8 Jun 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

8.0°C > 12.0°C: Clear though hazy start. Cloud developing after 09:00. Moderate / fresh westerly wind. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 04:48 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: 05:00 – 06:10 // 07:20 – 09:45

(141st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the Canada and Greylag goslings all still present and correct.
- the pen Mute Swan again left the nest site for a few minutes with her partner showing no interest.
- the duck Mallard with small ducklings either not see or all the ducklings have perished. The other duck Mallard still has two well-grown ducklings
- the duck Pochard still here.
- the Little Grebe again called but once from the North side reeds. I seems likely it is breeding here.
- no Common Whitethroat heard.
- a Nuthatch was calling alongside Teece Drive. This in only about my fourth record here this year.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Wood Pigeons only
- 17 Herring Gulls
- 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 Jackdaws
- 1 Rook

Counts from the lake area:
- 5 + 1 (1 brood) Canada Geese
- 2 + 3 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 2 Mute Swans
- 9 (7♂) + 2 (1 brood) Mallard
- 1 (0♂) Pochard
- 5 Moorhens
- 28 + 12 (6 broods) Coots: some hiding from the keen wind?
- 6 + 2 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Herring Gull
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 5 Swifts
- 1 Barn Swallow again
- 1 House Martin again

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (1) Cetti's Warbler
- 17 (13) Chiffchaffs
- 11 (10) Reed Warblers
- 13 (13) Blackcaps
- no Common Whitethroat

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

Moths:
*1 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata

Noted later:

Butterflies:
Large Skipper Ochlodes sylvanus

Moths
7 Common Nettle-taps Anthophila fabriciana: six of these on one plant
1 $ Blood-vein Timandra comae: moth species #36 for me here this year
2 Common Marble Celypha lacunana

Bees, wasps etc.:
*$ Common Mini-miner Andrena minutula aggregate.
*Honey Bee Apis mellifera
Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum
Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius
Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum
Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris
NB: the brambles at the South end of the West end footpath in particular were alive with bumblebees.

Hoverflies:
*Gossamer Hoverfly Baccha elongata [Common Dainty]
*Buttercup Blacklet Cheilosia albitarsus [Late Buttercup Cheilosia]
Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
Meadow Field Syrph Eupeodes latifasciatus [Broad-banded Aphideater]
Tiger Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus
Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
*Humming Syrphus Syrphus ribesii [Common Flower Fly]
*Glass-winged Syrphus Syrphus vitripennis
Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis [most not specifically identified]
*Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans [Bumblebee Plumehorn]
*Orange-belted Leaf Licker Xylota segnis [Orange-belted Leafwalker]

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

Lacewings:
Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperia carnea

Other flies:
Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus
dagger fly Empis tessellata
*$$ dance fly perhaps Ocydromia glabricula
Scorpion Fly Panorpa sp.
Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria
plus
*usual other boring and / or strange flies

Bugs:
none

Beetles:
*$ Soldier beetle Cantharis decipiens
7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata
larvae of Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis: >50 still
pupae of Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis: >10
False Blister Beetle Oedemera lurida or O. virescens
Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis [False Oil Beetle or Thick-legged Flower Beetle]

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
none

New flowers for the year:
None

A hazy start this morning.

A wider view.

A Large Skipper butterfly Ochlodes sylvanus. A male with dark scent gland marks in its wings. The white patch on the left hindwing is not typical.

An easy to ID moth on a street lamp pole: a Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata.

I am happy to go along with Obsidentify's suggestion that this small bee is one of the Common Mini-miner group from Andrena minutula aggregate. It would need inspection using a hand lens at least to determine further.

I noted that there were very many bumblebees on the bramble flowers. It took a long while before I found a Honey Bee Apis mellifera.

And then I found another with its tongue stuck in to the flower of Nipplewort Lapsana communis.

A hoverfly I rarely see, probably because of its small size. It is a Gossamer Hoverfly Baccha elongata. It is just possible to make out the very thin waist unique to this species of hoverfly.

Obsidentify was 100% sure this is a Buttercup Blacklet Cheilosia albitarsus. Since this, unlike some earlier specimens, has reasonably "albi tarsus" I'll go along with that.

As this hoverfly is a female (the eyes do not meet) and the hind femur is not entirely yellow this keys out as a Glass-winged Syrphus Syrphus vitripennis.

This is puzzling me. It is a female of a Syrphus species but looks rather tubby and the yellow bands look unusually narrow and dull. Reading the literature suggests the best option is S ribesii. I can't see her hind femur to confirm.

Compare with this brighter, more slender example with the all yellow hind femur confirming this is Syrphus ribesii.

A Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans. This is the first I have seen this year of the form that does not have a white tail.

An Orange-belted Leaf Licker Xylota segnis. I have seen many more individuals of this species this year.

One of many very similar-looking species of "long-legged fly".

Looks like the same species whatever that is.

Another species of fly from the group. This plan view makes you wonder how the head communicates with the rest of body – there is almost no neck to transmit information.

This small fly with a red thorax and black head is, suggested Obsidentify, the dance fly Ocydromia glabricula . This species, indeed the genus, is not included on either the NatureSpot or eakringbirds websites. A Google search was more successful linking to the NBN (National Diversity Network) Atlas web site the photo was an excellent match and where over 1600 records are noted, with a cluster in the West Midlands and East Wales.

My first Soldier beetle Cantharis decipiens this year.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Flies
1 Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata
1 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
18 midges of various species.

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
1 unidentified spider

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:15 – 07:15

(139th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- so where have all the geese gone?
- the duck Gadwall not seen.
- two Great Crested Grebes seen together.
- a Nuthatch was calling at the South end of squirrel alley. It did not seem to be associated with the historic nest site in the pollarded / dead tree near the academy.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Noted on / around the water:
- 8 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Geese
- no mainly white feral goose
- no Gadwall
- 6 + 1 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 21 (17♂) Mallard
- 5 Moorhens
- 14 Coots only
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

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

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

Noted around the area:

Moths
none

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

Hoverflies:
none

Other flies:
*Grouse Wing caddis fly Mystacides longicornis
*$$ possible dagger fly Rhamphomyia crassirostris
also numerous different midges and flies including a *possible aphid

Bugs:
none

Beetles:
larvae of Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
3 harvestmen Leiobunum sp.

A well-marked Grouse Wing caddis fly Mystacides longicornis showing its long antennae despite all the crud on its chosen street lamp pole.

Based on the all-black legs and the number of stripes on the thorax this is the dagger fly Rhamphomyia crassirostris. Not a species I have previously recorded.

Not sure about this tiny insect. My best suggestion is a winged form of an aphid, species unidentified.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Reed Warbler
Willow Tit.
(John Isherwood)

Redhill
Kestrel
Linnet
Stock Dove
Yellowhammer.
(John Isherwood)

2009
Priorslee Lake
9 Swifts
4 Chiffchaffs
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Raven
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
4 Great Crested Grebes
1 Tufted Duck
2 Ruddy Duck
1 Kestrel
3 Stock Doves
4 Swift
2 Swallow
12 House Martin
7 Reed Warbler
2 Lesser Whitethroat
1 Common Whitethroat
1 Garden Warbler
10 Blackcaps
5 Chiffchaffs
2 Willow Tit
19 Magpies
8 Greenfinch
6 Reed Bunting
(Ed Wilson)