Hoverfly Autumn’s Joy

Hoverfly Sightings W/C 3rd November 2025

3^rd November

The week got off to an unpromising start, an overcast day with gusty winds.

Hoverflies logged:

But what a joy to see this small slender bodied wasp-waisted hoverfly amongst the Ivy in my garden, a Common Dainty Hoverfly (Baccha Elongata) sex unknown.

4^th November

A walk from my house to visit my parents, overcast with light rain. Gusty winds and clouds amassing in the distance. It suggested a downpour, but it never materialised until much later in the afternoon.

With it not raining as forecasted it allowed for a most wonderful walk, full of Nature’s Joy.

Hoverfly Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)

Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax) Size 9.75-13.0mm. Flight Mar-Nov.

Species of the week – 3^rd November.

This is a hoverfly that, as the name suggests, is common and can be spotted any month of the year. As I write this in November it is one of the few hoverflies that I can come across on a milder day, because females are known to hibernate. In Spring it is often one of the first hoverflies I see hovering in a shaft of sunlight, lekking over a dandelion flower in the hope of mating with a passing female. This hoverfly is known to dangle its legs as it hovers, so is identifiable in the air even if out of reach to see its markings. Come Autumn go to any Ivy bush in the sun and I am sure to see one of them, along with its cousin the Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax).  

Facts about Hoverflies Volume 1

Things to know about hoverflies Volume 1.

1. Hoverflies can be spotted in most habitats; wetlands, meadows, brown-field sites, woodland and their edges, hedges, parks, gardens, coastal, uplands and marshes. Hoverflies are not so good in cold areas of the planet like the poles or in very hot places like deserts, in fact none are known to exist in Antarctica.