100 species of hoverfly at Garnwen

Garnwen, Maesteg     (SS8392)

The Garnwen 1km square is the first square where I have recorded 100 species of hoverfly in the Llynfi Valley. The area itself comprises of a forestry edge walking/driving track between commercialised pine forestry and upland moorland bog and cattle fields 200mts above sea-level. The track sides are rich in a diversity of flora from spring through to summer and this has allowed me to survey it throughout the hoverfly season lasting from March to October.

From the graph you can see recording begins in week 11 (March 12-18), when small numbers start to increase rapidly after week 19 (May 07-13) and peaking at week 21 (May 21-27). There is then a bit of a lull in species numbers between broods until week 28 (Jul 09-15) and from there on stay pretty constant and high until the last recording week which is week 39 (Sep 24-30). After this date all flowers have faded and then it becomes extremely hard to locate and further species.

Spring   (Mar – May)

Main feeding flowers – Blackthorn, Dandelion, Grasses, Meadow Buttercup and Sallow

Specialist species of the season - Cheilosia albipila, Cheilosia chrysocoma, Cheilosia grossa, Cheilosia lasiopa, Cheilosia ranunculi, Chrysotoxum arcuatum, Melangyna lasiophthalma, Parasyrphus malinellus, Parasyrphus punctulatus, Pipizella viduata.

Summer   (Jun – Aug)

Main feeding flowers – Bramble, Creeping Thistle, Hogweed, Slender Thistle, Tormentil

Specialist species of the season – Criorhina berberina, Criorhina floccosa, Chrysotoxum cautum, Didea fasciata, Eriozona syrphoides, Eristalis rupium, Eupeodes lapponicus, Sericomyia lappona, Parasyrphus vittiger, Volucella zonaria.

Autumn   (Sep – Oct)

Main feeding flowers – Angelica, Common Fleabane, Heather, Hemp Agrimony, Japanese Knotweed.

 Specialist species of the season – Baccha elongata, Eupeodes corollae, Eupeodes luniger, Helophilus hybridus, Melangyna umbellatarum, Scaeva pyrastri, Scaeva selenitica, Sericomyia silentis, Xylota jakutorum, Xanthandrus comtus.

*****   Species marked in red are rare for Glamorgan and even Wales.   *****

   

Lletty Sewage Works

Cool but fine day at 16c with a slight chill in the northerly wind. The Japanese Knotweed was in bloom along the edge of the sewage works and river, but not a lot of hoverflies about probably due to the fact that a few Hornet were patrolling the plants and eating anything in their path. I did record 12 species with the best being Eupeodes latifasciatus, Myathropa florea and Sericomyia silentis. Another find was a fair size patch of the fragrant Round-leaved Mint which attracted a few of the smaller hoverflies like Platycheirus granditarsus and Rhingia campestris.


Not many other insect about either, however I did take a photo of a leaf-mine on Holly of the fly Phytomyza ilicis. Other sightings were Red-legged Shieldbug, 2 Hornet, Harlequin Ladybird and micro moth Celypha lacunana. About 20 Swallow and House Martin were over the sewage beds.

 Harlequin Ladybird

 Phytomyza ilicis - leaf-mine on Holly

 Red-legged Shieldbug

 Rhingia campestris

Round-leaved Mint one of the latest blooming plants in the valley.

Drysiog

A warm day with temperatures just tipping 20c. The Japanese knotweed is just staring to bloom and should be quite an attraction to hoverflies in ten days time, For now I recorded 19 species on or around it, with Meliscaeva Cinctella topping 140. Others on or around the area included Baccha elongata, Paragus sp., Myathropa florea and Sericomyia silentis amongst the commoner species.

A surprise was 2 juvenile and female Common Pheasant in the undergrowth and an obliging Southern Hawker. Usual beetles and bees. 6 species of butterfly on the Buddleah headed by 3 Painted Lady. Also photographed the Wild Angelica leaf mine of the fly Phytomyza angelicae which is new for me. Lastly I came across a Hawkbit species (flower) whose leaves don't match anything in my books so I'll have to do a bit of research before I can put a name to it. I'll update when confirmed.

 Meliscaeva cinctella

 Baccha elongata

 Leucozona laternaria

 Southern Hawker

leaf mine on Wild angelica of the fly Phytomyza angelicae

Caerau/Blaencaerau circuit

Nice warm day (23c) with plenty of cloud cover had me out for 6hrs, walking the perimeter of my local patch. The area was full of insects having their last throngs of summer. A satisfying 37 species of Hoverfly were recorded, with Melangyna umbellatarum and Dasysyrphus tricinctus new for the year. Top 5 highlights being Chrysotoxum arcuatum, Eristalis rupium, Xanthogramma pedissequum, Volucella pellucens and Riponnensia splendens. Some regular species were out in good numbers such as Helophilus pendulus (34), Sericomyia silentis (19) and Eristalis tenax (170).

