28 May 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

12.0°C > 13.0°C: Broken cloud increasing with very heavy shower driving me away after 09:30. Light north-westerly wind. Very good visibility becoming moderate at the onset of the showers.

Sunrise: 04:56 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:15 – 06:20 // 07:30 – 09:45

(132nd visit of the year)

The Wesley Brook alongside Teece Drive is damp but there is no flow.

Bird notes:
- the Canada and Greylag goslings all still present and correct.
- a pair of Gadwall early flew off East. Later the drake present.
- the duck Pochard still here.
- still no confirmed change in the Great Crested Grebes juvenile situation. However it is possible there is now a second adult with juvenile(s) hidden under fluffed-up feathers.
- a brief song from a Common Whitethroat. I assume it has been bust on family duty and has had no time to sing. It could be between broods.
- a Mistle Thrush was apparently successful in seeing off a Magpie, likely from the thrush's nest area.
- just four Starlings counted on the football field.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Greylag Geese: pair outbound
- 4 Stock Doves: two pairs
- 3 Wood Pigeons only
- 5 Herring Gulls
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 5 Jackdaws again

Counts from the lake area:
- 9 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese: of these a pair arrived
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 1 Mute Swan: the other resident assumed to be on the nest: see notes
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall: see notes
- 12 (9♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Pochard
- 3 Moorhens
- 28 + 12 (6 broods) Coots
- 7 + >1 (3? broods) Great Crested Grebes: see notes

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 8 Swifts

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 9 (7) Chiffchaffs
- 13 (13) Reed Warblers
- 7 (7) Blackcaps again
- 1 (1) Garden Warbler
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat

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

Moths:
- *$1 Silver Y Autographa gamma

Flies
- 1 unidentified caddisfly.

Noted later:
Note: with wet foliage after overnight rain and ahead of another downpour.

Butterflies:
none

Moths
2 Plain Pollen-moth Micropterix calthella [was Plain Gold]
1 Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana
1 Brindled Tortrix Ptycholoma lecheana [Leche's Twist Moth]
2 Common Marbles Celypha lacunana
1 Plum Tortrix Hedya pruniana
2 Silver-ground Carpets Xanthorhoe montanata
1 Straw Dot Rivula sericealis

Bees, wasps etc.:
Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum
*$$ Willowherb Tenthredo (sawfly) Tenthredo colon
*Yellow-sided Clover Sawfly Tenthredo notha or similar

Hoverflies:
*$$ Dark-winged Wrinklehead Chrysogaster solstitialis
*Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
*$$ Common Marsh Hoverfly Melanogaster hirtella [Common Wrinklehead]
Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis
*Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans [Bumblebee Plumehorn]
*Orange-belted Leaf Licker Xylota segnis [Orange-belted Leafwalker]

Lacewings etc.:
Lacewing Chrysopa perla

Dragon-/Damsel-flies:
Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella
Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]
*$ Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma najas
Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans

Other flies:
*Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus
*dagger fly Empis tessellata
Scorpion Fly Panorpa communis
*Downlooker Snipefly Rhagio scolopaceus
*$$ male Blue-winged Olive mayfly Serratella ignita
*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:
7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata
*Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea
*Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis [False Oil Beetle or Thick-legged Flower Beetle]
False Blister Beetle Oedemera lurida or O. virescens

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.

New flowers for the year:
*$ Common (or Black; or Lesser) Knapweed Centaurea nigra

One again dawn was about as good as it got. A few Canada Geese and Coots photo-bombing.

An adult Starling with, I assume, three of its off-spring. When in breeding condition adults can be sexed by the colour at the base of their bill. It seems to have faded on this individual.

My third-ever Brindled Tortrix moth Ptycholoma lecheana in three days, this one looking somewhat worn.

This Silver Y moth Autographa gamma looks strange peering down at me from the top of a street lamp pole. This moth is mostly an immigrant to the UK with early arrivals breeding with subsequent generations flying later in the year. It has been reported that recently some individuals have over-wintered in south-west England some years.

A Willowherb Tenthredo sawfly Tenthredo colon. On this species the white on the antennae does not extend to the very tips but you do have to look closely. A new species for me.

