Yesterday I spotted a new hoverfly species for the garden (I've only been trying to identify them more seriously since last summer). I thought it was one of the Scaeva species probably the Lunar Hoverfly but several people on Twitter have identified it as a Pied Hoverfly - Scaeva pyrastri. This species is found in gardens, wastelands and meadows and it is thought that few survive the winter so breeding populations rely on migrants from mainland Europe.
Pied Hoverfly
and a different uncropped photo. The flowers on my Rat-tailed radishes are attracting a lot of hoverfly species.
There are dozens of Marmalade Hoverflies round the garden - Episyrphus balteatus. Not the best of photos - these insects zoom around so much it is really hard to get a decent picture.
This is a common species of hoverfly - the larvae are predators of aphids. I do hope they lay plenty of eggs on my Echinops plants as there are very few flowers forming thanks to a massive aphid attack :(
The week after the holiday we had a Banded Demoiselle in the garden - I didn't get a photo but its a new garden tick :)
Last year I fell in love with Astrantia and bought a plant from Coughton Court. Its doing really well this year and is proving a magnet for pollinators - here one of the white-tailed bumble bees enjoying the nectar. It almost seemed drunk and didn't move in the half an hour I was in the garden.
Today I was planning to visit a wood about an hour's journey away in search of Purple Emperor, Purple Hairstreak, White Admiral and Silver Washed Fritillary but, for various reasons, the trip has been postponed so I decided to do my first Big Butterfly Count, organised by Butterfly Conservation.
I was really chuffed to see a Large Skipper - I've only seen Skippers in the garden on 3 occasions in all the years we've lived here.
Other butterflies seen were Gatekeeper x 2 (the first this year)
Speckled Wood x 2
and Large White x 1
The main lawn is covered in clover at the moment attracting Common Carder Bees and this the first Red-tailed Bumble Bee of the year.
Great photos.. our garden is also full of bees and hoverflies.. in fact we are being bombarded with hoverflies as we go about pottering in the garden. More hoverflies this year than we've ever seen and it's lovely to see. Not so many butterflies about this year I've noticed.. the buddleias are out and usually covered in butterflies but not this year yet.
ReplyDeleteHi Julia - Thanks so very much for leaving a comment. We have a similar situation here with hoverflies - there do seem more than ever this year. Not so many butterflies here either although am hoping we may attract more when the buddleias are in full flower - there are only a few open flower heads at the moment. Lots of bees here too - have been watching leaf cutter bees going in and out of the bee "hotels" :)
DeleteNice images and this brings me to the thought (rat tailed radish - great name) - we give butterflies, some moths, hoverflies and other invertebrates common names, but is there a need for a campaign to name as many of the common species as possible - would that get people more engaged if they could name them?
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for the comment Andrew. Its a great point of yours concerning the idea of a campaign to name as many of the more common species that just have latin names to engage more people. The hoverfly id book I was using just had the scientific name for the Pied Hoverfly but the common name used on Twitter makes the species far more memorable.
DeleteMacro moth names are particuarly wonderful and one of the reasons why I became so interested in the group in the first place but many of the so-called "micro" moths don't have common names.
I have a feeling there was a move to give common names to a group that didn't generally have them but at the moment the type of wildlife escapes me :( Will let you know if and when I remember it! Have a feeling it may have been snails or spiders?
Wonderful post, nice to see some hover flies numbers seem a bit low to me this year, just had Speckled Wood in my garden but the Buddleia should be out soon and that brings a few more in.
ReplyDeleteI have been paying special attention to the micro moths visiting the garden too as I think they get a little left out, not been big and showy and some more common names would help..Hope to get the book next month (very expensive) on Micro moths.
Going back to your early catch of the magpie moth (lovely) lucky enough to have seen a few here, what makes it a micro moth? as they are large enough to be a moth...
Amanda xx
Thanks very much Amanda. Hoverfly numbers in the garden have shot up in the last week. Praying for buddleia to open more flowers here to bring in more butterflies!
DeleteI have the micro book - as you say its very expensive but excellent. Have to admit I only, in the main, try and id micros that look distinctive! Well that is distinctive until you look at the book!!
Some moth-ers get a bit fidgety about calling the smaller moths micros as they are all moths after all! Rather than being a taxonomic reason I think its something that has just developed with the smaller moths being called micros and the large ones macros. Although some micros are bigger than some macros!! Most but not all of the micros are classed as more "primitive" moths.
Nice photos Ragged Robin.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Ian - sorry for not replying earlier - seem to have missed your comment. Many apologies.
DeleteSome nice butterflies there Caroline, the Gatekeeper especially as I have only recorded it a couple of times at our East Yorkshire home (though it does occur commonly on the other side of the Wolds!).
ReplyDeleteGreat pics of the hoverflies too :-)
Kindest regards :-)
Thanks very much David. We tend to get more Gatekeepers in the garden than Meadow Browns. Interesting how it varies countrywide and even throughout one particular county especially with the "commoner" species. Found a colony of Ringlet close to home recently but we rarely get them in the garden.
DeleteGood to see the sunshine slowly starting to bring out the butter and hoverflies :)
The hoverfly photos are great, especially the Marmalade one in flight! So happy you saw and captured the Large Skipper! Have tons of Gatekeepers here now, but not sure if there will be as many as last year. But it's still a good year for them. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much. Weather has been duller this week with cloud and rain so not so many insects about - its amazing how they suddenly all appear when the sun comes out :) Do have some moths to photo today so will put them on here when I have a minute.
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