14 Jun 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

10.0°C > 15.0°C: Clear early with increasing high cloud and then also medium level cloud, Hazy sunny intervals at best. Yesterday's fresh / strong westerly breeze had ameliorated to moderate but still felt cool away from sheltered areas. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 04:46 BST still

* = a species photographed today
! = a first sighting of the species this year
$ = a new species for me in this area

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 04:50– 05:45 // 07:00 – 10:10

(140th visit of the year)

New bird species:
New for my 2026 bird year list was Linnet that flushed off the dam-face c.08:00. I failed to record this species here in 2025 despite its almost continual presence toward the lower part of Woodhouse Lane. Species #89.

Other bird notes:
- all seven Greylag Geese goslings have again survived any further attention from the cob Mute Swan.
- I strongly suspect the Mute Swans have given up and there will be no cygnets this year. Both swans were out on the water throughout.
- a pair of Tufted Duck was seen mating c.05:10 but not seen thereafter.
- nine juvenile Coots seen from four broods.
- *a lone juvenile Great Crested Grebe seen on the back of one of the originally successful pair.
- an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was again on the football field at 05:25. Later two adults were on one of the sailing club landing stations.
- not "warbler morning":
no sign of any Cetti's Warblers.
no Garden Warbler noted.
no Lesser Whitethroat heard.
again only West end Common Whitethroat was heard.
- a Mistle Thrush was singing from alongside the M54. This early nesting species has usually departed to more open country by this date.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 12 Canada Geese flew South together
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Feral Pigeons: together
- 4 Wood Pigeons only
- 14 Jackdaws

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Canada Geese
- 3 + 7 (1 brood) Greylag Geese
- 2 Mute Swan: the pen is no longer on the hidden nest
- 24 (?♂) Mallard: I did not ascribe birds to sex
- 2 (1♂) Tufted Duck: see notes
- 2 Moorhens
- 31 + 9 (4 broods) Coots
- *6 + 1? (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 1 Black-headed Gull: adult, briefly again
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls: see notes
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 6 Swifts
- 2 Barn Swallows
- 1 House Martin

Warblers noted (the number in brackets refers to birds singing):
- no Cetti's Warblers
- 11 (11) Chiffchaffs
- 9 (9) Reed Warblers
- 12 (10) Blackcaps
- no Lesser Whitethroat
- 1 (1) Common Whitethroat again
- no Garden Warbler

Also noted:
The fresh wind kept things relatively quiet

Butterflies:
none

Moths:
- *1 Common Marble Celypha lacunana
at least five grass-moths eluded me by flying away!

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum
- Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius
- *Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
- *ichneumon wasp perhaps I. emancipatus
- *unidentified ichneumon wasp

Hoverflies:
- *Buttercup Blacklet Cheilosia albitarsus [Late Buttercup Cheilosia]
- *Bumblebee Blacklet Cheilosia illustrata
- *Parsley Blacklet Cheilosia pagana
- *Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
- *Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax
- Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
- *Migrant Field Syrph Eupeodes corollae [Migrant Hoverfly; Migrant Aphideater]
- *Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis / S. torvus
- Bumblebee Plume-horned Hoverfly Volucella bombylans [Bumblebee Plumehorn]
- Orange-belted Leaf Licker Xylota segnis [Orange-belted Leafwalker]

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

Other flies:
- Black Snipefly Chrysopilus cristatus: once again all males
- *$robber fly Dioctria hyalipennis
- *long-legged fly Dolichopus ungulatus or similar
- long-legged fly Dolichopus wahlbergi
- greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- Muscid fly possibly female Mydaea corni
- *Awkward Clusterfly Pollenia rudis or similar
- Muscid fly Phaonia pallida
- *semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus
- *moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- *Downlooker Snipefly Rhagio scolopaceus
- stretch-footed fly Tanypeza longimana
plus many unidentified flies

Bugs:
none

Beetles:
- Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni
- 7 Spot Ladybird Coccinella 7-punctata
- *longhorn beetle Grammoptera ruficornis
- larvae of Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis: very many
- *Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. spectabilis
- Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea
- *False Blister Beetle Oedemera lurida or O. virescens
- Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis [False Oil Beetle or Thick-legged Flower Beetle]
- pollen beetle Meligethes sp.
-*$ longhorn beetle possibly Stenocorus meridianus

On the West end street lamp poles around dawn:

Moths:
- *1 Common Grey Scoparia ambigualis

Flies:
- 2 unidentified flies

As usual at extreme range. The first pair of Great Crested Grebe with young have at least one juvenile "humbug".

