23 May 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

6.0°C > 14.0°C: Early broken cloud cleared away before some scattered fair weather cloud later. Light westerly breeze. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:02 BST

* = a species photographed today
$ = my first sighting of the species for this year

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:15 – 06:20 // 07:25 – 09:50

(127th visit of the year)

Severn Trent have completed their grass cutting exercise. This excludes the dam-top which is done under external contract.

Bird notes:
- the Canada and Greylag goslings all still present and correct.
- a drake Gadwall was present throughout.
- the same single Mallard duckling was noted again with a pair of adults.
- a duck with two small ducklings was noted in the distance. I was unable to confirm their identity – Gadwall?
- the duck Pochard still present.
- a drake Tufted Duck visited briefly
- the single juvenile Great Crested Grebe was in the water at least some of the time. The other adult holding its wings as if it too has juvenile(s) aboard was seen again without any juveniles being seen.
- at least two and possibly three singing Garden Warblers. The #2 arrival was singing more or less throughout (I have yet to see this bird except in flight!). A bird where #1 was for many days was heard twice. A bird further East along the South side also sang twice but it is possibly just #1 moving around. Song is intermittent so the chance of hearing them concurrently is small.
- no Starlings or heard in the academy area: just a single fly-over.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Canada Geese: pair outbound
- 2 Greylag Geese: singles outbound
- 1 Stock Dove
- 9 Wood Pigeons
- 18 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- *1 Common Buzzard
- 8 Jackdaws
- 4 Rooks
- 1 Starling

Counts from the lake area:
- 12 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese: of these six adults arrived together
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 1 Mute Swan: the other resident assumed to be on the nest: see also notes
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 12 (9♂) + 1 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) + 2 (1 brood) unidentified duck
- 1 (0♂) Pochard
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck: briefly
- 3 Moorhens
- 33 + 14 (8 broods) Coots
- 9 + >1 (>1 brood) Great Crested Grebes: see notes
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls yet again

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Common Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- *15 (13) Chiffchaffs
- 13 (11) Reed Warblers again
- 12 (11) Blackcaps
- 2 or 3 (2 or 3) Garden Warblers: see notes
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat

Noted on the West end street lamp poles around-dawn:

Moths:
*1 Silver-ground Carpet Xanthorhoe montanata

Noted later:
Note: not too much in cool and cloudy conditions.

Butterflies:
*Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria

Moths
*Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana
*Common Marble Celypha lacunana
*Meadow Hook-wing Ancylis badiana [was Common Roller]
Silver-ground Carpet Xanthorhoe montanata
*Straw Dot Rivula sericealis

Bees, wasps etc.:
Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum
Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum
Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
*$ Gossamer Hoverfly Baccha elongata [Common Dainty]
Cheilosia albitarsus agg. either C. ranunculi [Early Buttercup Cheilosia] or C. albitarsis [Late Buttercup Cheilosia]
*Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
*Meadow Field Syrph Eupeodes latifasciatus [Broad-banded Aphideater]
Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
*Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
*Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans [Bumblebee Plumehorn]

Lacewings etc.:
*$ lacewing Chrysopa perla

Alder Flies:
none

Dragon-/Damsel-flies:
Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella
Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]
Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans

Other flies:
Murky-legged Black Legionnaire Beris chalybata
Dagger fly Empis tessellata
Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria
Scorpion Fly Panorpa communis plus other not specifically identified
*$ Muscid fly Phaonia rufiventris
Common Crane-fly Tipula oleracea
plus
usual other boring and / or strange flies

Bugs:
Mirid bug Calocoris alpestris
Red-and-Black Froghopper Cercopis vulnerata

Beetles:
Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
*click beetle Athous haemorrhoidalis
Raspberry Beetle Byturus tomentosus
*Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea
*$ Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis [False Oil Beetle or Thick-legged Flower Beetle]
*unidentified beetle

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
Garden Spider Araneus diadematus [Garden Cross Spider]
Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.

New flowers for the year:
*Spindle-tree Euonymus europaea

I think van Gogh or Monet would have been proud of this sunrise as a painting.

Have another!

A Common Buzzard overhead. These seem very scarce again this year.

