| Key to the list at the end of each section: | |
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Black - Bio Blitz 2015 not photographed |
Blue - Bio Blitz 2015 photographed |
Red - photographed & identified by Volunteers |
Green - from NatureSpot |
All pictures are taken on the reserve. |
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Hover over the following pictures to enlarge |
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Hoverflies
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Hoverflies, sometimes called 'flower flies' or 'syrphid flies', are the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or sucking nectar at flowers. The adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while the larvae (maggots) eat a wide range of foods. |
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Drone Fly - Eristalis tenax John F Oct 2016 The larva of the Drone Fly is a rat-tailed maggot. It lives in drainage ditches, pools around manure piles, sewage, and similar places containing water badly polluted with organic matter. The larva likely feeds on the abundant bacteria living in these places. The adult fly that emerges from the pupa is harmless. It looks somewhat like a drone honey bee, and likely gains some degree of protection from this resemblance to a stinging insect. The adults are called drone flies because of this resemblance. Like other hover flies, they are common visitors to flowers, especially in late summer and autumn, and can be significant pollinators. |
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Hornet Mimic Hoverfly - Volucella zonaria John F July 2017 At almost 2cm long the Hornet Mimic Hoverfly (also known as the 'Belted Hoverfly') is the largest in Britain. As its name suggests, this fly is an excellent mimic of the Hornet but is harmless. Only a very rare visitor to the country up to the 1940s, in recent years it has become more common in southern England and is still spreading northwards, perhaps as a result of the warmer climate. The adults are migratory and the larvae live inside wasp's nests. |
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Hoverfly - Eupeodes latifasciatus John F Sept 2016 A species of varying abundance in the UK, some years being quite common, then almost disappearing the next. Females usually have the markings on the abdomen fused to form moustached bands. These bands run nearly parallel with the front edge of the tergite particularly on tergite 3. The yellow never reaches the lateral edges of the tergites. The frons is equally black and yellow, with no forward extension. Males tend to have spectacle shaped markings and the occiput (grey band on back of eyes) does not taper as significantly as in other species towards the top. |
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Hoverfly - Myathropa florea John F Sept 2016 This is the most abundant and least choosy of the hoverflies associated with decaying wood. The larvae, which are of the ‘long-tailed’, aquatic type, occur in any situation where wet wood debris are present, such as water-filled hollows containing decaying leaf and wood detritus, and decaying roots deep underground. They can also develop in cow-dung. They will readily use artificial breeding sites consisting of containers of water mixed with rotted sawdust or woodland litter. Adults disperse widely and visit a variety of flowers. Males hover in the canopy, making a loud high pitched buzz. They are often seen in gardens |
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Hoverfly - Sphaerophoria scripta John Ellis The female has the body of the typical hover fly: long, broadened somewhere near the middle and ending conically. The markings, yellow stripes on a black backgroud, are typical of hover flies. It is very difficult to tell apart females of the various species in this genus, for they all do look like one another very much. Even microscopic research doesn't always provide you woth the correct answer. In this case though, we are certain the female is a S. scripta The male looks very different: it has a long, slim, stick like body, ending suddenly without tipped end. I think this is a picture of the male of S. scripta, in spite of the very intens yellow markings. The males of this species have a body that protrudes from under the wings, for it is longer. The males are very variable in markings. |
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Hoverfly - Syrphus ribesii John Ellis 2020 This is a very common Holarctic species of hoverfly. Its larvae feed on aphids. In common with many other species of hoverfly, males have the eyes meeting on the top of the head, whilst females have their eyes widely separated. Adults are very similar in appearance to Syrphus vitripennis and Syrphus torvus. Females may be distinguished by the former having entirely yellow femora, and from the latter by having no hairs present in their eyes. Males also have bare eyes, unlike S. torvus, but are extremely similar to S. vitripennis, differing only in having some black hairs present on the hind femur and in having the second basal cell of the wing entirely covered by microtrichia. |
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Hoverfly (male) - Syrphus torvus John F Sept 2016 A medium-sized hoverfly that somewhat resembles a wasp, with adults measuring 10 to 13 mm. The head is broad and the large brown compound eyes have hairy surfaces, more obvious in males than females. The eyes are nearly touching in males but are more widely separated in females. The face and short antennae are yellow. The thorax is black, the legs yellow and black, and the single pair of wings is translucent with dark veining. The abdomen is oblong and slightly flattened. It is fringed with short yellow hairs and striped in yellow and black, the first yellow stripe being divided by a central black bar. |
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Marmalade hoverfly - Episyrphus balteatus John F Oct 2016 The Marmalade Fly is very common hoverfly. Adults are on the wing right through the year, although in largest numbers in the summer. They feed on nectar, often gathering in very large numbers on flowers like tansy, ragwort and cow parsley. The larvae are predators of aphids. As well as being a common breeding fly, in some years, huge numbers migrate here from the continent when they can be seen busily feeding on flowers near the coast. The Marmalade Fly is our commonest and most familiar hoverfly, easily identifiable by the orange body with thick and thin black bands across it. |
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Striped Hoverfly - Helophilus pendulus John F Oct 2016 It has black and yellow longitudinal stripes on the upper surface of its thorax. The abdomen is patterned with yellow, black and grey, and for this reason it is sometimes called the footballer. It has a black central face-stripe and a wing-length of 8.5 - 11.25 mm. It is associated with a wide variety of water bodies, from large lakes and rivers down to areas as small as ditches, small ponds or even muddy puddles. Larvae have even been found in cow-dung, very wet manure or very wet old sawdust. This species visits flowers; it also commonly rests on leaves. It often emits a buzzing sound when resting. It is a notable wanderer and can be found well away from water. The larvae feed on detritus. There is another similiar looking Helophilus - Helophilus trivittatus - even though they are look alikes, you can tell them apart by close visual examination. The Striped Hoverfly is slightly smaller and the markings on the second abdominal segment are darker, even with shades of orange. The stripes on the third segment are used to tell them apart. In the Striped Hoverfly the lines never meet in the middle. There is a clear black spot separating them. In H. trivittatus however the lines (almost) meet in the middle. The bottom picture - NOT SURE which one. |
| Bio Blitz ------ 26-06-2015 blue & black Drone Fly - Eristalis tenax Hornet Mimic Hoverfly - Volucella zonaria Hoverfly - Eupeodes latifasciatus Hoverfly - Heliophilus pendulas Hoverfly - Myathropa florea Hoverfly - Sphaerophoria scripta Hoverfly - Syrphus ribesii Hoverfly (male) - Syrphus torvus Marmalade hoverfly - Episyrphus balteatus Migrant Hoverfly - Eupeodes corollae Pellucid Fly - Volucella pellucens Striped Hoverfly - Heliophilus pendulas |