Wednesday 14 November 2018

Hoverfly 2018 round up


The hoverfly season is all but over for another year. I may get the odd records on sunny days, but nothing to trouble the statistics. 2018 started off very cold and a prolonged winter meant spring was 4 weeks later than last year, also this summer was hot and stayed hot for weeks giving rise to a heatwave that lasted from the end of June to mid August. This heatwave hit hoverfly numbers hard as a lot of the species (larva) either feed on aphids (greatly reduced) or are the aquatic type larva (pools and mud dried up). So overall numbers were down 17% on the average mean.

It wasn't all doom and gloom though as I added 2 new species to the list in Cheilosia chrysocoma (07 May) and new for Wales Eristalis similis (27 September). Paul Tabor also added 2 species to the list in Melangyna cincta and Eristalinus sepulchralis. Giving us a total of 132. I have sent off my specimens to the Hoverfly Recording scheme, I am averaging 6 new species a year this way and I think this year will be just as good if not better if my initial identifications are confirmed. So I expect the total to rise again by the end of the year.

Some yearly highlights included Didea fasciata (5), Eriozona syrphoides (1), Megasyrphus erratica (1), Eupeodes lapponicus (4), Parasyrphus malinellus (2), Rhingia rostrata (4) and Eristalis rupium (15). I recorded 101 species this year but that will rise with specimens identified, whereas 2017 which was my best year to date had 106 species including specimens. So here's looking to next March when I begin again in my quest to get 150 species for the valley.

Tuesday 30 October 2018

Ivy watch

Spent about half hour at 2 Ivy spots today, still quite a bit in bloom. We've had quite a few frosty nights this week but there still seems to be a few insects hanging on. 4 species of hoverfly still feeding on Ivy included Platycheirus albimanus (1), Episyrphus balteatus (9), Eristalis pertinax (5) and Eristalis tenax (13).

Other insects noted were Small Copper (1), Bronze Shieldbug (1), Harlequin Ladybird (2), Honey Bee (14), Common Carder Bee (3), Tree Wasp (15), Common Wasp (10) and Noon Fly (2) as well as about 50+ Bluebottle type flies. Had a few moth leaf-mine for a change. No birds of note except Ravens were constantly in the air and squabbling.

Eristalis pertinax
 Platycheirus albimanus
 Harlequin Ladybird - 4-red spot form
 Phyllonorycter froelichiella - micro moth leaf-mine on Grey Alder
Stigmella plagicolella - micro moth leaf-mine on Blackthorn

Wednesday 24 October 2018

Bits and Bobs last couple of days

After returning from Cornwall on Monday from ticking off the American Grey Catbird [my 400th British species], I have been visiting a few areas around the valley to see what's left and with the slim hope I might find something rare but to no avail. Today was warm for October and hit 17c by 1300hrs. But the next few days the weather is going to change due to stiff northerly winds and it has been forecast that on Saturday it will only be 5C during the day. Vapourer moths are now on the wing and I had 7 fly-bys today around Mynydd Bach. Surprisingly I also had three species of butterfly in Red Admiral, Small Copper and Speckled Wood. Hoverflies amounted to 11 flies of 6 species with the notably scarce Rhingia rostrata, my 4th of the year as the pick of the bunch. I continue to take photos of fly leaf-mines to fill the quiet periods and acquired another species. Again no Ring Ouzels at My. Bach, only 21 Meadow Pipits noted.

 Rhingia rostrata - at Halfway House, Llangynwyd, the same place I had one last year on the 1st November.
 Small Copper - on Yarrow at Waun-y-Gilfach Llangynwyd.
 Speckled Wood - also at Waun-y-Gilfach
 Common Shiny Woodlouse (Oniscus asellus) - My Bach top farm ruins.
Phytomyza cytisi - fly leaf-mine on Laburnum at Maesteg Cemetery entrance.
Hornet - there was an amazing 36 of this species feeding on Ivy and flying round Japanese Knotweed at the lane to Lletty Brongu sewage works. Up until this autumn I had only ever seen one before and that was at Bridgend Hospital 10 years ago. My total for this autumn is now over 50 and I have also recorded them at Maesteg Cemetery, Blaencaerau and Gilfach (west), Llangynwyd.

