These are two insects that are found close to water, attracted to my new pond. Footballer hoverfly, so named due to its stripey football-kit colours lays its eggs in shallow pond margins. Large Red Damselfly is rarely found away from standing water, unlike some other damselflies. The latter, a new species for my garden, is one of the earliest dragonflies on the wing in Spring.
The first two leaf-mines are from the larvae of a Sallow Pygmy moth (Stigmella salicis, #973). These moths have two generations in the Spring and Summer and the twisting mines from the second generation are seen right through to November. The mine doubles back to create a blotch and the frass makes a broken line in the centre of the mine.
The second pair of mines are from the larvae of a weevil Isochnus sequensi (#680), which leaves these dark, blotchy mines. The larva by the second mine is that of a Syrphus hoverfly, which is a predator mostly of aphids and but also other insects.
This Syrphus ribesii was making a nice colourful shot on one of the relatively few flowers left in the garden. It’s a common enough hoverfly, seen right through the autumn until the cold weather hits.
#484 Syrphus ribesii
This sturdy-looking hoverfly lays its eggs near the a wasps nest, where its larvae enter the nest ultimately eating a wasp larva before re-emerging as an adult. It looks a bit hornet like. This one was on a wall where we have a few mason bees and wasps, but it is a male (eyes join on the forehead) so probably was getting some sun rather than being on the look-out for somewhere to lay its eggs.
I’m happy with this shot of the thick legs of a female Thick-legged Hoverfly (Syritta pipiens, #524) on a Wall Daisy. I was away for most of August, but even so this seems to have been a fairly poor year for hoverflies. There’s certainly not many around the garden at the moment, when usually late summer there’s plenty of drone flies at least.
#524 Thick-legged Hoverfly (Syritta pipiens)
It’s been pretty poor for hoverflies so far this year, but this week there area lot of Marmalade Hoverflies on flowers around the garden. Hopefully a sign of more species starting to appear. The Golden Rod is soon coming into flower, which is usually a good place to see lots of hoverflies and other insects.
#116 Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
This hoverfly caught visiting the Golden Rod is rather big and impressive. It’s a wasp-mimicking hoverfly, Volucella inanis (#681), which is a parasite on wasps, laying its eggs in the wasps nest where its larvae eat the wasp’s own larvae. This species is found across the South of England up to Midlands, and seems not so common though increasing its population in UK. A fine addition to the list.
#681 Volucella inanis
A couple of more interesting hoverflies this week. Eupeodes latifasciatus (#651), this one a male caught sunbathing, is a new species for the garden. It took me a bit of time to get the identification as there are a few similar-looking hoverflies, but the pattern of yellow marks fused into bands and that close in at the lateral margin indicate this species.
The stocky hoverfly on the right is Myathropa florea (Deadhead Hoverfly, #324), which is an impressively marked species that doesn’t turn up often in the garden. I also saw one of the big hoverflies, maybe Volucella zonaria, quickly fly into the buddleia and then away - so I’ll be looking out for that over the next days.
This striking hoverfly, Helophilus pendulus (#167), is a pond and sun lover, which was hanging around the “sunny” basin over the weekend. It’s also called the “Footballer” Hoverfly thanks to it’s neat soccer-strip colours. This species is common around ponds and dirty drains, as its larvae live as filter feeders in organic-rich water.
When the sun shines the number of insects on the flowers goes up. The current batch of pollinating insects seem to like yellow and orange best; the Goldenrod (which is just opening up) being hands down the most popular with many species.
Long hoverflies are one of the commonest species at this time, along with marmalade and white-footed hoverflies. I’ve also seen a few Thick-legged Hoverflies (Syritta pipiens), a species that I didn’t record last year.
The small bee is I believe a collettes, Colletes daviesanus. These are plasterer bees and nest, sometimes in large colonies, in the mortar on old walls. I’m sure they will like the soft lime mortar on my walls and apparently a big colony can eventually damage the fabric of the wall. The bristly, orange-marked fly is Eriothrix rufomaculata. The adults of this species are attracted to flowers, while their larvae are parasites of moth larvae.
