28 Aug 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

14.0°C > 16.0°C: Mostly cloudy. Humid again. A calm start with a light southerly breeze developing. Very good visibility though a short spell with low cloud and murk.

Sunrise: 06:12 BST

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

Very quiet at both locations


Priorslee Balancing Lake: 04:50– 06:40 // 07:35 – 09:35

(193rd visit of the year)

The water level had increased to cover most of the recently exposed mud. The Wesley Brook was not running but the sluices by the Teece Drive gate were. They had clearly discharged large amounts of water: the Wesley Brook bridge had twigs and sticks jammed against it and had clearly been over-topped. This often happens when there is a deluge. The footpaths were surprisingly dry and passible in ordinary foot-ware.

Bird notes:
- no Tufted Duck found.
- a very thin arrival of all gulls. A lone Black-headed Gull arrived at 05:31 with the next at 05:46. The first group arrived at 05:55, unusually from the south-east. At most 66 were present before they started leaving to the West where I found 39 on the newly-watered football field.
- also on the football field was a *juvenile Common Gull.
- just three Lesser Black-backed Gulls arrived at 05:30 and promptly departed. Two visited much later. Only a small number were seen flying over.
- a Sparrowhawk shot over at 05:55. A species that is typically elusive during the breeding season and never commonly-seen.
- 4 Barn Swallows were feeding over the water by 09:00. Several food-passes were noted. They stayed around.
- a single House Martin was with the swallows.
- 15 Starlings flew North in a group.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 31 Canada Geese: 22 flew East in five groups; later nine (including a single among Greylags) flew West.
- 61 Greylag Geese: all flew West in three groups.
- 15 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 6 Feral Pigeons: a duo and a quartet
- 4 Stock Doves: a single and a trio
- 65 Wood Pigeons
- 61 Jackdaws
- 103 Rooks
- 15 Starlings: together

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 Mute Swans
- 42 (?♂) Mallard
- no Tufted Duck
- 3 Moorhens
- 37 Coot only
- 15 Great Crested Grebes
- 66 *Black-headed Gulls
- 1 *Common Gull (on the football field)
- 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 2 Grey Herons: one departed

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 4 Barn Swallows
- 1 House Martin

Warblers noted:
- 7 Chiffchaffs
- 2 Blackcaps again

Also noted:
Apart from the expected wasps from their nest site just a single was beetle seen! Not even a fly!

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Beetles:
- *Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni

On the West end street lamp poles around dawn:

Moths:
- 3 Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella [was Common Grass-veneer]
- 1 *Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla

Flies:
none

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 2 Common Wasps Vespula vulgaris

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 *Common House Spider Eratigena atrica
- 1 Bridge Orb-web Spider Larinioides sclopetarius [Bridge Orbweaver]

Some colour and a few breaks in the cloud around dawn. Note that apart from Mallard in front of the south-west grass the lake appears devoid of birds.

The nearest gull here is a juvenile Common Gull. At this angle the rounded head is not too obvious but note the dark eye and the thicker, two-tone bill when compared with the smaller adult-winter Black-headed Gull behind. Also note the grey shawl on the nape. Only my second record of this species here this year.

Much to the annoyance of the local Magpies this Grey Heron was lording it from the top of the roof of the academy extension building at c.06:15.

As with most things on the street lamp poles around dawn this Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla was speckled with dew.

Other than a few wasps this Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni was the only insect I saw on my second circuit around the lake.

What is most probably a Common House Spider Eratigena atrica. There are several similar species and this was not near any houses but....

I could not decide whether this was two "insects?" mating or detritus.

I zoomed in from a different angle. I remain none the wiser!

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 1 *Flame Carpet Xanthorhoe designata

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 1 *unidentified ichneumon wasp

Flies:
- 3 *midges
- 12 *moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]
- 1 *unidentified cranefly

Arthropods:
none

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

The only moth in the tunnel this morning was this Flame Carpet Xanthorhoe designata on he ceiling.

At first sight it would seem this ichneumon wasp should be easy to identify with a white segment in the middle of each antenna and a small white patch on the hind legs. Reference to NatureSpot suggests there are several species so-marked, not all in the same genus.

A two-fer. On the left a male plumed midge (species unconfirmed) and on the right one of the twelve moth flies Psychodidae sp. that were on the wall.

A female midge of a different species: larger and more robust.

A very different-looking midge with patterned wings and banded antennae. It may be one of the "gall and forest midges" in the family Cecidomyiidae. It would require a specialist to confirm that and to possibly come up with a better identification. Certainly not an insect I can recall seeing previously.

Not doing well on the identification stakes today. An unidentified cranefly! A small species but that does not help.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:45 – 07:30

(190th visit of the year)

Most of the "beach" has now gone with all the rain. There is not yet enough water to activate the outflow down the Wesley Brook.

Bird notes:
- back to nine Mute Swans.
- *one of the pair of Great Crested Grebe by the island was bringing food to its mate where at least two juveniles were huddled up at the nest site under over-hanging trees. The immature bird was at the top end again.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 5 Canada Geese
- no Greylag Goose
- 9 Mute Swans
- 19 (?♂) Mallard again
- 4 Moorhens
- 28 Coot
- 3 + 2? (1 brood) *Great Crested Grebe: see notes
- 12 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Warblers noted:
- 3 Chiffchaffs again

Noted around the area:

Moths:
- 9 *Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella [was Common Grass-veneer]
- 3 Chevron Grass-moth Agriphila geniculea [was Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer]

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

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 *male harvestman Leiobunum rotundum

Zoomed right in two juvenile Great Crested Grebes are alongside the parent as it sits at the nest site. There may well have been more on the side that is obscured or perhaps under the feathers being held loosely open.

Many of the Common Grass-moths Agriphila tristella are well past pristine condition. Note this one has lost most of the scales from its thorax. Because it is resting with its left wing tightly wrapped around its right wing it is not easy to see their markings from this angle.

A male harvestman Leiobunum rotundum that has lost one of its eight legs. Males of this genus are harder to separate than females as their more-circular bodies have no distinguishing marks. The lack of any white around the eyes identifies it as this species.

(Ed Wilson)

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2013
Priorslee Lake
2 Teal
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
Turtle Dove
(Ed Wilson)

2007
Priorslee Lake
Pair Ruddy Duck
(Malcolm Thompson)