2 Aug 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

12.0°C > 19.0°C: Early medium-level cloud provided a fiery sunrise before fading away. Hazy sun through thin high cloud. A light easterly breeze started up after a calm start. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 05:29 BST

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

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 04:55– 06:20 // 07:25 – 10:00

(173rd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- bumper number of Canada Geese, especially arrivals.
- I attempted to clarify the Great Crested Grebe situation. I now believe there are three dependent broods of two, three and four juveniles respectively. Two more almost full-grown and independent juveniles are present. It still a mystery as to what happened to the recent brood of three juveniles. Perhaps just two survive though that family is in a very different part of the water.
- two Swifts were seen over the South side briefly c.05:45. There were four in the same area, also briefly c.08:00. Then a singleton dashed through c.08:45.
- at least two and very probably three Common Whitethroat were seen in the Ricoh hedge c.09:45.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 13 Canada Geese: nine flew East in three groups; a quartet flew West
- 9 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull yet again
- 16 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 54 Wood Pigeons
- 211 Jackdaws
- 90 Rooks

Counts from the lake area:
- 108+ Canada Geese: 31 departed in two groups; later 108 arrived in seven groups
- 10+ Greylag Geese: 10 departed together; later one arrived among the Canadas
- 2 Mute Swans
- 51 (?♂) *Mallard
- 6 Moorhens
- 70 Coots
- 6 + >11 (5 broods) *Great Crested Grebes: see notes
- 29 Black-headed Gulls: 12 (of these?) were on the football field c.06:00
- 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 7? Swifts
- 4 Barn Swallows

Warblers noted (no song):
- 6 Chiffchaffs
- 2 Reed Warblers
- 3 Blackcap
- 2 (3?) *Common Whitethroats

Also noted:

Butterflies:
- 1 *Small White Pieris rapae
- 3 Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina
- 3 Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus
- 1 *Painted Lady Vanessa cardui
- 1 Comma Polygonia c-album

Moths:
- 4 Straw Grass-moth Agriphila straminella [was Straw Grass-veneer]
other grass moths mostly too faded to confirm their identity

Bees, wasps etc.:
- *Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius
- Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
- *Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
- $ *female ichneumon Buathra laborator or similar

Hoverflies:
- *Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
- *Dead-head Hoverfly Myathropa florea [Common Batman Fly]
- *Syrphus sp. S. ribesii / S. vitripennis / S. torvus
- *Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens [Pied Plumehorn; Great Pied Hoverfly]
- *Hornet Hoverfly Volucella zonaria [Hornet Plumehorn]

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

True flies:
- Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
very few unidentified flies

Bugs:
none

Beetles:
none

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
none

On the West end street lamp poles around dawn:

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

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

One of the best sunrises of the year (so far). A few photos from different locations.

In this some of the 51 geese present at dawn can be seen.

A very fiery start.

Here looking along the dam as the colour began to fade.

Another view of the duck Mallard with five well-grown ducklings. The bird flapping its wings shows the flight feathers are not yet fully-grown. In the last few days there has been a dramatic increase in the blue-green algae in the water.

One of two or three Common Whitethroats in the Ricoh hedge. This one seems to have a hint of a gape line suggesting it is a juvenile most likely from a nest in the area. Note the pale bill and dark eye.

This looks to be an adult with a horn coloured bill with a dark tip. It has a pale eye.

What may be the same juvenile – a gape line and a dark eye, though the bill looks dark here. This group of warblers – known as scrub-warblers - have much thicker and shorter bills that, say, Chiffchaffs that belong to a group known as leaf-warblers.

An unfortunate shadow mars this photo of a Small White butterfly Pieris rapae, the only "white" I saw today.

Always good to see: a Painted Lady Vanessa cardui. The epithet "Vanessa" was derived from a pseudonym created by Jonathan Swift for his mistress and the subject of some of his poetry. It was later adopted by the Danish entomologist responsible for naming the genus. Mr. Google will give you more details. Do not believe texts that tell you it is derived from the Greek name for butterfly [which is "petaloúda"].

Strange: a Honey Bee Apis mellifera apparently trying to get nectar (water?) from the seed-head of a grass.

One of two Common Wasps Vespula vulgaris on the West end street lamp poles before sunrise.

The other one. What are they doing up so early?

And day-time one as well. Definitely more wasps around these last few days.

Find of the day. It is likely a female ichneumon Buathra laborator. Obsidentify was sure though NatureSpot cautions that there are similar species – without illustrating any of these others. A long ovipositor on this large ichneumon species.

I found very few hoverflies again today. This is a male Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax.

This, another Dead-head Hoverfly Myathropa florea.

And a female Syrphus sp. It is, of course, hiding its hind legs which makes further identification impossible.

