Hoverfly Spotter May 26 Sightings – part 2

Freiston, Frampton & Fen-Flies

Last weekend marked a significant birthday for my better half, celebrated with a visit to Boston and the surrounding fenland—now long since drained. Historically, this landscape was very different, so our trip became something of a whistle-stop tour, exploring villages of personal significance where her family once lived.

As my partner shares my love of wildlife, you’ll be pleased to hear this isn’t an article about family history, but rather a reflection on some of the natural history we encountered along the way, including visits to Freiston Shore and Frampton Marsh.

Freiston Shore

We visited this reserve twice over the weekend, and I absolutely love the sense of space it offers. It really looks as though the RSPB have invested in the site since my last visit a few years ago. Back then, it felt like a remote spot, tucked away along winding country roads.

This time, however, the car park appeared to have been recently resurfaced, and there was even a newly built toilet block, with plumbing work still in progress. A notice mentioned it would be ready by mid May, yet here we were and it wasn’t, so I was rather glad I hadn’t had too much to drink on the journey down.

As you follow the central path down towards the shore, lined with hedges on both sides, I remembered a viewpoint on the right overlooking an area of wild grassland. This time, we climbed the steps up the embankment and were met with the unexpected sight of a sign asking, “Where’s the grass gone?”

In place of the grassland was a large open scrape, now home to a wide variety of wading and nesting birds. Around the edges of the scrape stood several new wooden hides, appearing to form what could become a new visitor centre.

If anyone visits this site regularly, I’d be interested to know if that’s correct—do let me know in the comments below. I’m certainly looking forward to returning in the coming years to see how it develops.

Highlights from the two visits.

Unfortunately, it was mainly birds spotted, a little too cold for insects, so no hoverflies were caught or spotted, certainly no hoverfly hotspot on this occasion.
There were plenty of Avocets, most nesting in shallow depressions on islands which, I assume, don’t flood easily. Brent Geese were also present in good numbers, gathering before their long journey back to Siberia for the summer breeding season.

A Common Sandpiper darted along the edges of the muddy banks as we watched from the large hide which was open. Then, quite suddenly, a bird unmistakably announced itself with a clear “cuck oo” — not the only time we would hear that familiar call over the course of the weekend.

There were also a few Little Ringed Plovers, a species I used to see often at our local reserves but haven’t spotted for a while now. However, my favourite sighting of the visit had to be the elegant, graceful terns. It was difficult to identify which species it might be without a scope, as they were quite a distance from the hide, but I felt confident they were Common Terns (Sterna hirundo).

On our second visit, we were lucky enough to spot a fox carrying what looked like its brunch as we walked along the far left path around the pools. It seemed uncertain what to do at first, but when someone approached from behind us with their dogs on leads, it quickly darted off into the undergrowth along the bank. From where we stood, it wasn’t entirely clear what it was carrying, though I suspect it may have been a vole.

However, the highlight of the day on this second visit was a Red breasted Merganser. It was likely an immature bird, as it didn’t appear to be nesting and was instead contentedly fishing, with no sign of a male nearby suggesting a breeding pair.

If you are visiting the area I would also highly recommend the ‘We’ll Meet Again’ museum - Wartime History brought to life, it was right next to the reserve. https://www.wma-ww2museum.co.uk. They are having their annual Battle of Britain event 29th-31st May 2026, if you’re looking for something to do.

Frampton Marsh

I’ve visited this reserve several times over the past few years, usually with the RSPB Sheffield group but occasionally on my own, so I know it fairly well. On arrival—like at most RSPB reserves—I tend to head straight for the visitor centre to find out what’s about.

We’d already heard a Cuckoo from the car park, and as someone passed us on their way in, they kindly mentioned that there were four on site. What a treat.

The visitor centre listed several species I would have loved to see, but even when their last known locations are marked on a map, they rarely seem to be in exactly the same spot in my experience. That said, we did manage to see the solitary Spoonbill, and I was pleased to spot a Common Sandpiper as well. Unfortunately, we missed out on the Curlew Sandpiper, Bearded Tits, Little Stint and Temminck’s Stint — the latter would have been what’s known in the birding world as a “lifer”. Still, there’s always next time.

