Hoverfly Spotter Aug26 Sightings

Hedgehogs, Hoverflies, Moths & Bats.

It has been a while since I have written a sightings article and for good reason. First came the Commonwealth Games followed shortly after by the European Athletics Championships. Then came the fourth, fifth and sixth heatwaves. In fact, there have been so many this year I have lost count.

All these events have drawn me indoors. I do not cope well with the heat and much like my hoverflies, I retreat to sheltered corners whenever it gets too hot.

Now the conditions have returned to something approaching normal for the time of year, I am back on the trail, hoping to spot and record my 1000th species of the year.

I was curious to discover what remains after such a baking hot summer.

How have the plants fared?

Have the insects been able to find enough food and nectar to survive?

Join me as I venture back out into the wild, starting with my garden then heading beyond the garden gate, to explore how nature has coped with the recent drought and intense heat. Along the way, we’ll see which species have thrived, which have struggled, and which seem to have disappeared altogether.

Credit: K.Hinchcliffe

Notable Garden Additions.

Hedgehog returned:

A male hedgehog returned to my garden on the 28th of July, just after my last sightings post. It was wonderful to see one again after a long absence. He has probably visited many times over the last few years, but without leaving any obvious signs of his presence, he had gone unnoticed.

Knowing the hedgehog had returned, I started putting out food, fresh water and my camera trap. Initially, he only visited every couple of nights, but once he realised food was available on a nightly basis he came back every night.

Male hedgehogs can travel between one and one-and-a-half miles each night, so it was encouraging to see him spending so much time in the garden. One evening, just as dusk was falling, my partner spotted him crossing from the opposite garden. His route appeared to lead directly from the nearby Trans Pennine Trail, where I suspect he finds plenty of undisturbed shelter during the day.

Moth Trapping

I put the moth trap out on two occasions: once on a reasonably warm night at the end of July and again on a much cooler night more recently.

The warmer night attracted a good number of micro-moths, most notably Small Mottled Willow (Spodoptera exigua) a fairly common species but new to the garden. Another notable catch was Mugwort Plume (Hellinsia lienigianus) which I didn’t manage to photograph. According to Nature Biodiversity Network (NBN) it is quite uncommon or under-recorded.

The cooler night produced fewer micro-moths, but it was pleasing to see several macro-moth species instead. These included Common Rustic (Mesapamea secalis), Vine’s Rustic (Hoplodrina ambigua), which was new for the garden, and Flounced Rustic (Luperina testacea). There were also several Yellow Underwing species, a Pale Mottled Willow (Paradrina clavipalpis), which seems to have been particularly abundant this year, and a striking Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa).

We also trapped a caddisfly, which I identified as Limnephilus flavicornis, a species with no common name yet. If the identification is accepted, it will represent a new garden record.

Vine’s Rustic, Limnephilus flavicornis and Flounced Rustic

Despite collecting all the grey water from showers and household use, the plants in the garden are still looking a little frazzled. Still, every little helps.

Two plants that have coped remarkably well with the heat and drought are the fennel and the buddleia. We gave the buddleia a Chelsea Chop in late June and have since been rewarded. It has regrown vigorously and flowered just as most of the buddleias in the area have passed their best.

As a result, it has become a magnet for insects. The blooms have been awash with Red Admirals and hoverflies, including Lesser Hornet Plumehorn (Volucella inanis) and Greater Hornet Plumehorn (Volucella zonaria), as well as the occasional Humming-bird Hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum).

Beyond the Garden Gate.

Minty hotspot:

Since getting up from the sofa, I have been searching for a suitable location for a walk at the start of September that might prove interesting entomologically for a group of keen naturalists. Unfortunately, the places recce’d so far have either been burnt or are impassable without a machete.