The Pellucid or Large Pied Hoverfly is one of the largest UK hoverflies, looking a little like a bumblebee and very fast-flying. With its white band round the body and black spots on the wings it is quite a striking insect. The adults feed on nectar from flowers, but lay their eggs in the underground nests of social wasps, like the Common or German Wasp. On hatching the larvae drop to the bottom of the wasps nest where they live on dead insects and unhatched wasp larvae, emerging as adults the following summer.
It looks like a bumble bee, but the face and antennae are not quite right; in fact it is a type of hoverfly. The Narcissus Bulb Fly (Merodon equestris, #495) is another non-native garden pest, this time a long-term one, imported (no doubt with foreign bulbs) around 200 years ago, it lays its eggs on the dying leaves of daffodils and other bulbs, where its larvae burrow down to feed on the inside of the bulb. This one was in and among my daffs. Usually there is only one larva per bulb, but as it lives in the bulb for a year it has plenty of time to eat the heart of the bulb, including the developing flower bud. The emerging adults only live for a week or two, during May/June. Its bee-like appearance is thought to be a deterrent to would-be predators.
#495 Narcissus Bulb Fly (Merodon equestris)
I found this rather smart hoverfly sheltering in the Green Alkanet around the small pond. It’s Xanthogramma pedissequum, my first new hoverfly species this year. This species is quite common in the southern part of UK, favouring shorter grass and gravel paths where its larva live in ants nests, feeding on aphids that the ants are farming there.
#477 Xanthogramma pedissequum
It’s 5-6 Centigrade, but surprisingly there are still some insects about. The first is a rather pretty mirid bug - Pantilius tunicatus (#367) - that dropped in via my window last week. Recognisable by its reddish-above, bright green-below colours, this species is a late season bug, seen mostly in September-October, that prefers hazel, alder & birch trees. Common Drone Fly (# 379, Eristalis tenax) is a species which can also be seen all year round. It’s a common enough insect, so not sure how it took me so long to record it. This one was taking advantage of midday sunshine for a bit of sunbathing on a south-facing wall. Finally this lacewing popped up out of some vegetation I was tidying. I think it’s a Common Green Lacewing (#267, Chrysoperla carnea), same as many I found during the summer (though the dark spots down the side are a bit curious). This species hibernates over the winter, changing its colour to brown so as not to be quite so conspicuous to predators.
More or less on the 2 month mark, I added a handful of species to achieve a total of 300 species in the microEden backyard. The fennel seems to be the most attractive pollen source for flies, hoverflies and wasps, The population of wasps is really taking off right now, with them all around us as soon as we sit outside for a meal.
The new species in the last couple of days include #297 common orange legionnaire fly, #298 pied hoverfly and #300 a solitary bee Ectemnius continuus. The solitary bee is a predator, digging a nest hole in wood and taking flies, etc back for its larvae - it has strong looking legs, perhaps for all that digging. On the fennel though it was more interested in the flowers than any of its fellow insects.
Passionate about nature, based in Gloucestershire UK; this site is about creating a wildlife friendly family garden and exploring the diversity of animal & plant species that share it with us.
As a nature lover and wildlife gardener I started wondering about the biodiversity in my backyard and just how many species from plants to insects to birds to mammals might live in or visit it.
Much of the wildlife in my small, village garden has been present right under my nose for years without my really appreciating it, so on the way I am learning a lot about different species and how to make a wildlife-friendly environment for them; also getting engaged more in conservation activities around Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and the Cotswolds.
My garden species tally started from zero on June 1st 2018, the target was 1000 species, which I eventually hit in June 2024. But there’s still plenty to see and learn about.
I'm very interested in your comments & advice: whether it's about the blog, some help with identification or just how to make my own little Eden better for wildlife. So please leave a comment or drop me a line if you feel like it!
Graham Tompsett
microedenproject@gmail.com
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