What we did see, however, were Water Voles in the pools near the visitor centre. These were particularly good sightings — what I suspect were adults rather than the recently born pups. One sat just a metre away, calmly munching on nettles at the edge of the pond. Even though I tried to stay as quiet as possible, it eventually slipped beneath the surface, no doubt swimming off to enjoy its meal in peace.

Photo by Jonathan Ridley on Unsplash

Other Highlights from the visit include:

A Brown Hare appearing on the path not far from the Water Voles, adding to the variety of sightings. Nearby, Black tailed Godwits probed the mud for food, while overhead the familiar calls of Swifts filled the air — just wonderful. There were also some fascinating smaller finds, including a striking Brown tail moth caterpillar, a solitary bee, and a tiny Glyphipterix micro moth (see photographs below).

If anyone can get to species level on the micro-moth or solitary bee do please let me know.

Hoverflies Spotted

Freiston seemed almost devoid of hoverflies on both visits — I didn’t spot any along the hedgerows or out on the shoreline. Perhaps the exposed nature of the site, combined with the cool, breezy conditions, meant they were keeping low and out of sight.

Frampton, however, was a different story. Along the paths near the vole pools, clusters of buttercups with their bright yellow petals offered an irresistible draw for pollinators. A group of hoverflies known as the “fen flies”, from the genus Neoascia, are often associated with habitats like this, and the conditions felt just right for encountering them.

Spotting these tiny hoverflies in the field is often a matter of chance, and—as so often happens—it was right at the end of a long day following an already packed weekend. At just 3–6 mm in length, they are incredibly tiny, and I wasn’t able to capture any photographs worth sharing, so you’ll have to make do with my sketches instead.   

Neoascia are ‘minute black hoverflies’, rarely exceeding 6 mm in length—about the width of a pencil—so they are easily overlooked. In the UK there are six species, with around eleven recorded across Europe and roughly thirty recognised worldwide.

Females are distinctly wasp waisted with swollen, bulbous abdomens, while males tend to appear more slender. Unlike many other hoverflies, the eyes are separated in both sexes, which can make sexing individuals in the field rather tricky.

With the aid of a hand lens, however, useful field characters become apparent: the swollen hind femur, legs patterned in yellow and black, and subtle dark markings on the wings. Coupled with the variable yellow markings on the abdomen, these features often allow careful observers to identify individuals to species level, even outdoors.

Larvae are typically associated with decaying vegetation in wet habitats such as pond margins, although I have yet to encounter them myself. A project for another occasion.

These Neoascia are both new additions to my life list having previously found Black-kneed (N.tenur) and Smudge-veined (N.podagrica) at Potteric Carr. So, I have only two more to find to get all six UK species- Butterbur hoverfly (N.obliqua) and the Short-horned (N.geniculata) being the missing pair. How delighted was I, especially considering it was forecasting thundery showers, which nearly put us off even coming. It just goes to show that hoverflies can turn up in the most unexpected places. 

The previous day I took a short wander around the hotel grounds and, among the shrubs, found several species—including my first Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) of the year, which was a particularly pleasant surprise, having not seen one all year.  

Also present were Striped-backed Fleckwing (Dasysyrphus albostriatus), Spring Smoothtail (Epistrophe eligans), Batman Hoverfly (Myathropa florea) and Humming Flowerfly (Syrphus ribesii) —a very respectable list for just 30 minutes, and entirely unanticipated.

Then again, perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised. The night before, I’d heard both a male and female Tawny Owl calling and even spotted a Hedgehog scurrying past beneath the bedroom window.

In total for the visit, we saw 105 species across the weekend.

For those who are following my total species count for the year it now stands at 454, up 42 from the previous article Hoverfly Spotter May 26 Sightings – part 1.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post and for all the support you’ve shown—it really means a lot. If you’ve enjoyed following along, please consider giving me a like or subscribing so you don’t miss future adventures. You can also buy me a coffee to help keep me fuelled on my travels!

If you’re interested in offering further support or sponsorship, feel free to drop me a message. All my posts are free and I’d love to keep them that way, so donations are always greatly appreciated.