7 May 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

7.0°C > 14.0°C: Partly clear early with high cloud spreading from the North. Some brighter interludes. Initially calm with a light / moderate north-easterly wind developing. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:27 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:05 – 06:20 // 07:30 – 09:55

(115th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the pair of Canada Geese still with a single goslings
- the pair of Greylag Geese still with four goslings.
- only the cob Mute Swan seen. The pen presumed on the nest. I am not sure where she has made her nest: two sites seemed to be under inspection and I could see her at neither. Well hidden!
- the pair of Gadwall present.
- the duck Pochard back in her usual place.
- a Great Crested Grebe seen with a single recently hatched juvenile just visible. I am not entirely sure it was the same individual as seen yesterday.
- again no Common Whitethroat seen or head.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 20 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 5 Jackdaws
- 5 Rooks
- 1 Starling

Counts from the lake area:
- 7 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese: see notes
- 2 + 4 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 1 Mute Swan: the other presumed out of site on the nest
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 7 (6♂) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Pochard
- 5 Moorhens
- 22 + 7 (2 broods) Coots: in the absence of sun they did not seem to want to show
- *5 + 1 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: seven of these were immatures

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Swifts

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
song is definitely fading away among the Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 16 (14) Chiffchaffs
- 12 (12) Reed Warblers
- 16 (14) Blackcaps
- 2 (2) Garden Warblers still

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

Moths:
- *1 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata

Flies:
- 1 plumed midge sp.

Nothing else on the dew-covered poles

Noted later:

Butterflies:
Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria

Moths
none

Bees, wasps etc.:
*Orange-tailed Mining Bee Andrena haemorrhoa aka Early Mining Bee
Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius
Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris

Hoverflies:
Cheilosia albitarsus agg. either C. ranunculi [Early Buttercup Cheilosia] or C. albitarsis [Late Buttercup Cheilosia]
*$ Bumblebee Blacklet Cheilosia illustrata
Spring Epistrophe Epistrophe eligans [Spring Smoothtail]
Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
Migrant Field Syrph Eupeodes corollae [Migrant Hoverfly; Migrant Aphideater]
Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
*Spotted Meliscaeva Meliscaeva auricollis [Spotted Thintail]

Alder Flies:
Alder Fly Sialis lutaria

Dragon-/Damsel-flies:
*$ Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella
*Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]

Other flies
*$ male Bibio leucopterus
*$ dagger fly Empis trigramma
*$ unidentified Limonid cranefly
*$ Spotted Cranefly Nephrotoma appendiculata
*$ scorpion fly Panorpa communis
*$ European Cranefly Tipula paludosa
*a "greenbottle"
many unidentified flies

Bugs:
Red-and-Black Froghopper Cercopis vulnerata: just one again
Mirid bug Harpocera thoracica

Beetles:
Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
*$ click beetle, almost certainly Athous haemorrhoidalis
Raspberry Beetle Byturus tomentosus
*$ leaf beetle Donacia cinerea or similar
*$ leaf beetle Donacia thalassina or similar

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

New flowers for the year:
*$ Germander Speedwell Veronica chamaedrys
*$ Guelder-rose Viburnum opulus
also
*Yellow Flag Iris pseudacorus : a decent photo at last

Just about sunrise with cloud spreading from the North.

Still just one juvenile visible on the parent Great Crested Grebe's back. I am not certain this is the same bird though: it was some way away from yesterday's bird and this was closer to another potential nest site.

At least three adult Long-tailed Tits were gathering food for the brood. Last year's young are often recruited as "helpers".

A Common Marbled Carpet moth Chloroclysta truncata. This is a very variable species and I have never seen one like this before.

 A smart Orange-tailed Mining Bee Andrena haemorrhoa.

A Cheilosia hoverfly that is easy to identify because it is not all-black. My first Bumblebee Blacklet C. illustrata.

