15 Jul 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

12.0°C > 18.0°C: A clear start. After 08:00 high cloud ahead of forecast rain started to spread across the sky making the sunshine rather hazy. A calm start with mist in the vicinity. A southerly breeze developed. Mostly very good visibility if a bit hazy.

Sunrise: 05:03 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 // 07:10 – 10:10

(154th visit of the year)

Bird Notes
Best today was a Great White Egret seen flying over in company with a Grey Heron at 07:50.

Other bird notes:
- the additional pair of Mute Swans was again present throughout. There was some rather desultory chasing.
- at 05:50 there were 31 Black-headed Gulls (one juvenile); and one adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the football field.
- just a single Swift noted, seen high overhead at 08:30.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 10 Feral Pigeons: together
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 116 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *1 Great White Egret
- *1 Grey Heron
- 22 Jackdaws
- 54 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Swift: see notes
- 5 Barn Swallows
- 2 House Martins

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

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese: one departed
- 4 Mute Swans
- 15 (?♂) + 1 (1 brood) Mallard
- 4 + 4 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 17 + 6 (3 broods) Coots: where are they all?
- 3 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 3 Black-headed Gulls: also 31 on the football field at 05:50
- no Lesser Black-backed Gull: but one on the football field at 05:50
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- *1 !Early Thorn Selenia dentaria : second brood
- *1 Single-dotted Wave Idaea dimidiata

Lacewings:
- *1 Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperia carnea

Spiders etc.:
- 2 harvestmen: both female Leiobunum rotundum

Noted later:
An extended visit gave me a good variety of species. The Southern Hawker dragonfly was best, closely followed by the Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner moths.

Butterflies:
- Green-veined White Pieris napi
- Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria
- Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus
- Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina
- *!Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus
- *Comma Polygonia c-album

Moths:
- *!Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner Cameraria ohridella
- *Garden Grass-moth Chrysoteuchia culmella [was Garden Grass-veneer]
- *Pale Straw Pearl Udea lutealis
- Common Marble Celypha lacunana
- *Shaded Broad-bar Scotopteryx chenopodiata

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- *female ichneumon sp., perhaps one of the Dolichomitus-complex

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.
- *Bumblebee Blacklet Cheilosia illustrata
- *Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
- 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; Thick-legged Hoverfly]
- Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens [Pied Plumehorn]

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

Other flies:
- *Common Orange Legionnaire Beris vallata
- Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus
- *semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus
- *Common Crane-fly Tipula oleracea
- many other unidentified flies

Bugs etc.:
- *!!possible Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Halyomorpha halys
- Common Froghopper Philaenus spumarius

Beetles:
- *!Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. conspicua
- False Blister Beetle Oedemera lurida or O. virescens
- Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis
- Common Red Soldier Beetle Rhagonycha fulva

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

Spiders etc.:
- wolf spider Pardosa sp.
- three others, perhaps all different, found on the boxing ring. Two of them might be:
- *Garden (Cross) Spider Araneus diadematus
- *Triangulate Cobweb Spider Steatoda triangulosa

Mites:
- *!!Velvet Mite agg. Trombidiidae sp.

New flowers noted:
- *Wild Angelica Angelica sylvestris
- *!Tall Melilot Melilotus altissima (or Ribbed Melilot M. officinalis?)
- *Hairy Tare Vicia hirsuta

This morning's clear if slightly hazy dawn.

The high cloud beginning to stream in from the south-west.

An unusual pairing: a Grey Heron leading a Great (White) Egret overhead. They were in close company like this throughout the time they were visible.

Sometimes dismissed as "rats with wings" Feral Pigeons are often attractively plumaged. Two of the local 'loft birds' are making a habit of visiting the football field c.06:00. Here is one.

And the other.

 Mrs. House Sparrow on the boxing ring on the dam. Why do the sparrows fly all the way from the estate to the dam?

This might explain why. Mr. House Sparrow has grabbed an emerging damselfly. I saw both of them working all the verticals as well as the spider webs looking for food.

Yesterday I suggested we would soon be seeing Gatekeeper butterflies Pyronia tithonus with the two white spots in the black wing dot. No sooner said than done. The underside and...

...the top side. The dark band in the forewing indicates it is a male. It is the scent gland. I have never established whether it is to disperse its own scent or to detect that given off by a female.

Comma butterflies Polygonia c-album are always worth a photo.

 My best insect of the day was this tiny (3-5 mm [0.15" when I was at school]) Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner moth Cameraria ohridella , here sitting alongside the leaf mine made by the larva of this species. The epithet 'ohridella' derives from the species' discovery in 1984 near Lake Ohrid in what was then Yugoslavia. It does not kill the trees but makes the leaves look a mess.

I don't know whether to be pleased I have seen so few of the confusing grass moths this year or not. The angled line toward the wing tip identifies this as a Garden Grass-moth Chrysoteuchia culmella, by far the most common grass moth at this date.

This moth is a Pale Straw Pearl Udea lutealis and not, as Obsidentify was 100% certain, an Olive Pearl U. olivalis.

