17 Jul 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

12.0°C > 19.0°C: Clear apart from a persistent patch of medium cloud overhead that only dispersed after 08:30. A light southerly breeze. Very good visibility if a bit hazy again.

Sunrise: 05:07 BST

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

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

(155th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the additional pair of Mute Swans still despite some altercation at times.
- at 05:50 there were again 31 Black-headed Gulls (one juvenile) all sitting on the roof of the academy.
- for the first time since March I heard no Blackbirds singing.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 2 Canada Geese: outbound together
- 2 Feral Pigeons: together
- 4 Stock Doves: two pairs
- 164 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 Jackdaws
- 10 Rooks

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 3 Swifts
- no Barn Swallows
- 3 House Martins

Warblers noted (the figure in brackets relates to birds heard singing):
- 15 (7) Chiffchaffs
- 5 (4) Reed Warblers
- 2 (1) Blackcaps
'nominal' warbler:
- no Goldcrests

Counts from the lake area:
- 4 Mute Swans
- 17 (?♂) Mallard
- 4 + 5 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 21 + 6 (5 broods) Coots
- 3 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Common Sandpiper
- 4 Black-headed Gulls: also 31 on the academy roof at 05:50
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on the street lamps poles pre-dawn:

Moths:
- 1 *Early Thorn Selenia dentaria: second brood
- 1 *!Common Emerald Hemithea aestivaria
- 1 *!Poplar Hawk-moth Laothoe populi

Noted later:
Soaking vegetation after yesterday's rain and overnight dew restricted my access to some areas.

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

Moths:
- Garden Grass-moth Chrysoteuchia culmella [was Garden Grass-veneer]
- Common Marble Celypha lacunana
- Shaded Broad-bar Scotopteryx chenopodiata
- *!caterpillars of Cinnabar Tyria jacobaeae

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- *Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum
- Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- *sawfly of the Tenthredo arcuata / brevicornis / notha / schaefferi 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.
- Stripe-faced Dronefly Eristalis nemorum [Stripe-faced Drone Fly]
- Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
- Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
- Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
- *Dead-head Hoverfly Myathropa florea [Common Batman Fly]
- Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens [Pied Plumehorn]

Damsel-/dragon-flies:
- *Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum

Other flies:
- dagger fly Empis trigramma
- Common Crane-fly Tipula oleracea
- many other unidentified flies

Bugs etc.:
- none

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetles Agelastica alni: adult and larvae
- Common Red Soldier Beetle Rhagonycha fulva

Molluscs:
- White-lipped Snail Cepaea hortensis

Spiders etc.:
- money spider Erigone sp.
- *White Crab Spider Misumena vatia [Flower Spider]
- wolf spider Pardosa sp.

New flowers noted:
None

A clear if somewhat hazy start to the day.

The best I could do with the actual sunrise colour

A Green-veined White butterfly Pieris napi. I do not understand how it got that name. The veins on the underwing are edged dark and the whole underwing is suffused yellow on very freshly-emerged specimens.

Green veins? I think not. By the way this shows why it is a butterfly and not a moth: all butterflies, and never moths, have clubbed antennae (though this feature is not always so obvious as on this species).

A Speckled Wood butterfly Pararge aegeria. This species is very territorial and males can be seen tumbling around in disputes. Looks as if this one has been a participant.

Two white spots in the black circle means this is a Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus. The dark mark across the forewing means it is a male.

Another second brood Early Thorn moth Selenia dentaria. The simple (i.e. unfeathered) antenna indicates this is a female.

My first Common Emerald moth Hemithea aestivaria since 2019. The green tones on the emerald group of moths always fades rapidly after emergence.

A splendid Poplar Hawk-moth Laothoe populi, a species that is not in my post-2013 master log though I do recall seeing a specimen prior to that.

A caterpillar of the Cinnabar moth Tyria jacobaeae looking like a rugby shirt. One of the few insects that can deal with the toxins in Common Ragwort Jacobaea vulgaris. A handy trick as it makes these caterpillars nasty to eat. I noted my first caterpillar last year on the same date - 17 July.

 A Honey Bee Apis mellifera with a full load to take away in its pollen basket. Note it is also dusted with pollen so will be doing some cross-pollination while it is visiting the flowers.

Not a very good photo of a Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum. The reason for its inclusion was that it was the only insect on the large Butterfly-bush Buddleja davidii at 05:50. There were no insects at all present at 09:15.

A sawfly of the Tenthredo arcuata / brevicornis / notha / schaefferi complex. Obsidentify thought it a T. brevicornis though the NatureSpot web site cautions against specifically identifying these from photos.

The triangular yellow marks on the abdomen of this Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare indicate it is a female. The male has square markings.

A Dead-head Hoverfly Myathropa florea. From this angle, and for the first time, I can see why they have the alternative name of Common Batman Fly. The dark mark on the thorax does, perhaps, look a bit like the caped crusader.

A male....

...and a female Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum. This seems to be the pink-toned form of an adult female rather than an immature yet to colour up. The spaces between on the black markings on the abdomen have a blue tinge absent from the thorax.

This White Crab Spider Misumena vatia needs to brush up on its camouflage technique. Here on an elderly Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- *1 Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella
- *1 Lesser Common / Common Rustic Mesapamea secalis / M. secalella aggregate
also three unidentified chrysalis

 It is not in your house though the larvae may be. A Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella.

This moth is from the Lesser Common / Common Rustic Mesapamea secalis / M. secalella aggregate. Despite claims in some older books these two species can only be separated by genitalia examination.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:10 – 07:00

(158th visit of the year)

Bird notes:

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Jackdaw

Hirundines etc. noted:
None

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 194 Canada Geese
- 56 Greylag Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 20 (?♂) Mallard
- 17 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 5 + 2 (2 broods) Moorhens
- 48 + 5 (3 broods) Coots
- 4 Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Kingfisher

Noted elsewhere around The Flash:

Moths:
- *1 Engrailed Ectropis crepuscularia

The best example of an Engrailed moth Ectropis crepuscularia I have seen this year. Obsidentify insists these are Small Engrailed using the same scientific name. It is now known that what were previously regarded as two species – Engrailed E. bistortata and Small Engrailed E. crepuscularia – are the same species. The rules of scientific naming means that of the earlier described species takes precedence.

The rather scruffy flowers of Hemp-agrimony Eupatorium cannabinum.

(Ed Wilson)