Asian Fruit Flies

These tiny fruit flies appeared on a coconut shell I hung out for the birds. When I was a kid we sometimes put these out for the blue tits, but it seems “Generation Alpha” garden birds prefer sunflower hearts and fat balls, as the coconut is not getting much interest. Anyhow checking the flies, they are Spotted Wing Drosophila (Drosophila melanogaster), which is an Asian species that was first recording only in UK in 2012. These are not becoming (yet another) imported garden pest as these fruit flies do not just go for rotten or blemished fruit, but the female cuts into health fruit to lay its eggs, with the larvae then eating the fruit from the inside. The flies go for cultivated soft fruits, but can also be found in wild hedgerow blackberries and sloes. I tend to think that my fruit flies probably came from the coconut itself, but maybe not and they are from an established wild population.

#713 Spotted Wing Drosophila (Drosophila melanogaster)