21 Aug 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

12.0°C > 15.0°C: Often broken cloud with spits of rain c.05:00. Some brighter spells. A calm start with a very light northerly breeze developing. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 06:01 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– 06:30 // 07:35 – 09:35

(187th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- almost all this morning's Canada Geese flew East in groups.
- now ten Tufted Duck at the West end of the water with three looking to be drakes.
- no gulls were present on the water until after 05:10. At most 75 Black-headed Gulls were present by 05:30. Later I counted 86 on the football field.
- fewer Lesser Black-backed Gulls again with the first at 05:20 and at most c.100. Some had passed over but I suspect most of these then circled around to visit. A few visited later. No Herring Gulls were noted.
- a lone Barn Swallow flew East at 08:45 as one did yesterday.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- >85 Canada Geese: 83 flew East in six groups with others heard only. A duo flew West much later.
- 7 Greylag Geese flew East together
- 31 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Stock Doves: together
- 69 Wood Pigeons
- 12 Jackdaws
- 108 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 41 (?♂) Mallard
- 10 (3?♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens
- 55 Coot
- 16 Great Crested Grebes (adults and juveniles)
- 1 Common Sandpiper
- >85 *Black-headed Gulls
- c.100 *Lesser Black-backed Gulls: see notes
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 1 Barn Swallow

Warblers noted (no song):
- 10 Chiffchaffs
- 4 Blackcaps

Also noted:

Butterflies:
none

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

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
- *ichneumon wasp from the Braconid group

Hoverflies:
- *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax: two of these
- *Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare [Long-winged Duskyface]
- *Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens [Pied Plumehorn; Great Pied Hoverfly]

Damsel / Dragon-flies:
none

True flies:
- greenbottle Lucilia sp.
- *Flesh fly/flies Sarcophaga sp
very few other unidentified flies seen.

Bugs:
none

Beetles:
none

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
none

On the West end street lamp poles around dawn:

Moths:
- 13 *Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella [was Common Grass-veneer]
- 1 *Chevron Grass-moth Agriphila geniculea [was Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer]
- 2 *Square-spot Rustic Xestia xanthographa

Flies:
- 1 unidentified fly

Beetles:
- 1 *ground beetle Paradromius linearis

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius [Bridge Orbweaver]
- 1 *unidentified spider

It was raining slightly as I arrived this morning and I was not expecting a good sunrise so I was pleased with this...

...and even more pleased with this!

Compare and contrast time. On the football field c.06:10 an adult-winter Black-headed gull is dwarfed by a very dark juvenile or first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull.

A very worn, nay bald, Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella on one of the West end street lamp poles pre-dawn. I counted thirteen of these moths this morning and every pole had at least one.

A Chevron Grass-moth Agriphila geniculea for a change.

One of two Square-spot Rustic moths Xestia xanthographa seen this morning. As yesterday the dark "square spot" between the kidney mark and the oval on the wing is none too apparent.

It is slightly more obvious on this specimen sharing space with yet another Common Grass-moth.

The only bee I saw today was this Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum. It has fund a very late flower of a bramble.

This small ichneumon wasp is from the Braconid group. There are many to choose from and no easy way to distinguish them.

One of just four hoverflies I saw today: a Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax.

This seems to be another. It looks more "tapered" than I would expect, perhaps not enough for a male Tapered Dronefly E. pertinax (it is a male). Had the front legs been more visible I would have been more certain as the light and dark areas on these legs differs between the species.

Leaving the same convolvulus flower at which I photographed a female Chequered Hoverfly Melanostoma scalare yesterday is perhaps the same individual.

A Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens at rest on top of the Teece Drive fence. Note the battered edge to the wings. The fence is a surprising productive place to search for insects.

Obsidentify suggested this might be a Common Dronefly which it isn't. Google Lens suggested a Flesh fly Sarcophaga sp. which it might be though it is more slender than...

 ...this, a typical Flesh fly and possibly S. carnaria.

Scurrying down a street lamp pole for cover is what appears to be a ground beetle Paradromius linearis.

I will have to leave this as an unidentified spider. Neither suggestion from Obsidentify seems reasonable when I checked each against the respective photos on NatureSpot.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 1 *Orange Swift Triodia sylvina
- 1 Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella
- 1 Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella [was Common Grass-veneer]
- 2 *Double-striped Pug Gymnoscelis rufifasciata

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

Flies:
- 4 midges
- 1 *cranefly Limonid sp.
- 9 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]

Arthropods:
- 1 *White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

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

A much better image of an Orange Swift moth Triodia sylvina. Always easier when the moths are on the wall and not the ceiling.

A particularly poorly-marked Double-striped Pug moth Gymnoscelis rufifasciata.

Apart from noting that it has lost one of its legs I can only say this small cranefly is one of the Limonid sp.

After the recent millipede confusion it was good to get back to "just" a White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:35 – 07:30

(183rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- one of the Canada Geese flew in to join four that seem uninterested in flying though they can manage brief flights from the path along Derwent Drive in to the water. A duo flew by.
- a tenth Mute Swan noted.
- the pair of adult Great Crested Grebe were at the island with one on the nest so again an unknown number of juveniles. A sub-adult was in the middle of the water.
- a Cormorant flew in.
- three Grey Herons and the Little Egret still here.

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

Noted on / around the water:
- 5 Canada Geese: see notes
- no Greylag Geese
- 10 Mute Swans
- 34 (?♂) Mallard
- 5 Moorhens
- 38 Coot
- 3 + ? (1 brood) Great Crested Grebes
- 12 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Cormorant arrived
- 3 Grey Herons
- 1 Little Egret

Hirundines etc. noted:

None

Warblers noted (no song):
- 3 Chiffchaffs
- no Blackcaps

Noted around the area:

Moths:
- 5 Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella [was Common Grass-veneer]
- 3 *Chevron Grass-moth Agriphila geniculea [was Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer]
- 1 *Double-striped Pug Gymnoscelis rufifasciata
- 1 *Centre-barred Sallow Atethmia centrago

Yesterday's Centre-barred Sallow moth Atethmia centrago was joined by a Chevron Grass-moth Agriphila geniculea today.

The best example of a Chevron Grass-moth I noted this morning and at a helpful angle to fully appreciate the markings.

A particularly well-marked Double-striped Pug moth Gymnoscelis rufifasciata.

(Ed Wilson)

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2012
Nedge Hill
2 Redstart
7 Ravens
(John Isherwood)

2006
Priorslee Lake
Shag
3 Kingfishers
(Ed Wilson)