Hoverfly Anasimyia contracta

I've found one or two mostly around the spillway but this one was further along the path

200 flies!

Fly list now over 200 with the hover fly Neoascia meticulosa netted from Marsh Marigold

Cheilosia nebulosa - a rare hover fly new to Fife at Cullaloe

Huggable hovers - Cheilosia illustrata

Hogweed brings out the hovers for sure. When it isn't raining, that is.

Baccha at-long-last elongata

After finding my first at Carlingnose I went looking for this in woodland today and came up triumphant. Once I got my eye I found a few in amongst the low vegetation. Not the best picture, but it will do for me and I let the fly go. Hoverfly species 47 for Cullaloe

Alderfly and hailstones

A mixed lunchtime at Cullaloe with a good number of hovers on the flowering dandelions and a couple of Alderflies - one on the bridge and another fond on the car park ground, presumably two of many after an emergence. There was also another bee fly on the dandelions.

One of the flies was the first Rhingia campestris of the year, another Cheilosia pagana and a few Melanostoma-looking ones.

After a sunny 15 minutes the hail began to fall and it was game over.

Alderfly looking like stained glass window lead

A lot tamer than the larva!

Cheilosia grossa - the teddy bear of Cheilosia

A nice large Cheilosia hoverfly with black antennal segment 3 (the big bit). I thought I might miss out on it this year since last year I photographed it in March.

Predator and prey

Not sure what the spider is, but the hover looks like Syrphus ribesii

Hoverfly #45

This would appear to be Eristalis arbustorum. Wait for verification, but if so it will be species #45. Not bad when I initially hoped I would be able to record 10!

(was judged to have yellow feet and therefore be E.tenax! On the other hand I also found Didea fasciata, so there was a happy ending)

Angelica - insect magnet!

It will be years before I can identify everything one of these can attract in ten minutes! Also some interesting behaviour to note as to where things land and how they behave. It's a world in itself

Friday Hovers

A couple of nice hovers from a sunny Friday morning

Eristalis tenax

Sericomyia silentis and Episyrphus balteatus

Sericomyia silentis solo

Also present was this nice Conops quadrifasciatus:

Helophilus hybridus

Another species of hoverfly on the list today, with the above species in the "orchid meadow" entrance amongst the Devil's-bit.

The accidental dipterist

I seem to have wandered into flies ... took delivery of a lovely stereo zoom microscope last night and spent a good hour perusing some voucher specimens. Good times. Here's a shot (not from the microscope) of the new addition to the reserve, NT18, Fife and VC85 list from yesterday (there are probably records not on NBN of course. ..)

In additon to the great finds of this and the Conops yesterday I also keyed out Platycheirus scutatus (s.l - it was a female) from the same day. That takes me to 41 species for the year, with another Cheilosia which is of the variabilis group and therefore also new. If not this year, then next year my target will certainly be 50, as well as trying to record more good data on host etc.

Funny, I never really took to beetles, but I'm loving the flies!

Fife's First For Flies!

Checking out some Devils-bit Scabious at lunchtime when my eye was caught by a rather flashy hoverfly (I thought). Once in the net I knew I had it wrong, but it was an interesting beast anyway, so I potted it. On the same patch of DBS I then noticed a rather robust hover which I also potted.

It could turn out, as things stand, that these are both first for Fife! Conops quadrifasciatus (the first fly - a Conopid) seems to have no entries for VC85 in NBN and nor does the hover - Xanthandrus comtus

Time will tell. Both good records anyway!

Non fungus addition - hoorah! Hoverfly Chrysotoxum arcuatum

"Dropped in" to Cullaloe car park to check out the water mint, of which there is sadly only a small patch. First swept the hover Syritta pipiens from the flowers, but while doing so I caught the strap of my binoculars on the hand rail, snapping the strap and causing my bins to "drop in" to the water - Oh No! Fortunately there's so much vegetation that I was able to fish them out and check out a couple of overhead Ravens that were slowly drifting past south.

Syritta pipiens wasn't a new addition, of course, but Chrysotoxum arcuatum was - my first hover with porrect antennae, and probably my only one give the range of its congenitors. Pics to follow.

Lord of the Flies

Best plant this yar so far for hovers and other diptera has to be Angelica.Haven't seen huge amounts of Water Mint, but that too is supposed to have mystical powers. Knapweed and Meadsweet continue to do reasonably though.

Leucozona glaucia - Hoverfly #37

The 37th hoverfly species of the year was snagged at lunchtime - Leucozona glaucia. It's easy to see the leucozona (pale area!) and glaucia? Well, it has a pale scutellum, but who knows whether that's where the epithet comes from. There is a similar species with a dark scutellum though.

Don't wake dad!

Tufted Duck chicks at Cullaloe. A few days ago there were 5 - a couple of Pike victims possibly.

Beneath, the hoverfly Chrysogaster solstitialis - species number 29 for the year and 32 for the reserve

Tufted Duck chicks

Chrysogaster solstitialis

Hovers

Scooped a few hovers at lunchtime in the hopes that one will be new. almost certain one will be as it's black and very small.Also this tarty Volucella trying to get rights to be the pinup of Cullaloe by posing on the info board. Not quite as good as the Green-veined white did last year. Maybe it's species of the year.

Cheilosia albitarsis sensu lato

Recently split into two species the females of two Ranunculus loving hovers can't be split. So "s.l." it is for this one

19/06/2014