One such site lies along the River Dearne near Monk Bretton, South Yorkshire, not far from the priory. After fighting our way through the bracken towering above head height and hacking through the overgrown brambles, we found our way through to what is normally a boggy area, full of water plants. It is an overflow to the Dearne, but we quickly decided it was totally unsuitable to bring a group. There was however a lovely stand of Water Mint (Mentha aquatica) attracting all kinds of pollinators, butterflies, bees and hoverflies. Finally, a hotspot located, a rarity at the moment.

The first insects to catch my attention were several species of Eristalis hoverfly, accompanied by Long (Sphaerophoria spp) and Marmalade (Episyrphus balteatus). But the Eristalis were grabbing my attention, one I was hoping to find and not currently in my records is the Levels Dronefly (Eristalis abusiva). It is a small hoverfly which can be easily confused with the much more common Plain-faced Dronefly (Eristalis arbustorum).

Eristalis hoverflies have abdominal patterns that could be considered outlines of household objects such as the chalice, hourglass and candlestick. From an identification perspective, however these markings can be misleading, with some species exhibiting one, two or even all three of these designs. It is therefore more helpful to examine the wing, particularly the stigma and the presence or absence of any surrounding dark patterning, along with the face and the thickness, or absence, of the central stripe.

However, to be certain of Levels Dronefly, which is mainly a coastal species occasionally recorded inland, you need to look for some more specific features. According to S. Ball and R. Morris the antennae should have short arista hairs rather than long and the mid tibia should be entirely yellow, lacking the black tip often present at the knee joint. Unfortunately, I did not see any such distinctive characteristics in the field, so I will have to try my luck at the coast next month.

What fascinated me most was how the hoverflies seemed to know it was about to rain. One by one, they flew into the Water Mint and sheltered beneath the leaves moments before the downpour arrived. I became so engrossed in watching them do this that I forgot to seek shelter myself.

As you have probably guessed, I ended up completely soaked to the skin. Not even a stand of Weeping Willow, which I managed to reach before the heaviest part of the cloudburst, offered much protection. Still, there was a silver lining. After the thunderstorm had passed, the hoverflies re-emerged, allowing me to capture some good photographs before continuing on my way.

Onto the two outings with naturalist groups that were much drier affairs.

Barnsley Naturalist - Bat Evening

Now the nights are drawing in, dusk is at a reasonable 9pm and shortly after the bats were starting to emerge from their roosts. So, a group of us assembled in the Dearne Valley Country Park with bat detectors at the ready.

We weren’t disappointed; being a mild evening, the bats came out in good numbers, especially the pipistrelles. There is something mesmerising about watching bats whizz around your head while listening to the detectors convert their ultrasonic calls into audible clicks. I love to hear the little raspberries sounds, an indication that they have caught something.

Bat species recorded included Soprano and Common Pipistrelles, Noctule and Daubenton’s. In previous years I have taken groups down there and we have been fortunate to detect Leisler’s Noctule and Nathusius’ Pipistrelle, but not on this occasion. The latter recently featured in a BBC local news article having been discovered roosting at a site not too far away. Read the full article here. A conservation success story and a good indication that there are still plenty of insects around.

Bat detector and Bat detector Echo Meter with iOS App both used to identify bats.

On the way back to the car park, I was keen to make use of another of my detection gadgets, a 365nm UV torch. Not for finding my way in the dark, but for scanning vegetation in search of other nocturnal critters. Having recently read an interesting article in the British Wildlife (Vol. 37, No. 2), An Introduction to UV Surveys I was keen to try my new flashlight to see what I could spot.

Initially, the torch revealed little more than fluorescent lichens on tree trunks and spiders sitting patiently in their webs. Interesting enough, but spiders remain a group I have yet to explore in any depth and I could not confidently identify the species I was seeing. If anyone can recommend a good field guide to spiders, please let me know in the comments below.

Then, just as we were approaching the car park and the end of an excellent evening, I shone the torch beneath a leaf and discovered this glowing surprise. I believe it may have been a Pale Tussock (Calliteara pudibunda), although I would welcome confirmation from those with greater experience of moth identification.

