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.

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.

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

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

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

100 species of hoverfly at Garnwen

Garnwen, Maesteg     (SS8392)

The Garnwen 1km square is the first square where I have recorded 100 species of hoverfly in the Llynfi Valley. The area itself comprises of a forestry edge walking/driving track between commercialised pine forestry and upland moorland bog and cattle fields 200mts above sea-level. The track sides are rich in a diversity of flora from spring through to summer and this has allowed me to survey it throughout the hoverfly season lasting from March to October.

From the graph you can see recording begins in week 11 (March 12-18), when small numbers start to increase rapidly after week 19 (May 07-13) and peaking at week 21 (May 21-27). There is then a bit of a lull in species numbers between broods until week 28 (Jul 09-15) and from there on stay pretty constant and high until the last recording week which is week 39 (Sep 24-30). After this date all flowers have faded and then it becomes extremely hard to locate and further species.

Spring   (Mar – May)

Main feeding flowers – Blackthorn, Dandelion, Grasses, Meadow Buttercup and Sallow

Specialist species of the season - Cheilosia albipila, Cheilosia chrysocoma, Cheilosia grossa, Cheilosia lasiopa, Cheilosia ranunculi, Chrysotoxum arcuatum, Melangyna lasiophthalma, Parasyrphus malinellus, Parasyrphus punctulatus, Pipizella viduata.

Summer   (Jun – Aug)

Main feeding flowers – Bramble, Creeping Thistle, Hogweed, Slender Thistle, Tormentil

Specialist species of the season – Criorhina berberina, Criorhina floccosa, Chrysotoxum cautum, Didea fasciata, Eriozona syrphoides, Eristalis rupium, Eupeodes lapponicus, Sericomyia lappona, Parasyrphus vittiger, Volucella zonaria.

Autumn   (Sep – Oct)

Main feeding flowers – Angelica, Common Fleabane, Heather, Hemp Agrimony, Japanese Knotweed.

 Specialist species of the season – Baccha elongata, Eupeodes corollae, Eupeodes luniger, Helophilus hybridus, Melangyna umbellatarum, Scaeva pyrastri, Scaeva selenitica, Sericomyia silentis, Xylota jakutorum, Xanthandrus comtus.

*****   Species marked in red are rare for Glamorgan and even Wales.   *****

   

Lletty Sewage Works

Cool but fine day at 16c with a slight chill in the northerly wind. The Japanese Knotweed was in bloom along the edge of the sewage works and river, but not a lot of hoverflies about probably due to the fact that a few Hornet were patrolling the plants and eating anything in their path. I did record 12 species with the best being Eupeodes latifasciatus, Myathropa florea and Sericomyia silentis. Another find was a fair size patch of the fragrant Round-leaved Mint which attracted a few of the smaller hoverflies like Platycheirus granditarsus and Rhingia campestris.


Not many other insect about either, however I did take a photo of a leaf-mine on Holly of the fly Phytomyza ilicis. Other sightings were Red-legged Shieldbug, 2 Hornet, Harlequin Ladybird and micro moth Celypha lacunana. About 20 Swallow and House Martin were over the sewage beds.

 Harlequin Ladybird

 Phytomyza ilicis - leaf-mine on Holly

 Red-legged Shieldbug

 Rhingia campestris

Round-leaved Mint one of the latest blooming plants in the valley.

Drysiog

A warm day with temperatures just tipping 20c. The Japanese knotweed is just staring to bloom and should be quite an attraction to hoverflies in ten days time, For now I recorded 19 species on or around it, with Meliscaeva Cinctella topping 140. Others on or around the area included Baccha elongata, Paragus sp., Myathropa florea and Sericomyia silentis amongst the commoner species.

A surprise was 2 juvenile and female Common Pheasant in the undergrowth and an obliging Southern Hawker. Usual beetles and bees. 6 species of butterfly on the Buddleah headed by 3 Painted Lady. Also photographed the Wild Angelica leaf mine of the fly Phytomyza angelicae which is new for me. Lastly I came across a Hawkbit species (flower) whose leaves don't match anything in my books so I'll have to do a bit of research before I can put a name to it. I'll update when confirmed.

 Meliscaeva cinctella

 Baccha elongata

 Leucozona laternaria

 Southern Hawker

leaf mine on Wild angelica of the fly Phytomyza angelicae

Caerau/Blaencaerau circuit

Nice warm day (23c) with plenty of cloud cover had me out for 6hrs, walking the perimeter of my local patch. The area was full of insects having their last throngs of summer. A satisfying 37 species of Hoverfly were recorded, with Melangyna umbellatarum and Dasysyrphus tricinctus new for the year. Top 5 highlights being Chrysotoxum arcuatum, Eristalis rupium, Xanthogramma pedissequum, Volucella pellucens and Riponnensia splendens. Some regular species were out in good numbers such as Helophilus pendulus (34), Sericomyia silentis (19) and Eristalis tenax (170).

Three species of Tachinid flies were headed by Nowickia ferox. 10 species of butterfly included 6 Painted Lady. 4 species of Ladybird had Larch Ladybird as the best. Moths included 5 Silver y, Brindled Plume, Pyrausta purpuralis and a Fox Moth caterpillar. Another three species of Shieldbug were seen in Green Shieldbug, Bronze Shieldbug and Cinnamon Shieldbug. The last two being new for me and probably the valley. 6 species of Bee were headed by a very large queen Tree Bumblebee. Dragonflies also made an appearance in 10 Common Darter, 2 Southern Hawker and Golden-ringed Dragonfly. Finally I also found a Red Osier Dogwood shrub which was new for me. Not much on the birds front except plenty of Linnet and Goldfinch.

 Eristalis rupium

 Volucella pellucens

 Brindled Plume

 Fox Moth caterpillar

 Bronze Shieldbug

 Green Shieldbug

Tree Bumblebee queen