Garnwen

With temperatures still at 26c it was a waste of time walking anywhere looking for insects. So I tried something different, I waited till 1600hrs which is when the hottest part of the day is over, and to stand by a Blackthorn Tree on the edge of the forestry up Garnwen, to see what would come into feed. This turned out to be the right thing to do. In 1 hour I had 22 species of hoverfly coming and going to the blossom. Highlight was undoubtedly the valley's first Cheilosia chrysocoma, but it was too quick and flighty for me to photograph 😥. Other species that were new for the year included Melanostoma mellinum, Chrysotoxum arcuatum, Episyrphus balteatus, Meliscaeva cinctella, Parasyrphus mallinelus, Parasyrphus punctulatus, Cheilosia variabilis, Sphegina sibirica, Sphegina elegans and Sericomyia silentis. I also took a few specimens to check later in the year and one looks promising for a species of parasyrphus we haven't had yet (annulatus).

Other sightings included 1 male Cuckoo, 3 pairs of Whitethroat 1 pair each of Stonechat and  Reed Bunting and 6 Willow Warbler, one of which had the same idea as me and kept returning to the tree to feed on flies, even getting in my way while trying to photograph some hoverflies. It took the Chrysotoxum arcuatum before I could photograph it. 30 Green-veined White and 3 Orange Tip butterflies made up the rest and I flushed what I thought was a fritillary probably Small-pearl Bordered Fritillary.

 Lone Blackthorn on edge of Garnwen forestry overlooking the moorland.

 Meliscaeva cinctella

 Parasyrphus punctulatus

Sericomyia silentis