Thursday 18 October 2018

Lletty and Llangynwyd Ivy

The hoverfly season is all but over until next March or April depending on how bad a winter we get, with Ivy now being about the only food source left for flies outside the urban ornamental gardens. So I had a look at the Ivy along the lane to the sewage works and the lane leading from Llangynwyd past the viaduct and up to the entrance to Cwm Darren Woods. I wasn't expecting much as although it was bright the areas with Ivy were in the shade and made photography almost impossible. As it was I managed to record a healthy 9 species for the time of year. The surprise was at Lletty Sewage Works lane where small patches of flowering Ivy had a few migrants in a single of Xanthandrus comtus (*), Scaeva pyrastri (*) and 2 Episyrphus balteatus, there was also a Eristalis pertinax present. At the viaduct lane there was much more Ivy in bloom and I recorded Melanostoma scalare (2)(*), Platycheirus albimanus (4), Platycheirus scutatus s.l. (1), Episyrphus balteatus (7), Meliscaeva cinctella (1)(*), Syrphus ribesii (2)(*) and Eristalis pertinax (6)(*). Six of these species were my latest dates for the year and are marked with an "*". I also had another Eristalis "similis" type, but without a photo for confirmation I'll just have to record as "Eristalis species" with a footnote explain why it could have been "similis". The X. comtus was probably my last new hoverfly for the year, giving me a total of 101 species + what's new in my specimens (2017 = 106 species).

Other insects were a little scarce although I did have another Hornet feeding on Ivy at Lletty Woods as well as 10-20 Common Wasps and a single Honey Bee. The only bird of note was a female Sparrowhawk.

 Episyrphus balteatus - the dark orange colour instead of yellow would suggest this one hatched in UK rather than being a migrant.(darker colour in cooler conditions, brighter, yellow colour in warmer conditions)
Another fly leaf-mine, this time on Nettle - Agromyza pseudoreptans/reptans agg. (can only be distinguished by the differences in the larva, although pseudoreptans is the commoner/default species)

Wednesday 10 October 2018

My. Bach

A walk around My. Bach mid-levels in the warm sunshine (21c) looking for passage Ring Ouzel proved fruitless, with the best bird being a female Goshawk. I bumped into Colin Richards returning from the top plateau where he saw 6 Golden Plover and a female Merlin chasing pipits, which outshone my sightings.

Insect wise it looks like this will be one of the last recording days for the year. With numbers of species and overall individual numbers declining rapidly. I managed 7 species of hoverfly mainly on a few patches of Meadow Buttercup and Creeping Thistle. Eupeodes corollae (1) being the best and Episyrphus balteatus (6) the most numerous. 2 species of butterfly were seen - Speckled Wood and Comma. Plenty of Honey Bees and Common Carder Bee were seen lower down as were Common and Tree Wasp. Green Shieldbugs and Harlequin Ladybirds were also seen on various plants. Also seen on one of the mountain ponds were 2 late male Southern Hawker. And finally another new fly leaf-mine in Phytomyza ranunculi on Meadow Buttercup.

 Eupeodes corollae
 Harlequin Ladybird - four-spot form
Phytomyza ranunculi - fly leaf-mine on Meadow Buttercup, there are 2 similar species but neither of these has the frass grains close together forming short (black) lines in the mine as seen in the bottom of the photo.

Friday 5 October 2018

Cemetery re-visited

The Ivy at the cemetery was again disappointing so I switched my attention to the small damp meadow outside the main entrance. As well as holding Devilsbit Scabious, Creeping Thistle and various yellow composites the surrounding trees included Black Poplar, Grey Alder and Large-leaved Lime. The area held 7 species of hoverfly with the best being Eupeodes corollae (1) and the most numerous being Melanostoma scalare (10).

Otherwise a Red Admiral was on the car park Buddleah Bush and another fly leaf-miner confirmed in Agromyza albitarsis on Black Poplar. A goshawk made a pass-over.

 Cemetery meadow
 Red Admiral
 Eristalis tenax
Agromyza albitarsis fly leaf-miner on Black Poplar

Wednesday 3 October 2018

Blaencaerau COP

The weather has been pretty grim today but we did have an hour break late afternoon. So I had a quick walk around the coal spoil area. I managed to find 6 species of hoverfly with a latish Helophilus pendulus the best and Melanostoma scalare the most numerous (8). Other insects included Green Shieldbug, 7-spot Ladybird and a day feeding Rosy Rustic moth. A flock of post breeding Goldfinch numbering 24 were the only birds to speak of.

