22 Jul 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

16.0°C > 18.0°C: A few early breaks: then a spell of low cloud and drizzle: finally a few more breaks appearing. Light westerly breeze. Very good visibility except in drizzle.

Sunrise: 05:14 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:00 – 06:25 // 07:30 – 09:55

(178th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- some Canada Geese when I arrived: they flew off before I had any visibility of the water. Eventually 49. The new Mute Swans seem unconcerned about the geese, unlike the predecessors who chased them away.
- as yesterday eight Greylag Geese eventually, seven of which arrived.
- no obvious Mallard ducklings.
- all seven juvenile Great Crested Grebes from the four broods present and correct.
- a Blackbird was heard singing again.
- a Common Whitethroat heard alarm-calling.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 4 Canada Geese: a trio outbound; a single inbound
- 5 Greylag Geese: outbound together
- 81 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Herring Gulls
- 6 Lesser Black-baked Gulls
- 47 Jackdaws
- 41 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 49 Canada Geese: see notes
- 8 Greylag Geese: see notes
- 2 Mute Swans
- 23 (?♂) Mallard: see notes
- 11 Moorhens
- 118 Coots
- ? + 7 (4 broods) Great Crested Grebes: again
- 12 Black-headed Gulls: one juvenile
- 1 Grey Heron: arrived

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Swift: have these mostly departed earlier than their usual end-July date? The flying ants that they gorge on were several weeks earlier than usual this year.

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 1 (0) Cetti's Warblers
- 7 (2) Chiffchaffs
- 3 (1) Reed Warblers
- 1 (0) Blackcap only
- 1 (0) Common Whitethroat

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

Moths:
none

Bees, wasps etc.:
*1 unidentified ichneumon

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
2 harvestmen Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

Noted later:
Not much seen in cloudy conditions.

Butterflies:
none

Moths
*>4 Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner Cameraria ohridella
*6 Straw Grass-moth Agriphila straminella [was Straw Grass-veneer]
>10 unidentified grass moths, possibly all the same species

Bees, wasps etc.:
Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris
*Turnip Sawfly Athalia rosae

Hoverflies:
Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
*Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]

Dragon-/Damsel-flies:
unidentified dragonfly sp. seen hawking insects at 05:15

Caddis etc. flies:
none

Other flies:
*female Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus
otherwise only unidentified fly species

Bugs etc.:
*$$ Black Kneed Capsid Blepharidopterus angulatus
*$$ Parent Bug Elasmucha grisea

Psocids:
*$$ barklouse Graphopsocus cruciatus

Beetles:
none

Amphibians:
*Common Toad Bufo bufo

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
*probable Furrow Orbweaver Larinioides cornutus
*Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp.
harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

Fungus:
*$ Fairy Ring Champignon Marasmius oreades

New flowers for the year:
*$ Wild Angelica Angelica sylvestris
*$ Black Medick Medicago lupulina : probably not 'new', merely overlooked.

I made another visit to a Horse-chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum tree to see whether there were still any Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner moths Cameraria ohridella about. Here is one of at least four that were flying around.

While trying to see if and where any of the moths would land several other creatures flew in. This is a mirid bug known as a Black Kneed Capsid Blepharidopterus angulatus. A new species for me.

Then a very small insect arrived: a barklouse Graphopsocus cruciatus. I am not sure I have knowingly seen any barklice. They are noted by NatureSpot as "common". It does not give a size for this species. Generally they are about 3mm (just over 0.1").

In the dull weather many of the Straw Grass-moth Agriphila straminella were more amenable to having their photo taken. The main feature of this species is that the white streak along the wing breaks in to "fingers". On this species the white streak does not have a dark outline. When fresh, as here, it shares with other grass moths the pale (often glinting gold) sub-terminal band on its wing with a row of black dots inboard. These marks soon abrade.

The only thing of interest on the street lamp poles around dawn was this unidentified ichneumon.

A Turnip Sawfly Athalia rosae

For a change a male Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare showing that the yellow marks (chequers) on his abdomen are square...

 ...perhaps showing even better here.

And a female showing her triangular-shaped yellow marks.

This is odd. A female Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus. It is almost three weeks since I saw my last individuals of this species and they were mainly males which, as the species name implies, are essentially all-black.

It may look like a shieldbug but it is a closely-related species called a Parent Bug Elasmucha grisea. The first I have recorded.

More Common Toads Bufo bufo along Teece Drive. One oft-quoted way of telling frogs and toads apart is that toads crawl, as here....

...and frogs hop as this one was doing. Except the warty skin tells us this is another toad!

What a tangle of legs. The spider is probably a Furrow Orbweaver Larinioides cornutus and I assume there is a cranefly in there somewhere.

Another tangle of legs and in this instance wings as well. This Long-jawed Orb-web Spider Tetragnatha sp. jumped out from behind the leaf and grabbed a passing midge. Sadly the sharpest part of the photo is just the two rows of four eyes of the spider.

A few fruits of Fairy Ring Champignon Marasmius oreades. There were indeed more in a vague ring, mostly hidden in grass and other vegetation.

The very tight umbels identify this as Wild Angelica Angelica sylvestris. This particular plant is stunted because it is growing in the poor soil on top of the dam.

Black Medick Medicago lupulina has inconspicuous yellow flowers: not 'new', merely overlooked. Note the seed cases showing. It was also found growing on top of the dam.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths: [29 species here before today; 1 addition]
*1 Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella
*1 $ Brindled Poplar Tortrix Epinotia nisella [was Grey Poplar Bell]
1 Single-dotted Wave Idaea dimidiata

Flies:
9 moth flies Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
12 midges of various species.

Beetles:
1 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata

Arthropods:
2 White-legged Snake Millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger : again

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
1 Orb-web spider Metellina sp.
1 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]

I noted this Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella and...

...at the time assumed this was another. Only when I edited the photo and increased the exposure did I realise it wasn't. It is my first Brindled Poplar Tortrix moth Epinotia nisella of the year. The names of micro-moths seem to have been standardised (mostly changed!) after many years of debate. This used to be known as Grey Poplar Bell.

An Orb-web spider of the Metellina group. I do not know which species.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:30 – 07:25

(174th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- just a single Mallard duckling noted.
- I suspect some Coots were sheltering from the drizzle inside the island. Hence the lower than usual number logged. The light was poor to see them anyway.
- *I can confirm that the pair of Great Crested Grebes by the island have three small juveniles. One of the two birds at the top end still sitting on a nest platform.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Noted on / around the water:
- 24 Canada Geese
- 16 Greylag Geese
- 6 Mute Swans
- 17 + 1 (1 brood) Mallard
- 9 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens
- 74 + 5 (5 dependent broods) Coots
- *4 + 3 (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 2 Black-headed Gulls: adults
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers recorded (the figure in brackets is birds noted singing):
- 3 (0) Chiffchaffs
- 1 (1) Blackcap only

Noted around the area:

Butterflies:
none

Moths [on street lamp poles and in the grass] [60 species here before today: no additions]
1 Swallow Prominent Pheosia tremula
*1 Straw Dot Rivula sericealis

Otherwise just

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
1 harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus

New flowers for the year:

None

In poor light and at long range this edited photo confirms the Great Crested Grebes near the island have three young. I wonder where the nest was? And looking at the size of the juveniles already happily swimming then they must have hatched unseen by me some days ago.

I often note moths on the vegetation below one of the street lamps alongside the Wesley Brook. Today it was this Straw Dot Rivula sericealis.

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
1 Kingfisher
Female Ruddy Duck
(John Isherwood)

2009
Priorslee Lake
1 Kingfisher
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
A drake Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)