Three species of Tachinid flies were headed by Nowickia ferox. 10 species of butterfly included 6 Painted Lady. 4 species of Ladybird had Larch Ladybird as the best. Moths included 5 Silver y, Brindled Plume, Pyrausta purpuralis and a Fox Moth caterpillar. Another three species of Shieldbug were seen in Green Shieldbug, Bronze Shieldbug and Cinnamon Shieldbug. The last two being new for me and probably the valley. 6 species of Bee were headed by a very large queen Tree Bumblebee. Dragonflies also made an appearance in 10 Common Darter, 2 Southern Hawker and Golden-ringed Dragonfly. Finally I also found a Red Osier Dogwood shrub which was new for me. Not much on the birds front except plenty of Linnet and Goldfinch.

 Eristalis rupium

 Volucella pellucens

 Brindled Plume

 Fox Moth caterpillar

 Bronze Shieldbug

 Green Shieldbug

Tree Bumblebee queen

Devilsbit Scabious patch, Caerau

With the hoverfly season starting to decline and new blooming flowers hard to come by at this time of year. I have to select areas with late blooming flowers such as Devilsbit Scabious, luckily Caerau has a large patch of this flower on the colliery spoil edge near the Newtown Bungalows and stream. So I spent 2hrs just in this patch which also has Heather, Goldenrod, Hemp Agrimony as supporting blooms. I recorded 21 species of hoverfly, amongst the commoner species were Melanostoma mellinum (1), Platycheirus granditarsus (1), Eupeodes corollae (1), Eupeodes latifasciatus (1), Eupeodes luniger (1), Helophilus pendulus (7), Helophilus trivittatus (1) and Sericomyia silentis (5). The most numerous hoverfly was Eristalis tenax (50) followed by Eristalis pertinax (20).

Butterflies also seem to like this patch and I recorded Painted Lady (1), Small Copper (5), Speckled Wood (5), Small White (1), Common Blue (1) and Small Heath (3). I also recorded 3 species of Shieldbug in Gorse Shieldbug, Red-legged Shieldbug and Tortoise Shieldbug, the latter I have no records of, so its new for me if not the valley.

Over the last few days there has been a Wryneck at Foel-y-Dyffryn, found and photographed by Colin Gittins. I've been up twice and missed it both times. The Wryneck is a rare and elusive passage migration species in Glamorgan with only a few records a year. I have added Colin's photo to the post for posterity. This bird is the 3rd record for the valley

 Devilsbit Scabious patch

 Eristalis tenax

 Sericomyia silentis

 Painted Lady

 Tortoise Shieldbug

 Gorse Shieldbug

 Red-legged Shieldbug

 White-crust Lichen on Larch, initially I thought someone had marked the tree for felling as it looked just like paint, but closer inspection showed it to be a lichen, I know nothing about lichen so I don't know the species, maybe Ispot can sort it out.

Wryneck - 3rd valley record, found and photographed by Colin Gittins at Foel-y-Dyffryn moorland on the 28th, also present on 29th.

Garnwen

After a bright start to the day the weather quickly turned cloudy and cool with a stiff westerly, north-westerly wind. Not ideal conditions for insects, but the Angelica at Garnwen always delivers even on dank days like today. 21 species of hoverfly were seen with Eriozona syrphoides (rare) and Xanthogramma pedissequum (local) being the first of the year with a very late female Chrysogaster solstitialis a pleasant surprise. It is also good to see some species out in large numbers like Meliscaeva cinctella (220) and Eristalis pertinax (200), they have recovered well from the heatwave in July.

The only other family of insects of note were the Ladybird beetles, with 4 species present in good numbers and included Larch Ladybird, Harlequin Ladybird, 10-spot Ladybird and the common 7-spot Ladybird.

 Eriozona Syrphoides (5th valley record)

 Xanthogramma pedissequum 

 Chrysogaster solstitialis (my latest record by far)

 Larch Ladybird

Harlequin Ladybird

Back to Spelter

A fine day for watching my son play Rugby, but made the effort to get up early (ish) so I could sneak in another two hours at Spelter Water Mint patch. 27 species of hoverfly species seen today, with most being the same species I saw a couple of days ago with the exception of Chrysotoxum bicinctum (1) and Cheilosia pagana (1) new for the site.

