 1 !!Gold Swift Phymatopus hecta
- 1 Tawny Grey Eudonia lacustrata
- 1 !Light Emerald Campaea margaritaria

Shieldbug
- 1 Hawthorn Shieldbug Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale

Yet another new brood of Mallard. A group of five. But how many will survive?

The Coots are amassing on the edge of island. Why? How can I get an accurate count when they are so jammed together? And which of them are full-grown juveniles with slightly smaller white shields?

 A moulting Common Buzzard flies over. This species has been nowhere near as common this year at the times I visit.

 Moth find of the morning. This is a Gold Swift Phymatopus hecta and a new moth for me.

Another moth new for the year. I usually find on of these Light Emerald moths Campaea margaritaria somewhere in the area.

Among all the debris from spiders' meals I noted this Hawthorn Shieldbug Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2010
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
1 drake Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)