Lastly a Pellucid Fly Volucella pellucens.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Moths:
- 1 *Red Underwing Catocala nupta

Flies:
- 1 midge
- 1 female presumed Pond Olive mayfly Cloeon dipterum: is this dead?
- 3 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]

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

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

Another Red Underwing moth Catocala nupta. This one was not easy to spot as it was on the "other" wall across the Wesley Brook from the footpath.

A White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger. I was not expecting to see this species again until we had some rain.

One of three Missing Sector Orb-web Spiders Zygiella x-notata that wandered away from their usual hiding place in the crevice between the wall and the ceiling.

On the ceiling a different harvestman: it is Phalangium opilio.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:25 – 07:20

(170th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- only 15 Mute Swans today apparently
- notable arrival of Greylag Geese. Earlier just two had been present, one of which flew off
- a trio of Cormorants flew in to perch in trees on the island.
- *certainly one and possibly a second Little Egret.
- after weeks of not seeing any Swifts here there were two overhead today – now that they are on the move. It seems probable that they did not nest in St Georges this year.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 12 Canada Geese
- 59 *Greylag Geese: of these 57 arrived in two groups
- 15 Mute Swans
- 27 (?♂) Mallard
- 3 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 6 Moorhens
- 46 Coot
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 2 Black-headed Gulls only
- 1? *Little Egret
- 3 *Cormorants: arrived
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 Swifts

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

Of note around the area:

Moths:
none

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 2 Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris: yesterday's still trapped in spider's web. Another free-flying

Bugs:
- 1 Red-legged Shieldbug Pentatoma rufipes: yesterday's still trapped in spider's web

Difficult to be certain: I think 48 Greylag Geese area arriving in this group.

This is easy! Just nine in the second group.

Three Cormorants arrived together. One flew straight to a perch on the island while these circled around for a while making sure it was safe. With white on their breast these are both immatures possibly first and third summers (born 2025 and 2023).

Little Egret #1 in a tree at the top end.

Little Egret #2 in a tree on the island. Or did #1 fly down unseen while I was taking the footpath through the wood?

(Ed Wilson)

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2012
Priorslee Lake
Common Sandpiper
(Ed Wilson)

2005
Priorslee Lake
4 Common Tern
Yellow Wagtail
(Ed Wilson)

1 Aug 26

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

13.0°C > 18.0°C: Early medium-level cloud to East and North moved away to give clear skies until a few puffy clouds developed after 09:00. Light westerly breeze. Excellent visibility.

Sunrise: 05:27 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– 06:10 // 07:15 – 09:30

(172nd visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- more Great Crested Grebe confusion. There now seems to be four pairs of adults feeding juveniles and two well-grown independent juveniles. Apart from the pair in the north-west corner they do not stay on an obvious territory and it is difficult to be certain there are four pairs and not three. *The fourth active pair briefly had four small juveniles in the water. There may be as many as 12 juveniles of various ages present.
- four Swifts were seen over the South side c.08:45.
- nine Starlings flew East over the football field c.05:50 with two of these flying back West a few minutes later and the other seven noted sitting on one of the floodlights(?) in the academy's grounds.
- a Common Whitethroat was giving its contact call from deep within the Ricoh hedge c.09:15.

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 13 Canada Geese: flew East in three groups.
- 10 Greylag Geese: a single flew East; nine flew West together.
- 21 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Herring Gull again
- 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 13 Feral Pigeons flew West as a group.
- 1 Stock Dove flew West
- 49 Wood Pigeons
- 1 Grey Heron
- 161 Jackdaws
- 70 Rooks
- 9 Starlings: see notes

Counts from the lake area:
- 77+ Canada Geese: five departed together; later 77 arrived in seven groups
- no Greylag Geese
- 2 Mute Swans
- 52 (?♂) Mallard
- no Tufted Duck
- 7 Moorhens
- 65 Coots
- 8 + >12? (6? broods) *Great Crested Grebes: see notes
- 19 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 *probable Yellow-legged Gull
- 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron: departed

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 4 Swifts: see notes
- 3 Barn Swallows

Warblers noted:
- 7 Chiffchaffs: one in brief song
- 4 Reed Warblers: one in brief song
- 1 Blackcap only

Also noted:

Butterflies:
- 2 Green-veined White Pieris napi
- 2 Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria
- 2 Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina
- 5 Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus
- 1 Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta

Moths:
- 2 Straw Grass-moth Agriphila straminella [was Straw Grass-veneer]
At least eight other grass moths most too faded to confirm their identity

Bees, wasps etc.:
- Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius
- Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
- Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris : just one; also one unidentified fly-by of a bumblebee
- Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris

Hoverflies:
- *Dead-head Hoverfly Myathropa florea [Common Batman Fly]
- Hornet Hoverfly Volucella zonaria [Hornet Plumehorn]

Damsel / Dragon-flies:
- none

True flies:
- Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
very few unidentified flies

Bugs:
none

Beetles:
none

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- *White Crab Spider Misumena vatia [Flower Spider]

Mammals:
- ! *Bank Vole Myodes glareolus

On the West end street lamp poles around dawn:
Zilch!