 Helophilus pendulus
 Rosy Rustic - I think [can you confirm Sid ?]
Field Vole nest under a sheet of corrugated iron

Monday 1 October 2018

Maesteg cemetery area

Hoverfly numbers have plummeted since the cold (near zero) night of the 24th September, in fact only two species seen today - Melanostoma scalare (6) and Episyrphus balteatus (3) neither of which was on ivy. The only insects on Ivy were 50+ Common Wasp and various Blow fly species. The Buddleah Bush didn't have the Eristalis similis I found a couple of days ago but held 3 Comma and 2 Speckled Wood Butterfly. Also present was a Hummingbird Hawkmoth, my 3rd of the year and the nearby shrubbery held a few Green Shieldbug, Harlequin Ladybird and Yellow Dung Fly and as they say "that was it".

 Episyrphus balteatus
Comma

Thursday 27 September 2018

Eristalis similis - new for Wales

Today I visited Maesteg cemetery again to visit the Ivy. But the prize of the day was on the Buddleah Bush at the small gate round the front wall of the cemetery in the car park. Eristalis similis has never been recorded in Wales and is a hard species to identify and therefore probably overlooked by the casual observer. It is the size and shape of the big two Eristalis - pertinax and tenax, with a tapered body closer to pertinax. The diagnostic characters are a combination of 1) dark front and middle tarsus [pale in pertinax], 2) hind tibiae pale at base [all black in tenax], 3) the stigma on the wing is elongated and has a unique shape, [lacking in all the other Eristalis species]. Other features also back up similis and discount other species 4] lacks eye hair stripes of tenax 5] lacks furry appearance of intricaria. 6] the hind femora is grey dusted and dull rather than shining and 7] the sides of the thorax are also dull, shining in other species 8] large robust size rules out everything other than tenax and pertinax.

I sent the photos of the fly to Roger Morris of the Hoverfly Recording Scheme and he and the other experts on his team have all confirmed that it is indeed an Eristalis similis and thanked me for the record. Eristalis similis was only discovered in Great Britain in 1990, up until 2013 there had only been 2 records, but it has been recorded more regularly since then particularly this year, where there has been half a dozen records. So 20 records in total, mainly on the south and east coasts but not in Wales. It is thought to be a migrant, but there is now evidence that it may have established in this country just like my other record first for Wales Eupeodes lapponicus.

Not much is known about its life cycle but on the continent it has a preference for mature deciduous woods. The nearby trees which are Large-leaved Lime are well over 50 years old, so fit the bill well. Hopefully it is a resident rather than a migrant.

It is number 132 for the valley and a welcome addition to the Glamorgan and Wales lists.




I also had some other stuff today, but they seem unimportant right now.

Wednesday 26 September 2018

Cwm Darren/Lletty Woods

Even though the temperature reached 19c today, there were very few insects about and the cold clear nights are really taking their toll. Only 7 species of hoverfly found with Sericomyia silentis again the  top pick and Eristalis pertinax (10) the only species to reach double figures.

Otherwise I managed to photograph a basking Hornet and also found my first Fly Agaric Mushroom in Cwm Darren Woods. Little else to mention except a Kingfisher made a fly-by at the sewage works.

 Hornet
Fly Agaric fungi, my first in the valley.

Tuesday 25 September 2018

Garnwen and Drysiog loop

The fine weather continues (17c) but nearly all the flowers including the Knotweed have now died back, so this site is done for the year. The clear nights are cold, near zero degrees last night so insects are dying off rapidly. I only managed to find 9 species of hoverfly with Eupeodes latifasciatus (1) and Sericomyia silentis (5) the highlights and Episyrphus balteatus (16) being the most numerous. So now only the Ivy banks remain to be checked. I stopped off at one of them on the way home at Halfway House, Llangynwyd and found that it has been removed by the owners or council, which is a bitter blow as I record here well into November. The only other Ivy banks of note are at Maesteg cemetery, Lletty Woods and Cwm Darren Woods that I know of.

Butterflies were still around though, 4 species recorded with Comma (1) and a late Small Heath (1) the best. I also found another Kidney-spot Ladybird and Bronze Shieldbug. A Common Frog was near the small pond on the corner. 3 species of Bee still going with Orange-tailed Furrow Bee (10) putting in a strong appearance. Birds again were notable by their absence.

 Sericomyia silentis
 Small Heath
 Comma
Common Frog

Monday 24 September 2018

Maesteg cemetery area

With the weather looking like settling into a fine period for the next 5 days (15c), I took a stroll around the cemetery and school area. There were lots of Ivy in bloom at the cemetery along the walls behind the house and this allowed me to get a total of 19 species of hoverfly for the day. Highlights were Dasysyrphus albostriatus, Scaeva pyrastri and 10 Sericomyia silentis. Most numerous were Eristalis tenax (45), Episyrphus balteatus (30) and Melanostoma scalare (25).