Possibly the same Buzzard as yesterday. Similar difficult lighting.

Not a wonderful-looking moth and there are several similar species. This is a Common Grey Scoparia ambigualis and a welcome addition to my so far very poor list of moth species here this year.

The only day-time moth I could get to stay in sight was another Common Marble Celypha lacunana.

 A cuddly-looking Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum

A very difficult group with many hundreds of species many poorly known and with few photos on the internet. This ichneumon wasp is perhaps I. emancipatus.

You would think this would be distinctive-enough for easy identification. On NatureSpot there are three ichneumon wasps with long ovipositors, each in a different genus and all with red on the thorax! So who knows. Long ovipositors are used to drill in to wood to find the larvae in to which this female will lay her eggs.

A Buttercup Blacklet Cheilosia albitarsus that for once seems to have some "albi" on its front "tarsus".

Obsidentify assures me this is another though there is no obvious white on the legs.

Another member of the Cheilosia genus is this Bumblebee Blacklet C. illustrata...

...quite different from all the other mostly black members of the genus. This is a Parsley Blacklet C. pagana.

A Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus definitely of the "orange marmalade" form.

My: what a long tongue you have. A male Tapered Dronefly Eristalis pertinax identified by the leg colour rather then the tapered shape of the abdomen!

Who likes a buttercup then? This Migrant Field Syrph Eupeodes corollae does.

Positive separation of this species from the very similar Meadow Field Syrph E. latifasciatus is best done by looking at whether the yellow marks wrap around the edge of the abdomen (as here) or stop short.

As always seems to happen when the hind leg is clearly visible this a male so the log has to be Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis / S. torvus.

Another male well posed though the hind legs is not visible.

Another weird and wonderful(?) new fly species for my log. It is the robber fly Dioctria hyalipennis.

This I believe to be a long-legged fly Dolichopus ungulatus or similar. However the slightly paler tip to the wings makes me wonder what a female...

...semaphore fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus look like. This is a male. Males flash their white wing-tips perhaps competing with other males or perhaps to attract females (or both). The literature is unclear.

Obsidentify assured me this is the female form of the muscid fly Mydaea corni. Not a fly species I have logged previously.

Probably an Awkward Clusterfly Pollenia rudis. The species in this genus need microscopic examination but this is by far the most common species. All have the golden hair on their thorax and a variable arrangement of light and dark on the abdomen.

It is a while since I photographed a moth fly Psychodidae sp. in daylight.

This Downlooker Snipefly Rhagio scolopaceus has clearly not read the manual on how to behave. As the name suggests it usually rests head-down.

Here on an Ox-eye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare is the smallest of our longhorn beetles, Grammoptera ruficornis.

A Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis of the form spectabilis. This form has two pairs of red circles with the leading pair having a partial hemispherical black intrusion at the rear.

Usually seen partially buried in a flower here is a False Blister Beetle from the species pair Oedemera lurida and O. virescens showing more clearly.

This longhorn beetle is possibly Stenocorus meridianus or another in the genus. Quite what it was doing fifteen feet up a street lamp pole during the day is hard to comprehend.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:
Somewhat hampered by a torch malfunction:

Moths:
- 1 Treble Brown Spot Idaea trigeminata

Flies:
- 8 midges of several species
- 1 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 05:50 – 06:55

(137th visit of the year)

It is reported that one of the footbridges needs an underwater inspection to determine the cause of the subsidence. Who knows how long that will take and when any remediation might be completed.

Bird notes:
- the Canada Goose gosling is still present.
- it may be that the Mute Swans have also given up here as the pen was away from the nest site on several occasions. Meanwhile there are still eight visiting Mute Swans.
- the drake Tufted Duck noted again.
- just six juvenile Coots from three broods. A single was from a previously unrecorded brood.
- a second Great Crested Grebe noted: no interaction seen.
- a Grey Wagtail flew off from the top-end grass

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 158 + 1 Canada Geese
- 88 Greylag Geese
- 10 Mute Swans
- 17 (14♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) Tufted Duck again
- 6 Moorhens
- 34 + 6 (3 broods) Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes

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

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

Noted around the area:

Moths:
- *1 !Riband Wave Idaea aversata of the form remutata

Beetles:
- Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis var. succinea

Half in the sun and half in the shade is a Riband Wave Idaea aversata of the form remutata. The nominate form has the area between the outer two cross-lines a solid dark colour and seems not at all common in this area.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
Richardson's-type Canada Goose
(Ed Wilson)

2012
Priorslee Lake
Sedge Warbler possibly breeding
Skylark nesting in Celestica grounds
(John Isherwood)