HoverflySpotter Feb 26 Sightings - Hotspot Found

HoverflySpotter sightings - hotspot found

Last week after going to see H is for Hawk at the local independent cinema, a film I highly recommend, I passed a Cherry Plum (Prunus cerusifera), a tree in full blossom. The sun was out and it was a warm day, surely, I couldn’t fail not to see a hoverfly, could I?

If I did spot a hoverfly it would be the first of the year.

There was nothing special about this Cherry Plum, its location was next to a busy through road. It was the start of the Trans Pennine Trail out of Barnsley and there were a few houses around. I had up to this point, over several days, scouted most of my local area for trees in blossom and have since found other Blackthorns and Cherry Plum trees in the vicinity but no hoverflies were to be spotted.

So did I succeed with this one tree…..

First how do you know it’s a Cherry Plum tree not a Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa). 

• The most obvious observation is if the branches have many sharp thorns, which Blackthorn, as its name implies certainly does. A Cherry Plum can have some thorns, especially on inner branches, or none at all. 

• Cherry Plum usually flowers first of the two trees, although location is key so not always a certainty. 

• The sepals on the back of the Cherry Plum flower are folded back, as in the diagram below, Blackthorn lay flat along the back of the petals

• New growth on the twigs - green in Cherry Plum, yet hairy and blackish grey on the Blackthorn.

This early emergence of blossom is vital to any overwintering pollinators or newly emerged bees, flowers being scarce at this time of year. Hoverflies also have very short tongues and therefore struggle with early flowers such as snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils.

So, this was the perfect spot to see hoverflies ….. 🔥 Hoverfly hotspot found 🔥 …. Yippee. I have since been back to find further pollinators on this tree and unfortunately only a very few bumblebees were found, which suggest it’s been too cold and too windy.

The hoverflies spotted:

Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax) – as seen in the photograph the back leg is curved resembling the pollen sacs of a honeybee, it has a loop in the wing, orange markings you can just about see on the abdomen, furry thorax with dark yellow scutellum and totally black legs. You can’t see the face for its wide black medial stripe and the photograph is not good enough to see the two vertical lines of hairs on its eyes, I even struggle with that even in the pot for identification.

Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax) – as seen in the photograph the front and middle legs are pale not dark as in E.tenax. Similar markings on the abdomen as Common Drone, but these can be a variable. Same loop in the wing, black scutellum and slightly hairy thorax. Tapered abdomen from which it gets its name. It would have had a thin black medial stripe on the face.

Hairy-eyed Banded (Syrphus torvus) – it’s called the spring Syprhus as it emerges typically before Common Banded (S.ribesii) and Glass-winged Banded (S.vitripennis). These are quite different from the hoverflies above with its yellow bands on the abdomen and a split band near the yellow scutellum. No loop in the wing and shiny black thorax. Hairs on the eyes are also distinguish it from other syrphus, but not something you can see in the photograph.

Spring Spot-tail Hoverfly (Melangyna lasiophthalma) – from the photograph you can just about make out the yellow and black scutellum, shiny thorax and thin white-yellow spots on the abdomen that don’t join in the middle. I don’t often see this species so had to really try to get all the features of it before its release, especially the black medial stripe down a white-yellow face and the scutellum being black down the sides. The reason for lack of sightings is that it has a very short season, Mar-Apr and rarely seen after early June.

So, no not 1… not 2…. not 3…. But 4 species of hoverfly, how delighted was I!

But do you notice anything, they all have in common?

That is correct - they are all female as indicated by the gapping between the eyes – indicating these are overwintering hoverflies most likely, choosing not to head south and migrate in the autumn. To read an article abut Hoverflies and migration click here

The Other Pollinators Spotted:

Whilst I was spotting hoverflies my partner was totting up the bees on the same tree, she found 6 species - Buff Tailed (Bombus terrestris), Tree (Bombus hypnorum) , Early (Bombus pratorum) , Garden (Bombus hortorum) queens, Honeybee (Apis mellifera) and surprisingly, a female Hairy Footed (Anthropora plumipes),. Not that it’s a competition but at this time of year she often finds more bees than I find hoverflies.

Honeybee (Apis mellifera)  Calliphora sp, Garden Bumblebee (B.hortorum)

Also, hunting around the tree was an Ichneumon stramentor a parasitic wasp hunting for Large Yellow Underwing and Setaceous Hebrew Character larvae.

What a fabulous tree/bush this was to find all these pollinators. As I write this article its wet and windy outside so no hoverflies for a few days if the weather forecast is correct. Let me know in the comments below if you find any please.