13 Aug 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

19.0°C > 27.0°C: A few clouds but mostly sunny. Calm start with a very light easterly breeze developing. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:47 BST

* = 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– 06:15 // 07:15 – 09:35

(179th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- three groups of Canada Goose flew in as later arrivals with the largest group of 13 staying only a few minutes.
- a lone Tufted Duck noted.
- the gull totals quoted are likely to be under-recorded. There was an early continual and scattered arrival of Lesser Black-backed Gulls with some flying straight through and being difficult to separate from birds circling to splash down or bird climbing away after a wash and brush-up. These comings and going were further confused by their panic reaction whenever the Grey Heron flew-by (the Black-headed Gulls take no notice of the heron). Smaller numbers of, mainly, Lesser Black-backed Gulls continued to pass through later.
- the Great Crested Grebe count is likely incomplete. Other than the latest brood of four juveniles, still present and correct, the other adults and juveniles were scattered around and typically mobile.
- four Swifts were over the North wood by 05:30 and still there c.05:55. A lone bird was overhead at 07:30.
- several small parties of Barn Swallows seemed to be passing through.
- likewise several small groups of House Martins were intermittently overhead. It was less clear whether these were the same birds returning or birds on the move.
- I have no idea why there were, relatively, so few Jackdaws flying by on roost dispersal.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 39 Canada Geese: flew West together
- 6 Greylag Geese: flew East together
- 8 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull
- 75 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 48 Wood Pigeons
- 34 Jackdaws
- 66 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 22 Canada Geese: arrived in three groups and then 13 of them departed together
- 2 Mute Swans
- 22 (?♂) Mallard
- 1 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 50 Coots
- 5 + 7 (3 broods) Great Crested Grebes
- 94 Black-headed Gulls
- 11 Herring Gulls
- 221 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 5 Swifts: see notes
- 11 Barn Swallows: see notes
- 8 House Martins: see notes

Warblers noted (no song):
- 11 Chiffchaffs
- no Reed Warbler
- 4 Blackcaps

Also noted:
The hot and dry conditions meant very few insects etc. were active.

Butterflies:
- 2 Small White Pieris rapae
- 1 Green-veined White Pieris napi
- 2 Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria

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

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- *Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis / S. torvus

Damsel / Dragon-flies:
- *Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum [Common Bluet]
- ! *Migrant Hawker Aeshna mixta
possibly other species of dragonfly seen in flight.

True flies:
only two flies, neither identified, noted

Bugs:
none

Beetles:
none

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
none

On the West end street lamp poles around dawn:

Moths:
- 1 Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella [was Common Grass-veneer]
- 1 ! *Barred Grass-moth Agriphila inquinatella [was Barred Grass-veneer]
- 1 ! *White-streak Grass-moth Agriphila latistria [was White-streak Grass-veneer]
- 1 *Yellow Shell Camptogramma bilineata

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 1 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Bugs:
- 1 *Hawthorn Shieldbug Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale

The start of another very hot day. It was "only" 19.0°C at 05:30 here.

Among the debris and a tangled dandelion parachute at the top of one of the West end street lamp poles before sunrise I noted two moths. On the left is a White-streak Grass-moth Agriphila latistria with the streak in the wing extending to the wing-tip. On the right is a Barred Grass-moth A. inquinatella with a short white streak ending in a smudge and with an angled cross-line between there and the wing-tip. Both additions to my moth year list here.

On a different street lamp pole I found this worn and battered Yellow Shell moth Camptogramma bilineata.

The only moth I noted later was this Common Grass-moth A. tristella that flew down to sit, briefly, on the tarmac footpath. A pale moth in full sun against the black tarmac does not make for a good photograph. Even the photo editor could only partially retrieve the situation.

I just managed to catch this Syrphus hoverfly as it departed the convolvulus flower. The only hoverfly I saw today.

I noted a trio of damselflies: this is a female Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum.

Another female.

And an acrobatic male.

I noted at least six dragonflies patrolling their "patch". The only one I could access left me looking in to the light. There is enough detail here to identify it as my first confirmed Migrant Hawker Aeshna mixta of the year.

I tried using camera flash to bring out the markings without much success. It was too far away for the flash to make much difference.

Another pre-dawn street lamp pole resident was this Hawthorn Shieldbug Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 1 *Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella
- 1 *Red Underwing Catocala nupta

Flies:
- 13 midges
- no female presumed Pond Olive mayfly Cloeon dipterum: desiccated away?
- 1 female mosquito Culex pipiens
- 2 *female Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata
- 2 *male Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata
- 1 !* fly Peplomyza litura
- 2 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]

Arthropods:
- none

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

The tunnel was busy with insects even if nowhere else was. This is a Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella, a species that seems to like it in the tunnel.

Another Red Underwing moth Catocala nupta resting on one of light fittings.

A female Banded Mosquito Culiseta annulata. She has "simple" antennae and a proboscis.

And a male Banded Mosquito. He has anything but "simple" antennae. The banding on the abdomen is visible through the folded wings.

Another male.

An unidentified male midge also with anything but "simple" antennae.

This small fly is Peplomyza litura (no vernacular name). My only previous record of this species was here, in the tunnel, last November.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:20 – 07:10

(176th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Just 13 Mute Swans remain.
- a Great Crested Grebe still sitting with no sign of a partner?
- just one Cormorant in trees on the island.
- two Grey Herons and the Little Egret.

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 6 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Geese
- 13 Mute Swans
- 17 (?♂) Mallard only
- 1 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens again
- 32 Coot only
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 43 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Cormorants
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Little Egret

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers noted (no song):
- 1 Chiffchaff
- 1 Blackcap

Noted around the area:

Moths:
- 1 *ermine moth Yponomeuta sp.

Nothing else seen.

Sadly I cannot be more specific than "ermine moth Yponomeuta sp." for this. The arrangement of the spots is important in separating several species in this group. This specimen is too worn to enable identification.

(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)