It would seem that Obsidentify's name of Spotted Thintail is more opt for this hoverfly that Steven Falk calls Spotted Meliscaeva Meliscaeva auricollis.

My first Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella of the year. An immature lacking colour (called a teneral). One way to identify this species is from the width of the pale areas on the thorax. Compare them with those on...

...this fully developed and thus "blue" Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum.

A male fly Bibio leucopterus. The scientific name "leucopterus" translates to "pale winged" so is apt for the male. The female has dark wings! Hairy eyes on this species.

This fly looks relatively harmless until...

...you see it from this angle: a dagger fly Empis trigramma.

This is the "other" scorpion fly Panorpa communis and not P. germanica I photographed yesterday – different layout of spots on the wings. The "sting" is the male's way of advertising his wares.

Autumn is thought to be the time for craneflies / daddy long-legs. In fact there are more species on the wing in Spring. I have been unable to identify this delicate specimen with long antennae beyond it being one of the many Limonid craneflies.

A smart Spotted Cranefly Nephrotoma appendiculata.

A European Cranefly Tipula paludosa.

One of today's (many) unidentified flies. A leaf-licker?

A "greenbottle". There are several species in different families.

A click beetle trying to hide in a nettle, almost certainly Athous haemorrhoidalis.

This group of leaf beetles are not easy: This is Donacia cinerea or similar.

While this leaf beetle is D. thalassina or similar.

My first Garden Spider Araneus diadematus. This way up you cannot see the "cross" pattern that makes it easy to identify.

There are many of these Long-jawed Orb-web Spiders Tetragnatha sp. hanging about.

This Guelder-rose Viburnum opulus also known as dogberry; water elder; cramp bark; snowball tree; European cranberry bush.

Germander Speedwell Veronica chamaedrys

I did say I would get a better photo of Yellow Flag Iris pseudacorus: here it is.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
*1 Small Phoenix Ecliptopera silaceata

Flies
1 St Mark's Fly or Hawthorn Fly Bibio marci
*1 mayfly, perhaps Pond Olive mayfly Cloeon dipterum
4 Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly, Moth Fly or Owl Fly]
15 midges of various species.

This is a Small Phoenix moth Ecliptopera silaceata on the ceiling of the tunnel.

A more or less random photo of one of the many "midges" on the tunnel wall turned out to be a mayfly, perhaps Pond Olive mayfly Cloeon dipterum.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:25 – 07:25

(112nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- *a duck Mallard with at least six ducklings.
- just two drake Tufted Duck seen.
- one family of Coots is sufficiently advanced that the juveniles are out on the water at the time I visit.
- no Great Crested Grebes seen again.
- an over-flying Grey Heron was helped on its way by a posse of Magpies and Carrion Crows.
- a Pied Wagtail on a roof on Derwent Drive was perhaps only my second sighting of the species here this year.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull: adult
- 1 Grey Heron
- 2 Starlings

Noted on / around the water:
- 12 Canada Geese only
- 5 Greylag Geese
- 1 Mute Swan: the other resident presumed to be on the island.
- *18 (16♂) + 6? (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) feral Mallard x ?
- 2 (2♂) Tufted Duck
- 4 Moorhens
- 15 + 2 (1 brood) Coots

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

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

Noted around the area:

Bees, wasps etc.:
1 Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Beetles:
many Alder Leaf Beetles Agelastica alni

At extreme range: I can just about make out six ducklings with Mrs. Mallard.

(Ed Wilson)

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Between the Balancing Lake and The Flash

Nothing of real interest

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Nedge Hill
Yellow Wagtail
3 Wheatear
(John Isherwood)

2012
Wrekin
2 Wood Warblers
4 Pied Flycatchers
(Mike Stokes)

2011
Nedge Hill
2 Wheatear
(John Isherwood)

2008
Priorslee Lake
18 Mute Swans
(Martin Adlam)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Pair of Ruddy Ducks
(Ed Wilson)