20 May 26

The Flash and Priorslee Balancing Lake

13.0°C > 16.0°C: Mostly cloudy with brighter intervals: a very few sunny spells: and a few very light sprinkles. Moderate westerly breeze, gusting fresh at times. Very good visibility.

[Sunrise: 05:06 BST]

* = a species photographed today
$ = a new species for me in this area

Another delayed start nowhere near so successful as yesterday!

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 10:50 – 12:35

(119th visit of the year)

Mostly viewing from the dam-top area and then in an area sheltered from the wind to look for insects.

Bird notes:
- the seven Greylag Geese goslings present and correct.
- no Mallard ducklings seen. Today the model boat club were using the West end of the water so some birds were probably hiding though some do not seen too worried.
- all three usual warbler species heard but no counts taken again.
- a Mistle Thrush was singing from the south-east copse. Seems it is nesting here and is in addition to the birds alongside Teece Drive.
- again I could hear the Reed Bunting singing from along the South side while I was standing on the dam-top.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Canada Geese: a pair flew West
- 2 Greylag Geese: a pair flew East
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull again
- 1 Wood Pigeon only
- 9 Jackdaws

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese: a pair arrived
- 2 + 7 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 2 Mute Swans (assuming the pen is on the nest, hidden in the reeds)
- 8 (6♂) Mallard only
- 1 Moorhen
- 16 Coots again
- 5 Great Crested Grebes

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 7 Swifts
- no Sand Martins
- no Barn Swallows
- 2 House Martins high over

Warblers noted (the number in brackets refers to birds singing):
- Chiffchaffs present
- Reed Warblers present
- Blackcaps present

Also noted

Butterflies:
- Green-veined White Pieris napi

Moths:
- *4 Cocksfoot Moths Glyphipterix simpliciella

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
- Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- *Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum
- *$ Hawthorn Sawfly Trichiosoma tibiale
- *sawfly of the Tenthredo arcuata / brevicornis / notha / schaefferi complex

Hoverflies:
- *Buttercup Blacklet Cheilosia albitarsus [Late Buttercup Cheilosia]

Damsel / Dragon-flies:
- Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]

Other flies:
- *root-maggot fly Anthomyia procellaris
- *dagger fly Empis tessellata
- *caddis fly, perhaps Hydropsyche angustipennis
- *Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- *Spotted Cranefly Nephrotoma appendiculata
- *cranefly Nephrotoma quadrifaria
- *other unidentified fly species

Bugs:
- *Red-and-Black Froghopper Cercopis vulnerata

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
- *longhorn beetle Grammoptera ruficornis
- Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea
- *pollen beetle Meligethes sp.
- *False Blister Beetle Oedemera lurida or O. virescens

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- *unidentified male money spider

An inquisitive Dunnock came to see what I was doing.

Here are three of the four Cocksfoot Moths Glyphipterix simpliciella I noted on an Ox-eye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare. This is a very common day-flying moth – if you know where to look for them.

An Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum with slight damage to the trailing edge of the right wing.

This one showing damage on the left wing as it drinks nectar from the flower of Green Alkanet Pentaglottis sempervirens.

My "insect of the day" and a new species for me. It is a Hawthorn Sawfly Trichiosoma tibiale.

This is a sawfly of the Tenthredo arcuata / brevicornis / notha / schaefferi complex.

Living up to its name is a Buttercup Blacklet Cheilosia albitarsus. I must have seen twenty of this species of hoverfly today and, strangely, no other hoverflies.

Possibly my best photo of this species to date.

The very distinct black marks on the thorax identifies this as the root-maggot fly Anthomyia procellaris. It was a hard species to photograph. A number of fly species seem to "see" the focus-assist beam cameras use for their autofocus and fly off before the shutter fires.

Is this dagger fly Empis tessellata after the nectar or has it designs on the pollen beetles Meligethes sp. in the heart of the buttercup flower?

Obsidentify is 100% sure this caddis fly is Hydropsyche angustipennis. I am not entirely convinced. There is no photo of the species in the NatureSpot galleries where the rubric says "A small dark brown unicolorous species". I do not recall it being small – for a caddis fly.

Two Greenbottle flies Lucilia sp. ensuring species continuity.

A Spotted Cranefly Nephrotoma appendiculata missing a few legs.

The wing markings help identify this colourful cranefly as Nephrotoma quadrifaria.

An apparently distinctively-marked fly that I have been unable to identify. The wing shape suggests a Phaonia species of Muscid fly and Obsidentify indeed suggested it as a fly in the Muscid family. Google Lens thought a Root-maggot Fly in the Anthomyiidae family. But...?

A Red-and-Black Froghopper Cercopis vulnerata.

One of the smallest longhorn beetles is this Grammoptera ruficornis. No vernacular name I am aware of.

On a dandelion is a False Blister Beetle Oedemera lurida or O. virescens. The two species cannot be separated from photos.

Not a very good photo of an unidentified male money spider. It ran off!

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:20 – 10:40

(115th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- still five visiting Mute Swans. The resident pen swan came off the nest for a short while.
- no Canada Geese goslings found.
- eight Greylag Geese seen today. Why are the numbers so variable?
- three groups of juvenile Coots seen: nine youngsters. One of yesterdays groups was a juvenile short today: perhaps hiding.
- two Great Crested Grebes were asleep in close company in the centre of the water. I assume the first brood failed or has been predated. They may try again.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 1 Jackdaw

Noted on / around the water:
- 30 Canada Geese: of these a pair departed
- 8 Greylag Geese
- 7 Mute Swans: all seven seen
- 15 (11♂) Mallard only
- 3 Moorhens only
- 20 + 9 (3 broods) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers noted (the number in brackets refers to birds singing):
- 7 (6) Chiffchaffs
- no Reed Warbler
- 4 (4) Blackcaps

Notes around the area:

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
- *Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum

Flies:
- dagger fly Empis tessellata
- Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- various other unidentified flies and midges

Beetles:
- *Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
- *Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea
- *pollen beetle Meligethes sp.

Flower:
- *Foxglove Digitalis purpurea

The Blue Tits are still active at the nest box. No sign of any about-to-fledge birds at the entrance today.

An Early Bumblebee Bombus pratorum clinging on for dear life on a swaying Cow Parsley plant Anthriscus sylvestris hanging over the water.

A more active Early Bumblebee diving head-first in to the flower of a White Dead-Nettle Lamium album.

 A popular pastime!

This one favours Red Campion Silene dioica.

One of the many different and unidentified species of midge I see in the Priorslee Avenue tunnel. Here is one of them in the open in better light. It does not mean I can identify it.

A confused Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni: that is not an Alder leaf, it is the flower of, probably, a Meadow Buttercup Ranunculus acris.

My first Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis of the year for me here. This of the most common form succinea.

Two pollen beetles Meligethes sp. enjoying life in a buttercup flower.

Part of a spike of a Foxglove Digitalis purpurea.

(Ed Wilson)

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2012
Priorslee Lake
Black Tern
(Ed Wilson)

2006
Priorslee Lake
2 Ruddy Ducks
(Ed Wilson)