Other insects included plenty of Harlequin Ladybird and my first and presumed new for the valley Kidney-spot Ladybird. Southern Hawker (2) and Common Darter (10) were present at the pond near the school. Five species of Butterfly were making the most of the September sunshine - Red Admiral (8), Peacock (4), Small White (1), Speckled Wood (3) and Common Blue (1 -checked it wasn't Small Blue 😜). Otherwise there were lots of Common Wasp and Honey Bee on the Ivy as well as Common Carder Bee (5) and some big queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee (3). Not much on the bird front, but quite a few Jays (8) were in the cemetery.

 Dasysyrphus albostriatus
 Syritta pipiens
 Kidney-spot Ladybird - new for the Valley
 Speckled Wood
Common Darter

Lletty Brongu

Yesterday was a tale of 2 halves. I went out in the morning and it was cloudy damp and cold (8c). I walked around Caerau and hardly saw anything, most plants have now died back. The only plants left now are Devil's Bit Scabious and patches of Japanese Knotweed. Insects were absent except for a knotgrass caterpillar and the only birds about were 20+ Meadow Pipit and 2 Bullfinch. I eventually gave up at noon and returned home. After about an hour the weather changed completely, bright sunshine the wind changed direction to westerly and the temperatures rose to 13c. So at 2 o'clock I went down Lletty Brongu sewage works to check out some sun traps. This turned out to be the right thing to do and I recorded 16 species of hoverfly feeding on Japanese Knotweed and some early blooming Ivy. Highlights included Eupeodes latifasciatus, Cheilosia scutellata, a late Myathropa florea and surprisingly 4 Xylota segnis. The commonest flies were Eristalis pertinax (25) and Episyrphus balteatus (10). There were also good numbers of Harlequin and 7-spot Ladybird present. Also I saw 2 Ivy Bee feeding on the knotweed, which was unusual considering the fact that blooming Ivy was only yards away. Also I had 2 Field vole under some corrugated iron sheeting, according to my records this is the first time I've recorded them in the valley, but more likely I haven't made a note of my recordings in the past.

As a side show I've been looking into Fly leaf-mines. There are about 400 species of fly leaf-miners and they use virtually every plant going and specialise mainly on single plants. The mines are quite different looking to moth leaf mines so are easily told apart plus the fact that many of the flies leaf mine plants which moths do not. I have been taking a few photographs a day and putting them on Irecord for confirmation. So I'm slowly building up a list as my knowledge of the subject grows.

 Myathropa florea - my latest date for the year
 male Eupeodes can't generally be done (other than corollae and lapponicus) and this one when captured as a specimen revealed it may be something special. Update when my specimens are assessed at the end of the year by Roger Morris of the Hoverfly Recording Scheme.
 Helophilus pendulus (4 today)
 Ivy Bee
 Harlequin Ladybird - first I've seen with no spots and apparently is quite a rare form.
 Agromyza alnivora (Alder) leaf-mine
Chromatomyia scolopendri (Hart's Tongue Fern) leaf-mine

Wednesday 19 September 2018

Cwm Drysiog

I haven't been out for what seems like an eternity because of the poor weather. Today I was looking at a live weather satellite feed and noticed that we were going to get a break in the weather between 10 AM and noon. So I shot off to Cwm Drysiog and arrived just as the sun broke through the clouds hoping for some insect activity. Most of the flowering plants had dyed back because of the weather, all that was left was a few bushes of Japanese Knotweed and a few Buddleah shrubs. So I did manage to record 16 species of hoverfly, which is about average for the time of the year. Baccha elongata, Eupeodes latifasciatus and Sericomyia silentis being about the best. There were still good numbers of Meliscaeva cinctella (70) and Episyrphus balteatus (25) on the Japanese Knotweed. The only other insects about were 4 Speckled Wood, a female Southern Hawker and a few Fox Moth caterpillars crossing the track.. Very hard to take photos in the wind so just a Episyrphus balteatus taken low down. Bang on noon the rain came and that was it, but at least I got out 😎.

 Episyrphus balteatus
Fox Moth caterpillar

Leaf-mine on Himalayan Balsam of the fly Phytoliriomyza melampyga