Compare and contrast the face pattern on this juvenile Long-tailed Tit with...

...that of the adult bird.

A Chiffchaff with a mouthful for its brood. It was calling so I thought it likely a female but then I realised that a male would have trouble singing with such a mouthful.

This Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria was the only butterfly I saw all morning.

A Common Nettle-tap moth Anthophila fabriciana.

My second Common Marble moth Celypha lacunana of the year.

A Meadow Hook-wing Ancylis badiana. Also my second of the year.

On a street lamp pole around dawn was this Silver-ground Carpet Xanthorhoe montanata: I have never seen one "at light" before. Usually I flush them from vegetation during the day.

My best Straw Dot moth Rivula sericealis photo to date.

For me the find of the day was this tiny Gossamer Hoverfly Baccha elongata. Here taking nectar from a Wood Avens Geum urbanum flower.

An amazingly thin waist it is surprising it does not fold in half.

Not only another size comparison with the flower but note the aphid on the flower stem. Everything is being eaten by something!

A Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus with wings a-whirr.

The triangular yellow abdomen markings of this female Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare are showing well in the sunlight.

A Meadow Field Syrph Eupeodes latifasciatus also known as Broad-banded Aphideater and it needs to get to work as we will see.

Another Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans in normal view...

...and from a different angle where it hardly resembles a bumblebee.

There were several of these very flighty blue-green lacewings Chrysopa perla and they proved very difficult to get both the wings and the body in focus. Not a species I see every year.

A Muscid fly Phaonia rufiventris. Its "ventris" is certainly "rufi". The slight bow in the outer wing-edge is a clue that this is a species in the genus Phaonia.

The hairy nature of the elytra suggests that this click beetle is Athous haemorrhoidalis.

It is loosing its spots! A Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis of the form succinea.

A Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis, also known as the False Oil Beetle or Thick-legged Flower Beetle. Only the males have swollen thighs like this.

What...?

I found this beetle lying on its back. I have no idea why. I cannot give an identity. I'll see whether the Shropshire recorder can help.

You think you have problems with aphids....

These are the inconspicuous flowers of the Spindle-tree Euonymus europaea.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies
*1 $ cranefly Nephrotoma quadrifaria
3 owl midges Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly, Moth Fly or Owl Fly] again
11 midges of various species.

The distinctive cranefly Nephrotoma quadrifaria, my first this year.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:25 – 07:20

(124th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- no Canada Goose goslings noted. They are assumed to have perished.
- the resident Mute Swans still have one cygnet.
- four visiting Mute Swan adults today (there may have been yesterday: one was on the grass and I probably assumed it was back in the water when I did a count later). One is wearing blue Darvic ring '7JXV'
- the pair of Mallard with one well-grown duckling was again along the East side. Otherwise there were fewer Mallard noted.
- a trio of Tufted Duck throughout.
- two Great Crested Grebes, possibly paired but not doing much.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 36 Canada Geese: of these a trio departed and a quartet arrived
- no Greylag Geese
- *6 + 1 (1 brood) Mute Swan
- 10 (7♂) + 1 (1 brood) Mallard
- 3 (2♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 19 + 1 (1 brood) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

Hirundines etc. noted:
- c.20 Swifts
- 1 House Martin

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 3 (3) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (3) Blackcaps

Noted around the area:

Moths
1 Pale Tussock Calliteara pudibunda: for its sixth day

Bees, wasps etc.:
*Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum

Flies:
*$ unidentified cranefly, seemingly from the Tanyptera group of wood-borers
Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria
numerous different midges and flies

Bugs:
*Mirid bug Calocoris alpestris

Beetles:
Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni

I suspect this Mute Swan is being kept out of the water by the resident cob. It enabled me to read the blue Darvic ring - '7JXV'.

How kind. The Robin has brought me breakfast!

A typically scruffy Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum.

You would think: "easy". Well I can't find an identity for this apparently distinctive cranefly. It may well be from the Tanyptera group of wood-borers. There are no matches I can find on the internet.

My first Mirid bug Calocoris alpestris here this year.

(Ed Wilson)

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2006
Priorslee Lake
Mink seen by locals
(Ed Wilson)