Hoverflies, Silkstone Waggonway, & Local sightings.
I love it when I can find nature right on my doorstep, it’s even better when it’s in one's own garden. The Dandelions are in full bloom and the Garlic Mustard also known as Jack by the Hedge is just coming into flower ready for any passing Orange Tips.
But what other wonders and nature’s joy have I seen this week.
Hoverflies
It's been a wonderful week for spotting hoverflies, many firsts for the year.
These include – Stripe-backed Fleckwing (Dasysyrphus albostriatus), Chequered (Melanstoma scalare), Thistle Blacklet (Cheilosia promixa), Common dainty (Baccha elongata), Clear-winged Flowerfly (Syrphus vitripennis), Batman (Myathropa florea), Orange-belted Leafwalker (Xylota segnis) and Ringed Beech (Fagisyrphus cincta) – that’s 8 new species for the year.
I have put a diagram together to show some of the main features for most of the new species seen. I don’t have a photograph of the Thistle Blacklet, so this is missing from the montage. If anyone has a picture they would like to donate to the cause please drop me a line, I would be happy to include it in any future works.
In total I have spotted 18 species this week. My only disappointment was this list did not include the Ransoms Hoverfly (Portevinia maculata) – which had been spotted and recorded in previous visits to Silkstone Waggonway. It could have been a week or two too early so another visit will no doubt be on the cards soon. I shall post here if future quests are successful.
The ever-changing names of Ringed Beech Hoverfly (Fagisyrphus cincta):
Open any book on hoverflies and you will probably find that this species has hopped and jumped from family to family over the years – It was originally in Scaeva (with the hockey sticks flies 1817) then it jumped over to Syrphus with the flower flies, even given a different name of Syrphus placidus (1822). It was later classified into the Melangyna family with the Spot-tails whilst some put it in Meligramma with the Roundtails, before finally establishing itself in the genus Fagisyrphus by Duse & Laska in 1967.It all sounds like a ‘dynastic struggle’ if this was any historical text - in the end the hoverfly claimed independence, establishing its own genus – well done little hoverfly.
The last two published books on hoverflies: A Photographic Guide to Flies of Britain & Ireland and Hoverflies of Britain and North-West Europe a Photographic guide both have it in the Fagisyrphus genus, so let’s leave it there for now until the next revolution at least.
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| Ringed Beech Hoverfly (Fagisyrphus cincta) |
Local Sightings
My local walks have turned up one or two surprises the first being a morel, a type of fungi. I have looked far and wide for a morel over the years, found plenty of false morels i.e the White Saddle (Helvella crispa), but it is not a true morel. (I always thought it was moral, but that is something entirely different lol). Then a member from the Barnsley Naturalist spotted one on her recce for the visit to Adwick Washlands trip. Well, I could have rushed down there to see it, but I am not one of those ‘fungi chasers’ or mycophiles, so I was hoping it might be there when the day came to visit, but it wasn’t. Then on a walk from the shops, I noticed just on the Trans Pennine Trail a morel. Well, Well, Well I thought. I could not believe it, there was not just one but several, something I have never seen before, having walked that same route back from the shops at least weekly in the last 10 years.The moral of that story is being aware of what other people spot on their nature walks can really focus your attention to look for it too. If you know it’s around and can find the locality where it might be favourable, there is a good chance you might come across it, as was the case here.
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| Semifree morel (Morcella semilibera) |
The next sightings that brought me joy were ladybirds. There have been so many 7-spot and Harlequin ladybirds this spring that it's difficult to find anything else. I am positive I have spotted all 99 varieties of Harlequins, even though the sheer volume of 7-spot seen suggest they were more common, apart from under Scyamore trees. The first ladybird not a Harlequin or 7-spot was in my garden, a 2-spot ladybird (Adalia bipunctata). Then on a walk beyond the garden gate, I came across not one, but two Cream-spot (Calvia quatturodecimguttata) in totally different localities. Finally, the other day I noticed a 14-spot (Propylea quatturodecimpunctata) black on yellow ladybird. All three are quite common but they were nice additions to the species count for the year.
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| Cream-spot (Calvia quatturodecimguttata) & 2-spot ladybird (Adalia bipunctata) |
It has also been a good week for spotting bugs. I spotted an eruption of Dock bugs (Coreus marginatus) on a walk along the TPT into Barnsley. This was a rarity in these parts until the last 10 years when people started to notice them more regularly, one of the first appearance being in a garden in Pitsmoor, Sheffield. There must have been about 50+ all in and around a patch of docks and bramble. Here are just 4 on one dock leaf.
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| Dock bugs (Coreus marginatus) |
But the sighting of the morning from a bug perspective was the Parent Bug (Elasmucha grisea). This has often been spotted at RSPB Old Moor Nature Reserve, but we were 6 miles from there, so a pleasant surprise to see it here. One interesting fact about this bug is that as its namesake suggests it’s a bug that looks after it own eggs and hatchlings, until at least after their first moult. Here’s a picture below of the proud parent looking after the eggs in July at Old Moor last year.
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| Parent Bug (Elasmucha grisea). Credit: K.Hinchcliffe |
Silkstone Waggonway
Out with the British Naturalists is always a joy, the people are friendly and there are more eyes to spot things. We started from the Pot House Hamlet where we would all end up for coffee and cake a couple of hours later. As this natural history group has evolved, we have all brought or generated our own interests, be it flowers, trees, insects, birds, and are often flanked by our expert photographers. In total we saw 83 species probably even more, but I was often not in earshot of some of the callouts. If anyone reading this from the BNA S.Yorkshire group and did notice anything else that I missed, please drop me a line through What’s App.I have put a video from one of the members of a Hairy-eyed flower fly (Syrphus torvus). As hopefully you will notice it is dabbing up the moisture and salts on my finger. Once it had warmed up and had its drink if flew off to enjoy the rest of its day, which we all did. Those of you interested in the morphology might have read my article ‘Hoverfly heads under the lens’ where I discuss in more depth the mouthparts of a hoverfly in comparison with a bee, check it out if you haven’t seen it.
Below are the list of sightings for the BNA visit to Silkstone Waggonway.
For those who are following my total species count it now stands at 324 for the year, up 39 from last week.
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