Other insects included 6 Small Tortoiseshell butterfly, a Triangle Plume moth,  Tachina grossa and fera and 8 - 7-spot Ladybird. No birds of note this time. And by the way Glyncorrwg Rugby won again.

 Sericomyia silentis

 Sphaerophoria scripta

 Triangle Plume

Tachina fera

Spelter, Maesteg

After 4 days of mist and drizzle, this afternoon saw a break in the weather for an hour . So I shot off up to Spelter in the car and drove right up and parked next to the now in full flower Water Mint stream as last year it was a magnet for hoverflies. I went up a few weeks ago but then it was just starting to flower. The patch is only 15 yards long and 3 yards wide but is fly central for the area in August.  I recorded 31 species of hoverfly just in that patch, which is an excellent count for this time of year. Highlights included first of the year Chrysotoxum festivum as well as 15 Platycheirus granditarsus, 3 Platycheirus rosarum, male Melanostoma Mellinum, 12 Eupeodes latifasciatus, male Dasysyrphus venustus, 4 Scaeva pyrastri, female Eristalis intricarius, male Helophilus hybridus, 2 Helophilus trivittatus and 2 Sericomyia silentis, Syritta pipiens were still out in large numbers (80) as was Eristalis tenax (65).

No other insects to talk off but surprisingly there was a small passage of waders overhead making use of the break in the weather. Oystercatcher (1), Eurasian Curlew (1) and Eurasian Golden Plover (24) all passed overhead flying down the valley [south].

 small part of the mint patch that is a magnet for hoverflies.

 Chrysotoxum festivum

 Helophilus trivittatus

 Platycheirus granditarsus

Small Copper

Gilfach (west), Top Llangynwyd

A cold, cloudy, windy day meant when I arrived I had little choice but to shelter from the wind by walking the forestry tracks. I was not expecting much and that's exactly what I got. Only 14 species of hoverfly recorded with nothing special, but it was nice to see Meliscaeva cinctella (26) and Meliscaeva auricollis (9) in fair numbers as they have been absent during the heatwave we just had.

Every cloud has a silver lining as they say. While looking at Angelica for hoverflies I noticed a small well marked moth on the next plant and it turned out to be Phaulernis fulviguttella, a Nationally Scarce B moth with only one previous record in Glamorgan, that being 2002 @ Afon Argoed (MJW) about 7kms away from where I was but the same mountain ridge. Only other insects of note were good numbers of 10-spot Ladybird and a Golden-ringed Dragonfly patrolling.

 Phaulernis fulviguttella - above and below [new for valley, 2nd record for Glamorgan]

 10-spot Ladybird

 Eristalis pertinax

Eupeodes female - potted this one and it turned out to be the commonest species "corollae"

Blaencaerau COP

After two days rain an excellent count of 37 species of hoverfly for August, plus a few specimens to determine later will add to the total. The late summer blooms of Hemp Agrimony, Devilsbit Scabious, Goldenrod, Fennel, Corn and Water Mint backed up by Angelica meant there was plenty of nectar about for hoverflies to feed particularly Water Mint that was covered in flies of all families. A good selection of highlights included Platycheirus peltatus, Chrysotoxum bicinctum, Epistrophe grossulariae, Eupeodes latifasciatus, Leucozona glaucia (scarce this year), Megasyrphus erraticus (2nd valley record), all 7 Eristalis including Eristalis intricarius and Eristalis rupium, all three Helophilus, Sericomyia silentis and a very late Volucella bombylans (plumata form).

Other flies included the Tachinids -  Tachina grossa and fera, Eriorthrix rufomaculata and Thelaria nigripes. 9 species of butterfly were headed by 2nd generation Small Heath and Small Copper. Moths included 3 Silver Y, Ancylis badiana and Udea lutealis. The usual bees, wasps and beetles plus a female Common Darter Dragonfly. I also came across mutated acorns on Pendunculate Oak. These were made by the Knopper Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalicis) and is new for the valley.

 Eristalis intricarius (female)

 Helophilus trivittatus

 Leucozona glaucia

 Volucella bombylans - plumata form, a very late individual

 Eriothrix rufomaculata

 Meadow Grasshopper

 Small Heath - 2nd generation

Mutated acorns of Pendunculate Oak, which is caused by a chemical reaction from the larva of the Knopper Gall Wasp. The wasp was introduced accidentally with imports in the late 1960's, since then it has spread throughout England and Wales and reached Ayrshire in Scotland by 2007. It causes serious damage to younger Oaks interfering with the reproductive cycle. A" Defra Plan" is being arranged to eradicate the wasp.