8 Aug 25

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 17.0°C: A clear start; then an area of medium level cloud; that dispersed after 08:00 and sunny for a while before puffy clouds developed. Early light south-westerly wind increasing moderate. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 05:41 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

The un-forecast deluge yesterday afternoon has impacted the Balancing Lake but not made significant difference at The Flash. The Wesley Brook has a few wet areas but is not flowing. The sluices that empty in to the brook by the Teece Drive gate were clearly in spate as the Wesley Brook bridge shows signs of having been over-topped. The exit sluice by Castle Farm Way is also noisily flowing for the first time in ages.

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 05:05 – 06:35 // 07:40 – 10:05

(193rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- no Canada Geese on the water at dawn. 108 flew outbound in 12 groups. 45 flew inbound in four groups. 95 more pitched in to the water..
- the usual single Greylag Goose was again present throughout. A group of four was again present at dawn before flying off East. Nine flew outbound in four groups and four inbound in two group. Two landed on the lake.
- neither yesterday's duck Gadwall nor yesterday's duck Pochard were noted.
- yet another late brood of Coots was noted.
- just two Swifts were confirmed after 05:45. They stayed low and mostly below tree-top height so difficult to be sure.
- single Barn Swallows were noted at 05:45 and 08:30.
- three House Martins were over the football field c.09:50.
- the Jackdaws and Rooks passed over earlier than recently and much higher with the Jackdaws hard to see.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 153 Canada Geese: 108 outbound; 45 inbound: see notes
- 13 Greylag Geese: nine outbound; four inbound: see notes
- 109 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Herring Gulls
- 14 Lesser Black-baked Gulls
- 72 Jackdaws
- 121 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 95 Canada Geese: see notes
- >5 Greylag Geese: see notes
- 2 Mute Swans
- 31 (♂?) Mallard
- no Pochard
- 12 + 4 (2 dependent broods) Moorhens
- 118 adult and juvenile Coots
- *6 + 5 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 38 Black-headed Gulls: at least one juvenile – many flew off when still too dark to age them
- no Herring Gulls
- 10 Lesser Black-baked Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Swifts: see notes
- 2 Barn Swallows again
- 3 House Martins

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

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

Nothing

Noted later:

Butterflies:
Large White Pieris brassicae
Green-veined White Pieris napi
*Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria
*Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina
Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus
*Holly Blue Celastrina argiolus

Moths
3 Straw Grass-moths Agriphila straminella [previously Straw Grass-veneer]
1 Mother of Pearl Patania ruralis [was Pleuroptya ruralis]

Bees, wasps etc.:
*Honey Bee Apis mellifera
*Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
Common Wasp Paravespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
*Bumblebee Blacklet Cheilosia illustrata
Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
*Furry Dronefly Eristalis intricaria
Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
*Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
*Superb Ant-hill Hoverfly Xanthogramma pedissequum [Superb Dayglower]

Damsel- /Dragon- flies:
*Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]
*Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans [Common Bluetail]
hawker-type in flight only

Other flies:
Greenbottle Lucilia caesar or similar
*other Lucilia sp.
*Sarcophaga sp.
and the usual many unidentified fly species
*** thanks to Martin Adlam I now know that yesterday's fly Opomyza florum is known as Yellow Cereal Fly.

Bugs:
*an instar of a Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina

Beetles:
7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata
*** I wrongly yesterday's sighting to being a Bug and not a Beetle. Just because Americans call them "ladybugs" doesn't mean they are correct!

Let's start with a few cloud photos from this morning. A sort of sunrise.

Not smoke but what caused the black shapes?

Fair weather clouds later.

An adult Great Crested Grebe has caught a fish...

...and probably killed (or stunned) it. It dropped the fish back in the water for one of the youngster to dive after it - a stage in teaching them how to catch their own food.

One of the local Common Buzzards. I note birds perched in several different locations around the area and I did hear a juvenile begging for food. I am not sure whether they nested in their usual site in the Ricoh copse after the council "thinned" the trees alongside Teece Drive.

Not a brilliant photo of a flying Stock Dove. The point I wanted make is that this species often glides, as here, and when it does so the wings are slightly raised in a dihedral. Wood Pigeons never do this. Feral Pigeons do but usually with a greater angle. They also show a white rump.

