Monday offered up an opportunity to have a wander around
the woodland and so with suitable cover I persuaded Annie to join me for some
quality grubbing in the sunshine before the weather closed back in.
What followed was the best insect walk either of us have had
this year and harked back to the distant days of Insect Afternoon walks where
we discovered, not only a wealth of invertebrate life but gained like minded
friends in Phil, Mel and Yvonne and were constantly amazed at the sharp eyes of
some of the kids who joined us including the immaculately polite Asa who was
ace at finding our first colonising Bryony Ladybirds.
It became a bit of a fly fest with a multitude of species
lounging around in sheltered sunny spots.
Almost everything would have been described as lazy or sluggish but this
made getting close with the macro bins much easier for Annie and for me without
my camera, the chance to get in with my phone and take a snap.
Blue and Green Bottles abounded and we watched one large Calliphora blowing bubbles and then re-ingesting
them. I do not think that there is a firm consensus on why they do this but it
sort of feels like they are chewing the cud!
 |
| Lucilia sp |
 |
| Calliphora vicina |
 |
| Calliphora vicina |
Amongst the Lucilia
Greenbottles were quite a few Neomyia with
the shiny green extending to the area behind the eyes and some sneaky bristle
counting suggested most seen well were Neomyia
cornicina and one was Neomyia viridescens.
 |
| Neomyia cornicina |
 |
| Neomyia cornicina |
 |
| Neomyia viridescens |
Imposing Mesembrina
meridiana – The Noon Day Fly – were seen basking and nectaring,
particularly on the Ivy and they too were seen blowing bubbles. Annie had never
seen this before and was over the moon.
 |
| Mesembrina
meridiana |
 |
| Mesembrina
meridiana |
 |
| Mesembrina
meridiana |
The Ivy was alive with the thrum of thousands of Ivy and
Honey Bees but with very few Bumbles now but there were plenty of flies too
with Volucella zonaria, Eristalis
pertinax, tenax, nemorum and intricaria,
Episyrphus balteatus, Melanostoma mellinum and Syprhus ribesii.
 |
| Ivy Bee - Colletes hedera |
 |
| Volucella zonaria |
 |
| Volucella zonaria |
 |
| Syrphus ribesii |
 |
| Melanostoma mellinum |
However, the Fly of the Day award went to a
little pointy snouted beast with yellow body patches and stripy red eyes that
appeared in front of me. I knew
instinctively what it was but with no idea of the name. Andy Reid had taken
some macro shots of what Phil Collins identified as Stomorhina lunata, the Locust Blowfly and here it was sitting in
front of us. This is a scarce autumn immigrant from Africa and Phil found the
first County record here in 2015 I think.
 |
| Stomorhina lunata |
 |
| Stomorhina lunata |
 |
| Stomorhina lunata |
 |
| Stomorhina lunata |
Over the next ten minutes we watched two
males patrolling the Old Man’s Beard and Ivy in search no doubt of non-existent
females. I would have to wait till later to dig out the name of this delightful
little fly.
The walk around the rest of the Cordite
produced many Mottled Shieldbugs and Dock Leatherbugs along with a single Box
Leatherbug and Southern Green Shieldbug instar with red and white spots.
 |
| Mottled Shieldbugs and Dock Leatherbugs |
 |
| Mottled Shieldbugs instar |
 |
| Dock Leatherbug |
 |
| Box Leatherbug |
 |
| Southern Green Shieldbug instar |
Countless Musca
autumnalis clustered on leaves and benches but the only Pollenia sp was a solitary golden haired
beauty that had no friends to actually be a Cluster Fly with. Spotty Graphomya maculata and paddy footed
Flesh Flies were skilfully avoiding the webs of the Garden Orbs and there were
more Neomyia to be found on the
inside than out while Stomoxys calcitrans
thankfully decided that neither of us was worthy of a probe that that amazing
drill bit of a drinking straw!
 |
| Graphomya maculata |
 |
| Cluster Fly - Pollenia sp |
 |
| Stable Fly - Stomoxys calcitrans |
 |
| Neomyia cornicina |
A smart little elongated silvergreen Dolichopodid
with red eyes was familiar but my pocket Phil was required to identify it as an Argyra sp.
 |
| Argyra sp. |
Tachina fera were still to be found although they were looking a little faded but I did find another super spiky Tachinid that Phil identified for me as Voria ruralis which would be new to me (not that I have a fly list you understand...).
 |
| Tachina fera |
 |
| Voria ruralis |
 |
| Voria ruralis |
 |
| Voria ruralis |
A third Tachinid looks like a Linnaemya but my picture is probably not good enough to go to species.
 |
Linnaemya sp
|
Two Spotted Flycatchers patrolled the
Elders for higher flying insects and were scornfully glared at by Annie and surreptitiously
admired by me.
Dark Bush Crickets were leisurely slumped
across Bramble leaves often with legs at jaunty angles to catch the warmth of
the sun and Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters were still hunting although most
were showing signs of wear and tear.
 |
| Dark Bush Cricket - female |
 |
| Dark Bush Cricket - male |
 |
| Dark Bush Cricket - female |
 |
| Migrant Hawker |
 |
| Migrant Hawker |
The time had whizzed by and a radio call
sent us back to the ranch passing more of the same on the way back out but with
the addition an aggressive Devil's Coach Horse Beetle and a rather speedy Millipede along with a rather gravid hoverfly that I am pretty sure was Dasysyrphus tricinctus which was also new to me (and yes I do have a Hoverfly
list... but that is different from having a full fly list...honest).
 |
| Devil's Coach Horse |
 |
| Dasysyrphus tricinctus |
I had taken nearly 100 photos on my phone and sorting would
take a little while but it was good to be out among the smaller life forms
around us in the late autumn air. Hopefully that will not be the last the
season has to offer.
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