HoverflySpotter Mar 26 Sightings – part 2

Bagworms, BugSnug, Didymodons & Hoverflies part 2

Welcome back to spring everyone🌸 🌼 🌷🌱🦋 🌞

If you haven’t read part 1 where I spot Bagworms and build a BugSnug then please click here

Bush full of flies

On the sunniest day of the week, I decided to go to Wentworth Woodhouse, with the hope of spotting a few pollinators. There were plenty of birds, Jackdaws, Crows, and Rooks on the large lawns, whilst Red Kites and Buzzards were circling overhead. I even heard a Little Owl which although I didn’t see it, I suspect it might have been in one of the holes in the wall. Along the glades were plenty of butterflies Brimstone, Peacock, and several Commas. As with most shrubbery at the moment, they were covered with 7 Spot and Harlequin ladybirds, so seeing a 10 spotted ladybird was a welcome new record to ladybird sightings for the year.

A Japanese Skimmia as I entered the grounds was covered in pollinators, mainly flies, with a few bees. I knew I should have brought my new book Flies of Britain and Ireland, but unfortunately, I hadn’t. 

The Bush was full of these tiny flies no more that 4mm in length, which under hand lens magnification resembled grass flies with their stripey green and black thorax. I took a few photographs of some of the flies I captured. Lesser House fly (Fannia canincularis), and several Face flies (Musca autumnalis) were later identified with my new book. There would have been others but with no book or good photographs taken, identifications would have been best guesses. There were a few Buff-tailed queens, Early Mining bees present on the same bush, even a hoverfly Hairy Eyed Syrphus (Syrphus torvus) the only hoverfly spotted that day. So happy boy, especially after blueberry cake and coffee in the café.

A walk along the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT)

I often walk along the Trans Pennine Trail as it gives me a chance to see what is potentially around. There were on this occasion even people stopping and taking an interest in wildlife which is always nice to see and can often start a conversation. A guy was taking a picture of a little Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) which I think might have winded itself as it landed not far from his feet. Then there was also a couple of foragers picking Nettles – on enquiring he said it was for his hair, but when he lifted his cap, he was bald so not sure about that. I spotted my first Speckled Wood (Parage aegeria) of the year which was super and with my new Flies guide still at home (I will remember to take it out at some point) I might have spotted an Intruding Cluster Fly (Pollenia rudis). It was not a great picture so I cannot confirm my identification, maybe I will find another one soon. Also sitting in their sandy bank burrows were a small colony of Clarke’s Mining bee (Andrena clarkella) with associated Nomad bee (Nomada leucophthalma) in attendance close by. 

The Toothwort is getting longer see the rows of teeth it has now. I wrote about those in a previous sightings blog, please click on the link to read more about this parasitic non-photosynthetic plant.

Didymodons

In my field meeting last week, see article ‘From Ruins to Roofs’ amongst all the typical wall mosses I noticed there were some spiral shaped non-sporophyte ones. When studying bryophytes, I always try and pick a small area, as you can get overwhelmed with too many specimens which then just sit there drying out never to be identified. 

So, this year it was the turn of the walls at Monk Bretton Priory. In my sightings I recorded the typical wall species of Hedgehog (Grimmia pulvinta), Wall Screw (Tortula muralis), Pear-drop (Bryum capillare), Anomalous Bristle (Orthotrichum anomalum) and Thickpoint Grimmia (Schistidium crassipulum) but there were these spiral shaped mosses with their brown/green and yellow colours. 

I suspected they might be a challenge.

I like a challenge. 

I decided it was probably Didymodon, previously known as Barbula. 

Luckily, I found these two articles by Sharon Pilkington – British Bryological Society - so any spare time I had last week and this went into studying what I have found to be a rather difficult family of mosses. 

FB104_Confusing-urban-mosses-part-1-ground-dwellers.pdf

FB105_Confusing-urban-mosses-part-2.pdf

I had previously been told on a field study course to stay away from Barbula species.

Hmmmm……I can understand why, they are hard.

Species 1

Long leaves, recurved along part of leaf, single apical cell at tip, gemmae (a single cell, or a mass of cells, or a modified bud of tissue, that detaches from the parent and develops into a new individual) were found amongst the leaves.

Species 2

Tufts leaf with tops green, red below, long tapering leaves, recurved at the edges of the leaf along its length, red stemmed along midrib, single apical leaf. The peristome which I didn’t find would have been reddish brown, with a slightly curved lid (calyptra), If the peristome teeth were showing these would have been curled and twisted not unlike the Wall Screw moss (Tortula muralis), but with a pale-yellow brush whereas in Wall-Screw they are white. 

The contenders are:

Soft-tufted Beard-moss (Didymodon vinealis), Cylindric Beard-moss (Didymodon insulanus), 
Red Beard moss (Bryoerthrophyllum recurvirostrum) or False Beard-moss (Didymodon fallax)

To finish the week off I spotted my first hovering males of Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax). I knew they were tapered as their back legs were thin not curved and they had a tapered abdomen. I knew they were males because they often do this hovering at head height awaiting from a female to pass on by and will come settle on an out-stretched hand to rest. As one of my subscriber’s mentioned on one of her posts ‘we’re back in business.’ 

That brings the species list of the local area to be 217 for the year so far and its only just beginning.

So, what were species 1 and 2 above…..if you have any thoughts please do let me know.