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