Sunday 15 October 2023

End of season at the Welfare Park

 Most of the Ivy has finished and hoverfly numbers are low. So another season winds up. There were 8 species at the park Ivy and dying flowerbed. Platycheirus clypeatus being the only hoverfly of note. Episyrphus balteatus was the most numerous at 15. Any more hoverfly records will be casual/isolated observations rather than recording at sites.

Just the 3 Red Admiral left among the 100's of Common and Tree Wasps.

Eristalis pertinax
Eristalis tenax
Platycheirus albimanus


Thursday 12 October 2023

Weekend round up

 It's that time of year when all the flowers have died back except for a few isolated pockets of Michaelmas Daisy and ornamental flowers in parks and gardens. Even the Ivy is starting to die back. The cemetery Ivy is nearly gone but the Welfare Park is still blooming as well as the Caerau pockets. So this will probably be the end of the hoverfly season for another year. This weekend though produced another 3 migrant Xanthandrus comtus, the most I've seen in a single day. In total 13 species were recorded, with no other surprises. Although migrant flies seem to be outnumbering the residents with 22 Episyrphus balteatus, 2 Scaeva pyrastri and 2 Syrphus vitripennis seen.

Other insects are now becoming scarce with my first Painted Lady in a while feeding on Ivy and large numbers of Harlequin Ladybird present. Nothing to report on the bird front, which was a little disappointing.

Scaeva pyrastri
Sphaerophoria scripta
Episyrphus balteatus
Harlequin ladybird
Hawthorn Shieldbug

Saturday 23 September 2023

Caerau

 A bit of sunshine Saturday morning meant a quick walk before the rugby. The Japanese Knotweed has gone over followed closely by Devilsbit Scabious. That leaves just  Michaelmas Daisy and Ivy for the hoverflies to feed on, so wasn't expecting much. But a newly discovered Ivy patch in a sun trap attracted a lot of hoverflies. The star of the show was my third ever Xanthandrus comtus a scarce migrant from Europe, Couldn't quite get the killer shot but I'm satisfied with the the following three.




Eighteen species in total is not bad for late September. Finally new for the year was Helophilus trivittatus plus the other Helophilus. Also seen were Rhingia rostrata, Didea fasciata and sixteen Sericomyia silentis. The most numerous species was Eristalis tenax (70).

Eupeodes luniger
Helophilus pendulus
Helophilus trivittatus
Serocmyia silentis
Syrphus ribesii

On the insect front Silver Y moth and Red Admiral butterflies were still numerous and 2 Comma butterfly were feeding on Ivy and Devilsbit Scabious. Green Shieldbug, Southern Hawker Dragonfly, Common Darter and the tachinid fly Tachina fera were the supporting cast.

Comma
Green Shieldbug

The only bird of note was a calling Chiffchaff. Late news from Friday was a American Cliff Swallow found by Neil Donaghy at Sker briefly, was said to be flying inland, so I thought I would chance my arm before work and drive up Mynydd Ty Talwyn to see if it would pass by. When I arrived at the big green field there were 200+ Barn Swallow feeding low over the hay bales. I scanned them for quite a while but try as I might I couldn't locate a Cliff Swallow. Two Red Kite were also present. A large fall of American birds including Canada, Magnolia and Bay-breasted Warbler. Alder Flycatcher and Bobolink has occured in Pembrokeshire, but I didn't have time to visit there sadly and now the weather is about to turn crap again :( .

Monday 11 September 2023

Maesteg Wefare Park

 First visit of the year, for the following three reasons. Firstly the new Dragonfly ponds (thanks Sid) has a small patch of Devilsbit Scabious which allowed me to record some of the bigger hoverflies like Sericomyia silentis and Volucella pellucens. Secondly I wanted to check out the extensive Ivy Bank, which had a small number of florets already in bloom, on which I saw Myathropa florea, with the main blossoming about 2 weeks away. Thirdly I wanted to check out the "wildflower patch" that has been good in the past, although many of the flowers are ornamental rather than British wild flowers. Here there were five species of Eristalis  as well as Eupeodes luniger, Cheilosia bergenstammi and Helophilus pendulus. A total of 17 species were recorded in about an hour.

Wild flower patch
Eristalis arbustorum
Eristalis horticola
Eristalis nemorum
Eristalis pertinax
Eristalis tenax
Myathropa florea
Sericomyia silentis


Saturday 9 September 2023

Devilsbit Scabious patch

 The patch is now in full bloom along with Goldenrod, the last of the Angelica and Michaelmas Daisy for back-up. Recorded 23 species in the September heat with Rhingia rostrata being the highlight. Eristalis tenax (147) and Sericomyia silentis (19) are now out in good numbers.

Other insects include big influxes of Red Admiral (20+) and Silver Y (100+) and is always nice to get a close-up Tachina fera.

Rhingia rostrata
Volucella pellucens
Eristalis arbustorum
Sericomyia silentis
Silver Y
Red Admiral
Common Blue
Tachina fera
Unusual to see a garden escape species in the grassland around the old railway track. I'm not very good with garden flowers, but to me it looks like some kind of hibiscus species but I'm open to ideas.
 [After a bit of research it appears to be - Hibiscus moscheutos - English name - Honeymoon Deep Red Hibiscus]

Wednesday 6 September 2023

Mynydd Caerau

 Warm weather continues so I took a walk up to the mountain Heather banks to see what was about. 35 species were seen, with the highlight being Eupeodes lapponicus. I had been wondering where all the migrant flies had gone, the answer was that they are all up the mountains feeding on Heather

Epistrophe grossulariae
Scaeva pyrastri
Leucozona glaucia

Tuesday 29 August 2023

Caerau (Monday)

 Although the weather was poor, it's now Devilsbit Scabious season and it looks like a good crop this season. With this and good back-up from Goldenrod and Angelica, I managed a healthy 34 species some in good numbers. With the Scabious usually comes the larger more colourful hoverflies and I wasn't dissapointed. Highlights included Chrysotoxum bicintum, Chrysotoxum Festivum, Dasysyrphus albostriatus, Eupeodes latifasciatus, Xanthogramma pedissequum, Helophilus hybridus, Helophilus pendulus, Myathropa florea, Sericomyis silentis, Volucella bombylans and Volucella pellucens.


Other insect highlights included another Star-wort larva on Goldenrod, and the flies Tachina fera and Physocephela rufipes. No visible bird migration as of yet.

Devilsbit Scabiuos patch
Volucella pellucens
Baccha elongata
Myathropa florea
Serociomyia silentis
Star-wort larva on Goldenrod


Saturday 26 August 2023

Gilfach (west), Top Llan

 Not much to see in-between the heavy showers, but what was seen was of good quality in the hoverfly world.

Didea fasciata - having a good year
Chrysotoxum arcuatum - summer brood
Xanthogramma pedissequum s.s.- the sternite (underneath abdomen) identification feature not shown in this photo but seen in field.
Rhingia campestris - second brood rather scarce this year
Meliscaeva cinctella -commonest hoverfly at this time of year on Angelica