British Naturalist Association – Nature Walk

The South Yorkshire group assembled in the car park of Rabbit Ings for this month’s field visit. Rabbit Ings is a 64-hectare green space near Royston in South Yorkshire, managed by the Land Trust. Once part of Monkton Colliery and Royston Drift Mine, which closed in 1989, the site has been transformed from a former spoil heap and colliery yard into a country park. It officially opened to the public in 2011.

At first glance from the car park, it didn’t look particularly inviting. All the spoil heap and surrounding playing fields had been bleached yellow by the summer sun. But 5 minutes from the car park we were spotting hoverflies such as Spotty-eyed Hoverfly (Eristalinus sepulchralis), a variety of Droneflies (Eristalis spp) and Long hoverflies (Sphaerophoria spp) in a ditch running alongside the path. Although the ditch itself was bone dry, the flowers growing within it were still attracting a few pollinators.

Credit: K.Hinchcliffe Spotty-eyed Hoverfly, Hawkweed Oxtongue and Goat’s Rue were my photographs

Further into the country park we found pools not yet dried out although smaller in size due to the drought, but wet enough to house a variety of birds, dragonflies and damselflies. Species recorded included Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea), Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) and Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) and Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta). There was a Kingfisher around and in the next pool we got particularly good views of these recently fledged young Kingfishers perched together waiting for their next meal.

Credit: K.Hinchcliffe

In Summary

To briefly answer the question of how nature has coped with this year’s weather in the UK, it seems that wildlife has simply been getting on with it.

There were certainly fewer patches of flowers than I expected, not helped by a lot of the sites I regularly visit being partially burnt. No doubt this has impacted a lot of the insect species which now seem to congregate around fewer bushes and flower patches that were in good health. Between these pockets of habitat, insect life appears noticeably scarce.

I have seen very few of the meadow specialist hoverflies this year, particularly species from groups such as Chrysotoxum and Xanthogramma. I did spot a Meadow Aphideater (Eupeodes latifasciatus) at Rabbit Ings, which was only my second sighting of the year.

Adult butterflies may be renowned sun worshippers, but even they seek shade when temperatures become extreme. What concerns me more is how the earlier stages of their life cycle have fared. Did eggs hatch successfully or simply dehydrate? Were caterpillars able to find enough fresh vegetation to reach pupation? Professor Richard Fox raised similar concerns in his Butterfly Conservation article, “How Hot Is Too Hot for Butterflies?”. It will be interesting to see what this year’s and next year’s Big Butterfly Count results reveal.

https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/how-hot-is-too-hot-for-butterflies

Birdlife also seemed unusually quiet for much of the summer. Many species naturally become less vocal after the breeding season, and only the occasional call broke the silence. However, as soon as the rain returned, Robins, Wrens and various tit species were once again singing and calling loudly outside my bedroom window.

The appearance of a Song Thrush in the garden (a rarity), together with Blackbirds arriving almost immediately whenever mealworms are scattered on the lawn, makes me wonder whether natural food supplies remain limited beyond the garden gate.

I was encouraged to notice on a walk, that recent rains have started to bring out the chlorophyll in the grass. Fresh green shoots are appearing once more, although for many flowers the rain arrived too late. Several trees have already begun taking on autumn colours and shedding their leaves much earlier than usual.

I am not sure how well wildlife would cope if summers like this became the norm, but for now there are positive signs of recovery. Fresh growth is emerging, ponds and pools are starting to refill, and the landscape is slowly regaining some of its vitality.

It’s nice to be able to splash in puddles again.

What observations have you made over the last month? How has nature coped with the weather in your area?

Let me know in the comments below.

For those following my annual species count, these records bring my total for the year to 867 species — an increase of 79  species since my previous report in July (click here if you missed my previous report). Of those 79 additions, 34 were lifers, meaning they were species that I had never recorded before. So only 123 to go to the targeted 1000 – come back next month to see how close I can get. Until then take care of yourself.