On a street lamp pole before sunrise I found this Early Thorn moth Selenia dentaria : Rather misnamed for this, the second brood of the year. All species of thorn moth rest with their wings held above their body: this is the only species that holds them closed rather than partially open. Likely a male with the feathered antennae.

Also on a street lamp pole before sunrise was this well-camouflaged Single-dotted Wave moth Idaea dimidiata.

A Shaded Broad-bar moth Scotopteryx chenopodiata.

This female ichneumon sp., is perhaps one of the 70-odd species in the Dolichomitus-complex. The genus name is derived from the Greek dolicho, meaning long or narrow, and the Greek mitus, meaning a thread. It makes the point that it is incorrect to use the tern "Latin name" for what is correctly the "scientific name". While many scientific names are derived from Latin and the names are always 'Latinized" in the gender declination of the species part of the binomial many names are derived from Greek or simply honour their finder.

A Bumblebee Blacklet hoverfly Cheilosia illustrata. Yesterday I showed a plan view. Here is a side elevation. For some reason Obsidentify was convinced it was a Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans.

A Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus homes in on the flower of a Spear Thistle Cirsium vulgare.

Not a species I see too often. A Compost Hoverfly Syritta pipiens characterised by its swollen hind leg.

The other find of the morning was this splendid male Southern Hawker dragonfly Aeshna cyanea. The bold areas of colour on the thorax and the solid colour on the last two body segments identify this species at all ages and sexes. Males and females are differently coloured and immatures can be different again.

Sorry: not quite sharp. A Common Orange Legionnaire Beris vallata.

The white tip to the wings identify this as a male semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus.

This is a Common Crane-fly Tipula oleracea. Note that the background enables the banded antennae to be seen.

What I assume is a Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperia carnea. Seems there was a dew last night.

Well now: can I trust Obsidentify that this is a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Halyomorpha halys? It seems to me it could just as easily be an instar of a shieldbug though I am not sure which it might be.

The least form of Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis is this conspicua. The various forms mate freely and the off-spring are always one of the three forms conspicua, succinea or spectabilis and never hybrids though each form has some variation.

 I could only get a provisional identity of two of the three small spiders on the boxing ring. This might be a very young Garden (Cross) Spider Araneus diadematus.

Another of the trio of spiders: this well-camouflaged individual was identified by Obsidentify as a Triangulate Cobweb Spider Steatoda triangulosa. I can find no reference to this species on the internet. The genus looks to be a good match.

At the time I thought a fourth spider on boxing ring. Not so. There seems to be two Velvet Mites Trombidiidae sp. attacking an unfortunate and much larger long-legged insect. Mites are related to spiders and also have eight legs. All are very small!

The last of the common umbellifers to appear here is Wild Angelica Angelica sylvestris characterised by the very large sheaths from which the umbels emerge. Also known as Garden Angelica, Holy Ghost, Wild Celery or Norwegian Angelic. This leaves and roots of this plant can be used to make a herbal tea. Make sure you identify the plant correctly. Some umbellifers are good to eat – carrots, parsnips for instance. Others are deadly – hemlock for instance. And don't ever get in contact with the sap of Giant Hogweed.

I have no positive ID on this flower which is now abundant at the North end of the dam. In previous years I have recorded it as Tall Melilot Melilotus altissima. Obsidentify was certain it is Ribbed Melilot M. officinalis. Reading my Flora I don't believe these two species can be separated on this view - I would need to see the basal leaves to be sure. The Flora supports Tall Melilot as the most likely on the basis of location.

The tangle of stems with small white flowers is Hairy Tare Vicia hirsuta.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 2 Single-dotted Waves Idaea dimidiata

Flies:
- *1 cranefly Nephrotoma quadrifaria

Spiders:
- *1 Long-jawed Orb-web Spider, probably Metellina merianae

This is the cranefly Nephrotoma quadrifaria.

A Long-jawed Orb-web Spider, probably Metellina merianae.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:10 – 07:05

(157th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- two of the Canada Geese seemed to be the now almost full-grown goslings that escaped the attentions of the egg-prickers and the cob Mute Swan.
- some of the geese were testing their new flight feathers and a group of five felt confident to fly off.

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
- 3 (2) Blackcaps
'nominal' warbler:
- 1 (1) Goldcrest

Noted on / around the water:
- *216 Canada Geese
- 54 Greylag Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 1 (0♂) Gadwall
- 18 (?♂) Mallard
- 23 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 + 1 (1 brood) Moorhens
- 58 + 4 (4 broods) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- 2 Tawny Grey Eudonia lacustrata: both on different street lamp poles to yesterday
- *1 Willow Beauty Peribatodes rhomboidaria

Flies:
- 1 owl midge Psychodidae sp.

Beetles:
- 1 Alder Leaf Beetles Agelastica alni: adult

Spiders etc.:
- 1 harvestman: male Leiobunum blackwalli / rotundum

Compare the white of the chin-strap on the closest bird with the furthest bird. I think the closer one is one of the juveniles now almost fully grown but still not quite pristine. The bird on the left is I think another of the juveniles. I could not immediately locate the third.

A worn moth. I think it is a Willow Beauty Peribatodes rhomboidaria. It is certainly a moth from this group and Willow Beauty is by far the most likely at this date.

(Ed Wilson)