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New Forest specials

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 Today the weather was just looking good enough to try the long drive back to the New Forest. Again, due to traffic conditions on the motorways I had to go cross country but this trip still took an hour less than last week's attempt. On arrival at the car park I met Paul and Mark who were both old hands from the Green Forest Hoverfly survey. Both, fortunately were way ahead of me in recognising Hoverflies too which was a great help. The plan was to check a number of Beech stumps in the hope of seeing one or more Green Forest Hoverflies (Caliprobola speciosa) and hopefully something else too. Beech stump After 30 minutes or so one of the stumps had a great hoverfly perched briefly. This was The Thick-thighed Forest Fly (Brachypalpus laphriformis). Unfortunately it was so brief a visit that I only managed this long range photo Thick-thighed Forest Fly Another 30 mins or so passed where the best hoverfly seen was a Dimorphic Bumblefly ( Criorhina (now Matsumyia in some books) berberin...
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Lunch on Dartmoor

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 My wife suggested a quick visit to Cornwall for tea with family, who were celebrating a birthday. I suggested that, as we could not arrive sensibly before the end of work and school for them, we should break the journey on Dartmoor. I knew just the spot, a site that could hold Eristalis cryptarum, one of the UK's rarest hoverflies. So after a cheese sandwich she went off with walking poles to reaquaint herself with the area, many years after we had first lived there as newlyweds. I walked out into the rather bleak and certainly wet mire in search of flies After 10 mins or so an obvious Eristalis (Drone Fly) landed in front of me. I rattled off a few pictures and then checked it with bins. Very much to my disappointment it was the very common Tapered Drone Fly (E pertinax) : a species that is common in my garden. Tapered Drone Fly I carried on searching seeing lots of tiny Fen Flies (Neoascia sp) and a single Blacklet of some kind Fen Fly These look like tenur the Black-kneed Fen F...
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Garden surprises

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  A couple of day's ago I went to Salisbury Plain with some friends to look at some local specialities in the way of birds. We were very successful in seeing several Great Bustards and even a couple of Stone Curlews along with Kites, Hobbies and Corn Buntings. Great Bustards Stone Curlew The strong wind seemed to keep any insects down however with nothing being seen all day. On arriving home though, there was still time for a potter around the garden and this turned up trumps. First I noticed a slightly different looking Syrphine which turned out to be Dark-backed Smoothtail  (Epistrophe nitidicollis).  One I had seen reported on the facebook group but was not expecting in my own, small, town garden. Epistrophe nitidicollis Within minutes I had also seen this:- Dasysyrphus venutus Presumably because it has hairy eyes this is named the Broad-barred Brusheye. Recently this has been split into two species but the pattern of the bar on sternite 2 seemed to clinch it as this r...
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Back to Ham Wall

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 Two friends and I planned a mornings birding at RSPB ham wall but delayed our start following a huge tern passage up past our patch yesterday. Accordingly scopes were trained on the estuary from 6.30 am in anticipation. By 8.30 it was pretty clear no terns whatsoever were coming so we headed to Ham Wall anyway. While good views were had of Glossy Ibis, Garganey, and Great White Egrets , I had my macro lens on so won't trouble you with any images. Like wise the multiple birds of prey were best enjoyed by bins, including a flock of 8 Hobbies, multiple Marsh Harriers, Buzzards and Sparrowhawks with singles of Peregrine, Red Kite and Kestrel. The lens did come in handy though for Buttercup Blacklet (Cheilosia albitarsus) and Black Lagoon Fly (Eristalinus sepulchralis) though the single Snouted Duck Fly was photographed at home when my attempts in the field failed. I only managed one good shot before it zoomed off to freedom though. Buttercup Blacklet Black Lagoon Fly Snouted Duck Fly ...
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The levels come to life

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A visit to the Somerset levels this week. While this was primarily to listen to Bitterns and see the first returning Hobbies I managed to get pictures of a couple of Hovers new for the year . Helophilus hybridus It's always a pleasure to see something different to  the typical H. pendulus, the Tiger Marsh fly aka The Footballer. The one pictured here is known as the Wooly-tailed Marsh Fly and at least the males are distinctive with the huge yellow patches. I have not yet seen the third member of the group with its yellow face but will keep looking. Another one, new for the year, was the Stripe-faced Drone Fly ( Eristalis nemorum ). Though I didn't get to scrutinise the patterns in detail this species is the only one where males hover over the female as she feeds Eristalis nemorum I also caught  Black-kneed Fen Fly (Neoascia tenur) which I could compare with the yellow-kneed from Poole.  A black fly sitting on some yellow flowers turned out to be Black Lagoon Fly. Under a ...
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A grand day out

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 Saturday was my first opportunity to join the Devon Fly Group on a field visit. I arrived at Lower Sharpham Barton Farm ,a wilding site near Totnes, via a lift from local dipterist Bob Fleetwood, The morning was spent following a track down to the river area and for myself, a look at the edge of a small woodland. Here group member Andrew pointed out a couple of Brachypoda hoverflies around a tree with an almost invisible sap run. A new species group for me.  These brown hoverflies don't really resemble any others but I wasn't able to get a photo in the field.  Identification relies on things such as the shape of a small pit on the inside of antennal segment 3 so I had to examine one under a microscope to confirm that this was Brachypoda scutellaris. Brachypoda scutellaris male Kidney shaped antennal pit I thought that this would surely be the highlight of the day but I was very much mistaken. As I walked back up the track for lunch I noticed a tiny hoverfly in a celandin...
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A trip to the coast

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 I am planning to do a few trips to new areas in the hope of catching different species from those in the South West. The first of these was to Poole where I could also catch up with an old school friend and entomologist. As the Premier Inn was booked I decided to forge ahead despite a poorish weather forecast. The first day was better weatherwise than suggested but not much seemed to be flying. Walking around the Lytchett Bay reserve I managed to see a few Drone flies and caught just 3 other flies. Two of these were new for the year, my first convincing Hairy-eyed Flower Fly (Syrphus torvus) and even better a Neoascia meticulosa (Yellow-kneed Fen Fly).  Yellow-kneed Fen Fly This flew into my net while I was catching a different fly ! They are tricky to identify as the yellow knees don't always stand out and you have to look at an area of chitin on the underside of the thorax as well as measuring the proportions of one antennal segment. Not one you can do typically in the fiel...
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