A washed-out looking Speckled Wood butterfly Pararge aegeria.

A fresh-looking Meadow Brown butterfly Maniola jurtina. I had thought it was coming to the end of their flight season.

I have done my best to show this Holly Blue butterfly Celastrina argiolus which was sitting in a very contrasting position.

Here with wings akimbo illustrating that it is a female. This species might be called the "Holly and the Ivy Blue". It has two generations each year the larvae of the first feeding on Holly and the larvae of the second on Ivy. This is a second brood adult (imago) characterised by more extensive dark markings.

A Honey Bee Apis mellifera. Not as sharp as I would have liked. It was the only photo that showed pollen being carried on the middle leg as well as in the pollen basket on the hind leg. Mr. Google's AI tells me "A bee with pollen on its middle legs is likely a solitary bee species, as honeybees and bumblebees primarily carry pollen on their hind legs". I guess "primarily" is the key word to let AI off the hook of being incorrect.

A Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum thrashing its way through a Common Knapweed flower Centaurea nigra to get at the nectar.

This Common Carder Bee is attacking a flower of Bittersweet Solanum dulcamara also known as Woody Nightshade. I assume the bee is unaffected by the toxins in this plant that will probably not kill you if you eat the berries but might make you unwell.

A Bumblebee Blacklet hoverfly Cheilosia illustrata. Not seen one for over a week.

The orange marks on the abdomen provide the clue that this is a dronefly Eristalis sp. It is a Furry Dronefly E. intricaria which otherwise looks rather different from the other members of the family...

... such as this Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax

I had to include today's Superb Ant-hill Hoverfly Xanthogramma pedissequum.

An immature male Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum yet to get any hint of blue. Some females remain this colour but females have mostly black abdominal segments.

A male Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans resting on the dead head of a Knapweed flower.

Not all Lucilia species of fly are greenbottles. This otherwise unidentified one is, for instance.

One of the flesh flies Sarcophaga sp. They cannot be specifically identified from photos.

Another, perhaps the same species.

An instar of a Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths: [39 species here before today; no addition]
*1 Double-striped Pug Gymnoscelis rufifasciata
*1 Yellow Shell Camptogramma bilineata: as yesterday, though gone later

Flies:
4 moth flies Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
5 only midges of various species

Arthropods:
no White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

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

One of the few pug moths I am happy to ID without help (though I did check!). A Double-striped Pug Gymnoscelis rufifasciata.

The Yellow Shell moth Camptogramma bilineata looking down at me again. When I checked as I walked back from The Flash it had gone.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:40 – 07:35

(189th visit of the year)

My Merlin app is spooky. Every day it give me a challenge of a species to find. On 24 July the target species was Shelduck. "How likely is that at this date" I thought before one was on the water here. Then on 01 August the target species was a Great (White) Egret which I had not seen for some days. Sure enough one was present then and not since. The target today was Marsh Tit. Guess what was calling in the trees by the medical centre: a Marsh Tit! Mind you when the target was Gannet...!

Bird notes:
- Mallard back in some number. In addition to the single well-grown duckling another duck had four ducklings that I would judge to be about a week old.
- all nine Tufted Duck looked to be drakes but at this time of the year I am not prepared to commit myself!

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 18 Canada Geese again
- 1 dead Greylag Goose
- 8 Mute Swans
- 29 (?♂) + 4 (2 broods) Mallard
- 9 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 9 Moorhens
- 84 Coots: no dependent birds noted
- *4 + 5 (2 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Black-headed Gull: arrived, saw no-one else present and departed
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

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

Noted around the area:

Moths:
*1 Chevron Grass Moth Agriphila geniculea [previously Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer]
1 Marbled Beauty Bryophila domestica: same as yesterday

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
3 harvestmen Dicranopalpus ramosus/caudatus: where have they gone?

One of the juvenile Great Crested Grebes shows it knows what its wings are for though it won't get far without feathers. The parent looks unimpressed.

Feeding time for another juvenile Great Crested Grebe.

A small moth at the top of a street lamp pole does not make a great photo. It is a Chevron Grass Moth Agriphila geniculea previously known as an Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer.

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
Ruddy Duck
(Ed Wilson)

2008
Priorslee Lake
Wheatear
(Ed Wilson)