With the fine weather about to break on Sunday, today was my last chance to record some hoverflies for a while. So a trip to Garnwen plantation was on the cards, Hawthorn is now in full bloom and sites like the one above, where Hawthorn grows in the glades of the conifer plantation are a magnet for this insect rich area. I smashed my May species record, recording 34 species of Hoverfly, new for the year were Didea fasciata (1), Scaeva pyrastri (1) and Xylota jakutorum (1) taking my total to 65 for the year. But the prize of the day was new for the valley Parasyrphus nigritarsis (2nd Glamorgan record) a species that lay its eggs in the egg clusters of the Green Dock Beetle and then the larva eat the beetle larva/eggs before pupating. I followed a female for 10 minutes as it flew from Dock plant to plant, landing on the edge of the leaves before going underneath the leaf for 2 or 3 seconds to find the beetle egg clusters and then moving to another leaf on the same plant and repeating this diagnostic pattern. Its worth turning over a few dock leaves to see the larva in action. The beetle lays orange eggs and the hoverfly white eggs that hatch in a few days and begin to devour the beetle eggs usually before they hatch. The most numerous hoverfly of the day was Sphegina sibirica (100+) and other good sightings included Leucozona lucorum (1), Parasyrphus punctulatus (5), Sericomyia silentis (15) and Criorhina berberina (1).
Another feature of the past week has been the huge number of bees at tree blossoms. Species recorded today were Early Bumblebee (150), Tree Bumblebee (50), Buff-tailed Bumblebee (100), Common Carder Bee (20), Honey Bee (25), Ashy-mining Bee (2), Forest Cuckoo Bee (5), Field Cuckoo Bee (20), Orange-tailed Mining Bee (1) and Orange-footed Furrow Bee (30). Those are just the ones I can identify and probably saw 20 or 30 other species of various types of bees that can't be identified from photos.
Other insects about today included 6 species of butterfly headed by Dingy Skipper (10). Dragonflies are starting to emerge with Four-spotted Chaser (2) and Broad-bodied Chaser (1) patrolling the various ponds. Record numbers of the longhorn beetle Rhagium bifasciatum (30) were present on the hawthorn bloom along with sightings of Green Tiger Beetle, 14-spotted Ladybird and Oedemera nobilis. Day moths are also becoming more noticeable with a record count of Micropterix aureatella (15) supported by Common Heath (10), Burnet companion (20), Micropterix calthella (500), Stigmella aurella (1 adult), Nematopogon schwarziellus (1), Cocksfoot Moth (10) and Syndemis musculana (1). Plenty of the Red and Black planthopper (10) about as was the odd Nursery Web Spider, The Minnows in the top pool looking to be fairing well.
Finally good numbers of Sedge Warbler (4), Whitethroat (8), Siskin (5 pairs) and a singing male Redstart were seen.
3 comments:
Nice I've been checking the docs but no joy
Nice I've been checking the docs but no joy had one down bottom of Craig y aber other day but lost it in flight
It came and landed on a plant that i was inspecting for eggs, flew from the pine woods and across the field when I lost it at about 1000hrs. Also where the fence has the barbed wire missing there is a patch of Mouse-ear Hawkweed (pale lemon yellow looking dandelion) and there is a pair of hovers defending it, which suggests "Cheilosia urbana" but they have so far evaded capture and Roger wont commit to a photograph, so keep an eye out if you visit, but their flight season will be over in a fortnight.
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