Caerau

 A bit of sunshine Saturday morning meant a quick walk before the rugby. The Japanese Knotweed has gone over followed closely by Devilsbit Scabious. That leaves just  Michaelmas Daisy and Ivy for the hoverflies to feed on, so wasn't expecting much. But a newly discovered Ivy patch in a sun trap attracted a lot of hoverflies. The star of the show was my third ever Xanthandrus comtus a scarce migrant from Europe, Couldn't quite get the killer shot but I'm satisfied with the the following three.

Eighteen species in total is not bad for late September. Finally new for the year was Helophilus trivittatus plus the other Helophilus. Also seen were Rhingia rostrata, Didea fasciata and sixteen Sericomyia silentis. The most numerous species was Eristalis tenax (70).

Eupeodes luniger

Helophilus pendulus

Helophilus trivittatus

Serocmyia silentis

Syrphus ribesii

On the insect front Silver Y moth and Red Admiral butterflies were still numerous and 2 Comma butterfly were feeding on Ivy and Devilsbit Scabious. Green Shieldbug, Southern Hawker Dragonfly, Common Darter and the tachinid fly Tachina fera were the supporting cast.

Comma

Green Shieldbug

The only bird of note was a calling Chiffchaff. Late news from Friday was a American Cliff Swallow found by Neil Donaghy at Sker briefly, was said to be flying inland, so I thought I would chance my arm before work and drive up Mynydd Ty Talwyn to see if it would pass by. When I arrived at the big green field there were 200+ Barn Swallow feeding low over the hay bales. I scanned them for quite a while but try as I might I couldn't locate a Cliff Swallow. Two Red Kite were also present. A large fall of American birds including Canada, Magnolia and Bay-breasted Warbler. Alder Flycatcher and Bobolink has occured in Pembrokeshire, but I didn't have time to visit there sadly and now the weather is about to turn crap again :( .

Maesteg Wefare Park

 First visit of the year, for the following three reasons. Firstly the new Dragonfly ponds (thanks Sid) has a small patch of Devilsbit Scabious which allowed me to record some of the bigger hoverflies like Sericomyia silentis and Volucella pellucens. Secondly I wanted to check out the extensive Ivy Bank, which had a small number of florets already in bloom, on which I saw Myathropa florea, with the main blossoming about 2 weeks away. Thirdly I wanted to check out the "wildflower patch" that has been good in the past, although many of the flowers are ornamental rather than British wild flowers. Here there were five species of Eristalis  as well as Eupeodes luniger, Cheilosia bergenstammi and Helophilus pendulus. A total of 17 species were recorded in about an hour.

Wild flower patch

Eristalis arbustorum

Eristalis horticola

Eristalis nemorum

Eristalis pertinax

Eristalis tenax

Myathropa florea

Sericomyia silentis

Devilsbit Scabious patch

 The patch is now in full bloom along with Goldenrod, the last of the Angelica and Michaelmas Daisy for back-up. Recorded 23 species in the September heat with Rhingia rostrata being the highlight. Eristalis tenax (147) and Sericomyia silentis (19) are now out in good numbers.

Other insects include big influxes of Red Admiral (20+) and Silver Y (100+) and is always nice to get a close-up Tachina fera.

Rhingia rostrata

Volucella pellucens

Eristalis arbustorum

Sericomyia silentis

Silver Y

Red Admiral

Common Blue

Tachina fera

Unusual to see a garden escape species in the grassland around the old railway track. I'm not very good with garden flowers, but to me it looks like some kind of hibiscus species but I'm open to ideas.
 [After a bit of research it appears to be - Hibiscus moscheutos - English name - Honeymoon Deep Red Hibiscus]

Mynydd Caerau

 Warm weather continues so I took a walk up to the mountain Heather banks to see what was about. 35 species were seen, with the highlight being Eupeodes lapponicus. I had been wondering where all the migrant flies had gone, the answer was that they are all up the mountains feeding on Heather

Epistrophe grossulariae

Scaeva pyrastri

Leucozona glaucia