13 Aug 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

17.0°C > 23.0°C: A wall-to-wall clear start with a very few clouds later. Very light southerly wind after the usual calm start. Good visibility and hazy.

Sunrise: 05:49 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

I am taking a few days break from trudging around. Normal(?) service should restart Sunday.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 04:55 – 06:40 // 07:35 – 09:40

(199th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- again fewer geese noted:
- apart from the usual Greylag Goose none was on the water at dawn. 21 Canada Geese in two groups and 41 Greylag Geese in four groups went outbound. Nine Canadas in two groups and 34 Greylags also in two groups went inbound. Just two Canadas and five Greylags arrived.
- this lower number of geese returning to splash-down on the water was perhaps because while I was away at The Flash something flushed all the birds off the south-west grass area, scattering the Mallard and Coots to all corners of the water so there were no friends to welcome them in.
- three visiting Mute Swans were not welcomed, the resident cob occasionally making rather half-hearted attempts to persuade them to go.
- the duck Pochard was not seen: she probably went in to hiding with the disturbance.
- an early only sighting of a Common Sandpiper probably also left during the disturbance.
- two Swifts were over North side trees by 05:35 with three by 06:00 when they seemed to fly off South. Perhaps not as there were two over the Teece Drive gate area at 06:10.
- four Barn Swallows dropped in for a drink at 08:45
- a single House Martin was high overhead the lake at 08:35.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 30 Canada Geese: 21 outbound: nine inbound: see notes
- 75 Greylag Geese: 41 outbound: 34 inbound: see notes
- 1 Feral Pigeon
- 1 Stock Dove
- 71 Wood Pigeons
- 14 Lesser Black-baked Gulls
- 62 Jackdaws
- 145 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese: see notes
- 6 Greylag Geese: see notes
- 5 Mute Swans: see notes
- 27 (♂?) Mallard
- no Pochard
- 11 + 3 (2 dependent broods) Moorhens
- 118 adult and juvenile Coots
- 7 + 4 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Common Sandpiper: early only
- 59 Black-headed Gulls: two confirmed juveniles
- 12 Herring Gulls
- 34 Lesser Black-baked Gulls
- 2 Grey Herons

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 3 Swifts
- 4 Barn Swallows
- 1 House Martin

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

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

Moths:
- 1 Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella [previously Common Grass-veneer]
- *1 unidentified pug moth

Flies:
- *1 Muscid fly, perhaps a Phaonia sp.

Noted later:
Too hot for us all!

Butterflies:
Green-veined White Pieris napi
Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria
*Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta

Moths
6 Straw Grass-moths Agriphila straminella [previously Straw Grass-veneer]

Bees, wasps etc.:
Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
Meadow Field Syrph Eupeodes latifasciatus [Broad-banded Aphideater]
Grey-spotted Boxer Platycheirus albimanus [Grey-spotted Sedgesitter or White-footed Hoverfly]
*Common Twist-tail Sphaerophoria scripta [Long Hoverfly; Common Globetail]

Damsel- /Dragon- flies:
*Migrant Hawker Aeshna mixta
Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]
*Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum

Other flies:
Greenbottle Lucilia caesar or similar
Sarcophaga sp.
and the usual many unidentified fly species

Bugs:
none

Beetles:
none

Do I need to say? A Red Admiral butterfly Vanessa atalanta where it should be on a Butterfly-bush Buddleja davidii.

Splendid creature!

This will have to remain an unidentified pug moth. It seems to be faded and sitting at an unhelpful angle on the street lamp pole. I have two photos: Obsidentify was consistent in suggesting Bordered Pug Eupithecia succenturiata, a species I have not seen. All the photos show a moth with very white "shoulders" contrasting with dark wings. So I wondered what Google Lens would say. Juniper Pug E. pusillata for the first photo and Double-striped Pug Gymnoscelis rufifasciata for the other. Take your pick!

A winner for the camera. The grass stem on which this male Common Twist-tail Sphaerophoria scripta is sitting was blowing around in the breeze yet the camera has delivered a sharp image.

Here are the pick of the photos I took of an obliging Migrant Hawker dragonfly Aeshna mixta.

 I doubt I will have as good an opportunity very often.

I am also pleased with the camera's ability to "lock-on" to what was often a fast-moving subject.

This was a different individual along the South side.

It is smiling at me!

One of two Common Darter dragonflies Sympetrum striolatum on the Teece Drive fence. Probably a female and immature males usually show some red on the abdomen.

And the other, both in high-contrast light sadly.

A handsome Muscid fly, perhaps a Phaonia sp., at rest on a street lamp pole pre-dawn.

Er, plane of the day? This is a Cameron balloon, probably an A-400 (the 400 refers to the capacity in thousands of cubic feet: 11328 m³ ) and operated locally by AirXcite Ltd., trading as Virgin Balloon Flights. There is a registration on the canopy but it is too small to read. The canopy is approximately 33.4m x 29.2m. Big! The gondola may look small but is typically holding up to 20 passengers and the pilot. If fitted with a transponder it was not activated.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths: [41 species here before today; no additions]
*1 Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella
*1 $$ White-spotted Pug Eupithecia tripuntaria
1 Single-dotted Wave Idaea dimidiata

Four-winged Flies:
1 Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperia carnea

Flies:
*1 dagger fly Empis tessellata
11 moth flies Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
1 cranefly Tipula sp.
16 midges of various species

Arthropods:
3 White-legged Snake Millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
1 Garden Spider Araneus diadematus [Garden Cross Spider]
*2 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]
2 other unidentified spiders

I had to double-check this Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella . I had never noted before that the palps wrap around the head.

A new species here: a White-spotted Pug Eupithecia tripuntaria . The white spotting is most apparent on the right wing, toward the trailing edge.

A dagger fly Empis tessellata was a strange insect to find on the ceiling.

One of two Missing Sector Orb-web Spiders Zygiella x-notata also known as Silver-sided Sector Spider

And the other one.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:40 – 07:30

(194th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- both duck Mallard with ducklings seen together. I am tempted to suggest that the higher number of adult Mallard noted was due to the lower number seen at the lake.
- I only noted one adult Great Crested Grebe with two of the three juveniles from the first brood. Also only one adult with the two juveniles from the second brood. I assume the missing adults were fishing somewhere and staying underwater much of the time. Not sure about the missing juvenile.

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 4 Canada Geese: one of these arrived
- 4 Greylag Geese: arrived together
- *8 Mute Swans
- *35 (?♂) + 5 (2 brood) Mallard
- 21 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 8 Moorhens
- 85 adult and juvenile Coots
- 2 + 4 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes: see notes
- 8 Black-headed Gulls: one juvenile
- 1 Cormorant: arrived
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

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

Noted around the area:

Moths:
1 Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella [previously Common Grass-veneer]

Bugs:
1 Red-legged Shieldbug Pentatoma rufipes

Much of the time only six Mute Swans are clearly visible. These two seem to be keeping out of the way underneath vegetation on the island.

Two of the brood of fast-growing four Mallard ducklings. Looking at their bills the one nearest the camera looks to be a duck with brown on the edge while the other duckling has a uniformly pale greenish bill suggesting it is a drake.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
2 Common Sandpipers
(Ed Wilson)

2011
Priorslee Lake
Ruddy Duck
1 Common Sandpiper
>50 Linnets
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Little Egret
(Ed Wilson)