Obsidentify was sure this is a Yellow-sided Clover Sawfly Tenthredo notha. NatureSpot urges caution as there are several similar species It all depends how well Obsidentify has been "trained".

I almost didn't bother: a small dark fly on an umbel of Common Hogweed Heracleum sphondylium just as it started to pour with rain. Turns out to be a new species of hoverfly for me – a Dark-winged Wrinklehead Chrysogaster solstitialis.

Caught just taking off is a male Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax.

This was also a surprise: my first ever Common Marsh Hoverfly Melanogaster hirtella, named by Obsidentify as Common Wrinklehead. Steven Falk also rates it as "common". I almost overlooked it as "another of those puzzling Cheilosia species".

A Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans.

Another. Almost cuddly!

The leg pattern is sufficient to identify this as an Orange-belted Leaf Licker Xylota segnis even when the orange on the abdomen is obscured by the folded wings.

My first Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma najas of the year. The all-dark thorax is easier to see "in the field" than the red eyes.

Yesterday just one of the Black Snipeflies Chrysopilus cristatus. Today I noted at least twenty, all males so far.

The brown base to the wings and the three dark stripes on the thorax identify this dagger fly as Empis tessellata.

A close-up of an "along-looking" Downlooker Snipefly Rhagio scolopaceus.

This seems to be a male Blue-winged Olive mayfly Serratella ignita, a species with three 'tails' [many species only have two 'tails']. A male because of what are called "turbinate" (like a turban) eyes apparently enlarged eyes to enable them to spot females in dancing columns of mayflies.

A female (with ovipositor) Common Crane-fly Tipula oleracea.

A puzzle. This looks superficially to be an ichneumon or sawfly. It cannot be an ichneumon because the antennae are too short. It seems it cannot be a sawfly either as it has a spur on its middle leg. So it has to be a fly. Neither Obsidentify nor Google Lens have any sensible suggestions.

"Unknown non-biting midge" is all I can get from Obsidentify for this well-camouflaged insect.

A smart Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis of the form succinea. All those I have seen so far this year have been of this form.

A male Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis.

And a female. Best identified as it sits with its elytra (wing-cases) partly open.

An "answers on a postcard" insect. I suspect all that is left after a spider ate the rest.

One flowers and several buds of Common (or Black; or Lesser) Knapweed Centaurea nigra.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies
1 owl midge Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly, Moth Fly or Owl Fly]
10 other midges of various species.
*Not helped by the "mural" painted on the wall since yesterday. Banksy has a lot to answer for and should be locked up.

I suppose it will be some of my council tax that will pay for this abomination to be erased.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:25 – 07:25

(129th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- all six adult Mute Swans and the lone cygnet present
- a pair of Great Crested Grebes back again with one bird seen carrying nesting material to the oft-used site.
- the singing Reed Warbler for its fifth day.

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 66 Canada Geese
- 32 Greylag Geese: of these 27 arrived together
- 6 + 1 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 11 (10♂) Mallard
- 1 (1) all-white feral Mallard ('Aylesbury Duck')
- 5 Moorhens
- 20 + 2 (1 brood) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 House Martin

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

Noted around the area:

Moths
1 Common Marble Celypha lacunana
*2 Yellow-barred Longhorns Nemophora degeerella

Bees, wasps etc.:
Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum

Hoverflies
Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus

Dragon-/Damsel-flies:
Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella

Other flies:
owl midge Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly, Moth Fly or Owl Fly]
Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria
also numerous different midges and flies

Beetles:
*soldier beetle Cantharis nigricans
*$ larva possibly of a Pine Ladybird Exochomus quadripustulatus
*larva of a Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis
Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni

One of two Yellow-barred Longhorn moths Nemophora degeerella here this morning. My first at this site. They sure do have "long horns (antennae)".

 I think the soldier beetle Cantharis nigricans. There are several similar species.

Not sure about this ladybird larva. Obsidentify suggested Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis but I am wondering about Pine Ladybird Exochomus quadripustulatus because...

...this is what I expect the larva of a Harlequin Ladybird to look like.

(Ed Wilson)

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2012
Nedge Hill
2 Ravens mobbing Kestrel.
(John Isherwood)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Ringed Plover
(Ed Wilson)

2009
Priorslee Lake
Red Kite
(Ed Wilson)