Last week

 Some fine weather for a change had the hoverflies coming out in good numbers and number of species. 41 species were seen and it seems like Rowan is attracting a lot of insects. Below are a few photos from the week

Cheilosia variabilis

Chrysotoxum arcuatum

Dasysyrphus venustus s.l.

Epistrophe eligans

Sericomyis silentis

Sphegina species - probably clunipes.

On the bird front had my first Swifts of the year at Blaencaerau along with Grasshopper Warbler and Whitethroat being the highlight of 39 species. Looks like the Willow Tits have disappeared till the Autumn, I tried tracking them a few times but they disappear towards the farm area.

Garnwen (Saturday)

 The lack of sunny days means hoverfly numbers are below average for the time of year. I only recorded 10 species where I should be expecting 20+. Best of which were Parasyrphus malinellus (1),Parasyrphus punctulatus (3) and Dasysyrphus albostriatus (2). No species exceded 5 individuals.

Dasysyrphus albostriatus

Parasyrphus punctulatus

Parasyrphus species - which can't be identified from the photo, so I potted this one and later found it to be Parasyrphus malinellus.

The Blackthorn blossom has been very poor this year, so I was happy to see a single tree in good blossom and this is where I recorded most of the species today. 

Otherwise the only other insect of note was a bloody-nosed beetle'

On the bird front I saw my first Whitethroat of the year as well as other summer migrants Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler.

Bloody-nosed beetle