A day later and the waning Buck Moon is now quite obviously "out of shape". "Buck" apparently as it is the time of year that buck deer (males) grow their antlers.

Horrible lighting! This is a new family of Great Crested Grebes, one parent with a fish almost as large as the juvenile anxious to be fed.

From the "other side" the lighting is better but they are now further away. How many young are there?

Answer: at least four. And could there be more under the parent's raised feathers?

Conundrum: is this just two survivors from a brood of three seen earlier in the week (that I failed to locate today)? Or, as I suspected yesterday, a hitherto overlooked brood of two?

What I believe to be a juvenile / first-winter Yellow-legged Gull. In comparison with a Herring Gull at this age it shows restricted pale inner primaries, a stronger, neater tail-band, a whiter head with a shawl and more pale fringes on the back giving it a slightly mottled appearance. A Lesser Black-backed Gull at this age would show much darker secondary coverts and almost no contrast in the inner primaries. That said lighting conditions can be deceptive and I am prepared to be proved wrong.

At this angle it is possible to see how Dead-head Hoverflies Myathropa florea also acquired the vernacular name of Common Batman Fly.

The White Crab Spider Misumena vatia still in the same Knapweed flower as yesterday.

Not something I see very often – a live native wild mammal. This Bank Vole Myodes glareolus was competing with me to eat the blackberries alongside Teece Drive.

It tried to scamper away but it could not surmount the overhang on the bevelled kerbing and could not decide which way to run.

What a sweetie!

Yes, you.

(Ed Wilson)

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In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel:

Another mixture of things:

Moths:
none

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

Flies:
- 1 *midge
- 1 female presumed Pond Olive mayfly Cloeon dipterum: is this dead?
- 1 female mosquito Culex pipiens
- 3 moth fly Psychodidae sp. [Drain Fly or Owl Fly]

Arthropods:
- 1 *Brown Centipede Lithobius forficatus [Common Garden Centipede]
- 1 *Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 2 Missing Sector Orb-web Spider Zygiella x-notata [Silver-sided Sector Spider]
- 1 *harvestman Opilio canestrinii

Much of the interest was things found in the tunnel this morning. At the time I thought this was a bee. Obsidentify suggested an unidentified ichneumon and I can now see why. It is just possible to see the tip of an ovipositor.

A midge! A female with "simple" antennae. There is not much information on the internet to help identify this group of insects.

New for the year list was this Brown Centipede Lithobius forficatus, also known as the Common Garden Centipede. Centipedes no more have 100 legs than millipedes have 1000 but you get the idea of the difference. This species of centipede can be confirmed by its 15 pairs of legs, one pair to each body segment.

A Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber

The harvestman Opilio canestrinii identified by a pale central line running most of the length on the body.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 06:15 – 07:10

(170th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- 17 Mute Swans today
- a Great Crested Grebe was seen at the top end only.
- no Little Egret seen.
- the Grey Heron again.
- a Willow Warbler was seen at the top end

Bird(s) noted flying over here:
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Jackdaw

Noted on / around the water:
- 17 Canada Geese: of these three departed
- 1 Greylag Goose
- 17 Mute Swans
- 31 (?♂) Mallard
- 4 (?♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 Moorhens
- 43 Coot
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- 19 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Hirundines etc. noted:
- 2 House Martins again

Warblers noted (no song):
- 1 Willow Warbler
- 2 Chiffchaffs

Of note around the area:

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

Bees, wasps etc.:
- 1 Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris : just one; also one unidentified fly-by of a bumblebee
- 1 *Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris : trapped in spider's web

Bugs:
- 1 *Red-legged Shieldbug Pentatoma rufipes

Spiders, harvestmen etc.:
- 1 female harvestman Leiobunum blackwalli

This is a Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella. On this species the pale streak is well defined, bulges in the middle and then splits in to two or three "fingers". This specimen is unusual in having a pale area in the centre of the wing. This caused Obsidentify to try and convince me it is a caddis fly. Caddis flies always have antennae that point forward. [AI: what could possibly go wrong?]

A Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris trapped in spider's web: you can just make out the strings (takes me back to Muffin the Mule – ask your grandparents!). Wasps are usually strong-enough to break out of webs.

You may have to take my word for it that this is a Red-legged Shieldbug Pentatoma rufipes. Another spider web casualty a long way up one of the street lamp poles.

(Ed Wilson)

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2011
Priorslee Lake
1 Common Tern
(John Isherwood)