Horse Chestnut Leaf-miner

Even when it's pouring and I am down town shopping I still have an eye on the undergrowth and today paid off. A horse Chestnut at the car park bridge was covered in Leaf-mines. There is only one species that leaf-mines Horse Chestnut and that's Cameraria ohridella [Horse Chestnut Leaf-miner].
It was first recorded in the UK in 2002 and has rapidly spread north and west and is regarded as a pest species. I think its new for the valley, but Sid will confirm later. [New for Valley].

Couple more flies from Ispot

 Empis tessellata - one of the dance flies and is the largest of this carnivorus genus

Tachinidae family - this one can't be taken to species sadly.

Calliphora vomitoria

Photo taken at Top Llan yesterday has been identified as "probably" Calliphora vomitoria. It's very common all over Britain and is a member of the "Blue Bottle" family although you wouldn't think that by the photo. Anyway it's new for the valley.

Tachind - Lophosia fasciata

Only just had this species Identified on Ispot from 28th Aug at Darren-y-Bannau [skull rocks], Caerau. There are only 136 records on the NBN Gateway, so classed as a scarce species and found in southern Britain only. It has been recorded twice in Glamorgan. So this is the third record and new for the valley.

Top Llan

A quick afternoon walk around the clear-fell produced 19 species of Hoverfly, a sign that the season is starting to wind down and should be completely over by October 10th. Also had a very large ground beetle and some Field Cuckoo Bee. There were 10 House Martins feeding over the clear-fell, heralding the start of passage migration.

 Myathropa florea

 Rhingia campestris

 Syritta pipiens

 Violet Ground Beetle [34mm]

 Field Cuckoo Bee [dark variant]

Field Cuckoo Bee [pale variant]

30/08/16 - Arctophila superbiens

I decided to do something different today and make brief visits to places that looked like it had good habitat for species we haven't yet recorded, staying at the sites for an hour only. I visited Lletty Brongu Sewage Works, Waun-y-Gilfach and Top Llangynwyd clear-fells. This turned out to be a good idea. I recorded another of the big four in Arctophila superbiens within 10 minutes of leaving the car. In fact I had 2, both males, on the side of the sewage works entrance road. A welcome addition to the valley list [number 108]. At Waun-y-Gilfach I had a Painted Lady Butterfly, which have been quite scarce this year so far. At Top Llangynwyd clear-fells I had 6 Eristalis rupium and these are the furthest south they have been recorded in Great Britain. In total I had 28 species of hoverfly and Top Llangynwyd held large areas of Angelica, which could be good for migrants in September.

 Arctophila superbiens - above and below

 Leucozonia glaucia

 Painted Lady

Large Black Fly - possibly a tachinid, which will take some time to identify.

Garnwen - Plan B

With good weather forecast my plan was to do Garnwen properly, but I forgot it was Bank Holiday and there was only 1 parking spot when I arrived at 1100hrs. Nevertheless I spent a good 5hrs rummaging through the undergrowth despite the crazy looks I got off family parties, who by the look of them were on their annual walk. I recorded 33 species of Hoverfly and had a lifer in Eriozona syrphoides which was my 100th species for the valley, even though the valley list is 107 as Paul has had a few I haven't seen yet. It would not come out in the open and was tucked into the hedge, so photos were poor. Besides that a number of good other species were seen like Baccha elongata, Dasysyrphus albostriatus, Xanthogramma pedissequum, Melangyna umbellatarum, Leucozona laternaria, Xylota sylvarum, Eupeodes luniger, Epistrophe grossulariae and yet more Helophilus trivittatus. Eristalis tenax was the commonest species with 310 logged. I also had some interesting other insects, some of which I managed to photograph.

 Devil's Coach Horse [beetle]- this threw me for a while, as it was very large [1 1/2"], but I found out later that when adults emerge they can't retract their wings under their short elytra for 2 hrs while they dry out. So I caught this one feeding just after it had emerged. Try as I might I can't find any images on the net of Devil's Coach Horse with wings, so this could be a first.

 Harvestman species - caught this one just right, but I don't know anything on this family, so I put it on Irecord. [Mitopus morio]

 Knotgrass - moth Larva [ID'd for me by Paul Parsons]

 possibly Goldenrod Pug moth larva - again ID'd by P. Parsons

 Eriozona syrphoides - the crap photo - can you see what it is yet.

 Lucozona laternaria

 Xanthogramma pedissequum - lacking any features of "stacklebergi"

 Xylota sylvarum

 Cheilosia impressa

Helophilus trivittatus - face shot

Garnwen

Went for a walk for an hour between showers to see what was about, 20 species of hoverfly but nothing special. But I did get two species of moth rarely seen, both of which have been seen in the valley but nevertheless interesting.

 Adaina microdactyla [Hemp-agrimony Plume]

 Mompha locupletella

 Nabis limbatus [Marsh Damselbug] - new for valley

 Eristalis arbustorum - pair

 Helophilus pendulus

Leucozona glaucia

Blaencaerau Devil's Bit Scabious patch

While walking around 2 days ago, I found a large dense area of Devil's Bit Scabious about 100yds long by 30yds white. All the insect forums foam at the mouth when talking about this plant attracting insects in late summer. So I thought I'd spend 2hrs just sitting and walking round the patch to see what was there. To be perfectly honest I was gobsmacked, with hoverflies on virtually every other flower head. I recorded 32 species of hoverfly with Helophilus hybridus new for me but not the valley, as Paul had one in early July. Eristalis intricarius was abundant with 9 being present, I've only ever seen one in the valley, way back in 2012, so was delighted to get multiple shots of this species. Other good species included Baccha elongata, Platycheirus granditarsus, Eupeodes species which I can't ID from photo but looks like it could be bucculatus, I'll have to get this confirmed as it is very rare, Eristalis rupium, Helophilus trivittatus and Leucozona glaucia. Other insects were well represented in all families. So I'll upload just a few of them.

 Scabious patch just above the Newtown bungalows on the forestry track.

 Eristalis intricarius

 Eristalis rupium

 Helophilus hybridus - the yellow on T3 +T2 is fused diagnostic for this species.

 Eupeodes species - not a good angle, but the underside [sternites] of the abdomen and the hind femur colour are all different in combination in this genus - so corollae, latifasciatus, luniger [common 3] and the rare lapponicus can all be ruled out. Checking Steve Falks on line flickr album on Eupeodes, it matches "bucculatus" perfectly. But whether it will be enough to get past the HRS evaluation is another thing. Also looking at the wing venation from underneath - R4+5 has a strong "bounce" to it towards its end another good "bucculatus pointer". The yellow on top of the abdomen doesn't reach the edge, so rules out corollae definitely.

 Common Carder Bee

 Green Tiger Beetle

 Phasia hemiptera - rather late date for this Tachinid Fly

 Small Skipper - one of ten species of Butterfly around the Scabious.

Patchwork Leaf-cutter Bee

Other wildlife at Blaencaerau today

Besides 29 species of hoverfly there was a good cross-section of other species present today.

 Slow Worm

 Nicrophorus vespilloides - burying beetle that lays its eggs in this shrew carcass and then bury it

 Red-tailed Bumblebee - seems to be quite scarce this year

 Sloe (hairy) Shieldbug

 Mole carcass - next on the list for the burying beetles, must have drowned during the storms, when its tunnels become flooded quickly.

 Stictoleptura rubra female - again

 Eristalis nemorum - triple stack mating display behaviour. The only species of hoverfly to do this.

Leucozona lucorum - essentially a spring species, but does have a smaller 2nd generation in late summer. Notice how the white on T2 is tinged with orange. First generation lucorum have a pure white T2.