New Year in Bloom: Sightings 2026

Hoverfly Sightings W/C 1st January 2026

Happy New Year everyone!

Hope all my readers have had a great festive season and are ready for new adventures to begin in 2026.

It’s not been the best of weeks for me with regards getting out and about nature spotting, but I did get out New Years Day and the 2nd of January, so below are the listings for those days. As I sit here and write up my sightings, I am looking out on a dusting of snow which always makes a lovely, picturesque setting, until someone goes out and puts boot prints all over the place.

Click below to find out what I found.

Christmas in Bloom: Sightings 2025

Hoverfly Sightings W/C 22nd December 2025

It has been a while since I did a sightings blog, but it being Christmas I thought I would go out spotting in and around my locality in order to finish off the records for the year.

Often people will go out on New Years Day to log flowers and birds they have seen. I thought I would do this throughout Christmas week. Over the last few years a few botanical groups have started doing these types of logs, as seen on social media, but I haven’t seen many birding groups doing the same has yet. I am sure it will become popularised over the next few years.

Click below to find out what I found.

The HoverflySpotter logo

What Hoverfly species are to be found in the logo below?

The site has been up a few months now and let me start by thanking all those people that have visited, followed, subscribed and even re-visited, it really does help the channel grow and inspire me to produce more content. If you have not followed or subscribed, please consider it.

🎄 Something a bit lighter today, a little Christmas challenge. 🎅

For those of you who have noticed the logo to the site or the little favicon icon specific to the internet page on your desktop, you might have been wondering what hoverfly species this is…. Well, its no particular species at all it is a mishmash of many species all amalgamated into one.

 I wonder if you can guess which species……. Answers below… 📝

Hoverfly White-clubbed Glasswing (Scaeva pyrastri)

White-clubbed Glasswing (Scaeva pyrastri) Wing length 9.25-11.25. Flight May-Mid August

Species of the week –1st December

The first thing you will notice if you spot this hoverfly, are its abdominal markings. They remind me of hockey sticks, but the shape is often referred to as clubbed or bowed. Some prefer to refer to them as smoothwing, others glasswing due to the lack of microtrichia (tiny hairs) on the wings. There are 5 species listed for the British Isles but there are only 2 that you are likely to come across anytime May to mid-August. These are pryrastri and selentica the main difference being white/cream abdominal markings for the former and yellow for the latter. 

If this hoverfly seems familiar, even if you haven’t found one in the wild, it’s probably because you have seen the 1st edition of Britain’s Hoverflies by S. Ball and R. Morris published by WILDguides, where it is featured on the front cover. 

Hoverfly Sightings W/C 17th November 2025

The Search for Hoverflies

As the days get shorter, colder and wetter, it’s getting more difficult to find any hoverflies so did I succeed?

22nd November

British Naturalists’ Association (BNA) field meeting at Broomhill flash.

Hoverfly - Common Dainty (Baccha elongata)

Common Dainty (Baccha elongata) Wing length 4-8.25mm. Flight Apr-Nov

Species of the week – 10th November.

The first thing to notice about these hoverflies is that they look like no other hoverfly. They have this slender body with a wasp waist and hover around plants without visiting any actual flowers, or at least rarely. You might even wonder if they are in fact a hoverfly at all? Well yes, they are, they have the definitive vena spuria, the false unconnected vein, typical of all hoverflies, Syrphidae.

Hoverfly Autumn’s Joy

Hoverfly Sightings W/C 3rd November 2025

7^th November

Barnsley Naturalist (BNATs) field meeting: Drizzle on the car windscreen enroute, but it cleared up and ‘turned out nice again’ by the end of the fungi foray. Was another mild day.

Please note this list of records below, is my own taken at the event and that there will be a much more comprehensive list created by Michelle, the BNATs recorder in a few days, go to the BNATs Facebook page for more information. 

 

Hoverfly Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)

Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax) Size 9.75-13.0mm. Flight Mar-Nov.

Species of the week – 3^rd November.

This is a hoverfly that, as the name suggests, is common and can be spotted any month of the year. As I write this in November it is one of the few hoverflies that I can come across on a milder day, because females are known to hibernate. In Spring it is often one of the first hoverflies I see hovering in a shaft of sunlight, lekking over a dandelion flower in the hope of mating with a passing female. This hoverfly is known to dangle its legs as it hovers, so is identifiable in the air even if out of reach to see its markings. Come Autumn go to any Ivy bush in the sun and I am sure to see one of them, along with its cousin the Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax).  

The Hoverfly Spotter’s Solway Birdwatching Holiday

Trip to Scotland 23^rd-26^th October 2025 

Sheffield & Chesterfield RSPB Groups.

Organised by C.Brydone.

My account of sightings and observations from the trip and is by no means a full list of all the sightings or species seen by the group. The photographs are my own unless otherwise indicated, taken with my mobile phone.

Panoramic view of Mersehead

Hoverfly Sightings W/C 18th October 2025

Fungi forays & birds: A week with naturalists

Please note that the birds part of this blog was so large it warranted its own post Click here

18^th Oct British Naturalist Association: Fun with Fungi, Wortley Hall S.Yorkshire.

It has been a wonderful week for fungi so far. On a visit to Wortley Hall with the British Naturalist Association (B.N.A) we found 43 species just in the grounds. We were finding fungi at the rate of 1 every 4 minutes, identifying them before moving onto the next. The site has unimproved grassland and woodland with some veteran & ancient trees as well as standing deadwood and a few exotics. Leader R.Stewart.

Hoverfly - Common Banded (Syrphus ribesii)

Common Banded (Syrphus ribesii) Size 7.25-11.5mm. Flight. Apr-Nov

Species of the week – 13th October 

As the nights draw in and the days get colder, windier and wetter the chances to see hoverflies decrease. However, on those warmer days, with a little searching for that hoverfly hotspot, they can be found. 

One of the species still around in numbers is the Common Banded hoverfly (Syrphus ribesii). They are one of those species where the common in the name does actually mean its common unlike Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago or Common Crane Grus grus. Other names for it are the Common Flower fly, as they are often referred to as flowerflies not hoverflies in the Americas. It is also known as the Humming Banded fly, a naming more related to its behaviour, and one I prefer, if it should become less common.

Hoverfly sightings w/c 5th October 2025

How many hoverflies are still around after storm Amy?

Date 11th October: Time of recording 12-4pm: Carlton Marsh, Nr Royston. Temp 14 degrees, Sunny.

Hoverflies logged:

Common Banded (Syrphus ribesii) 3♀, Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax) 1♂, Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax) 1♀, Marmalade (Episyrphus balteatus), Lunuled Aphideater (Eupeodes luniger) 1♀

Hoverfly - Greater Hornet Plumehorn (Volucella zonaria)

Greater Hornet Plumehorn (Volucella zonaria) Size: 15.5-19.5mm Flight: May-Nov

Species of the week – 6^th October

This our largest hoverfly (In the U.K) and if you have seen one you can probably understand why it’s often mistaken for the European hornet Vespa crabo, and with good reason. Its markings mimic the hornet in both colouration and design, a classic example of Batesian mimicry. However, this hornet mimic will not sting, bite or get aggressive defending a nest, as doesn’t have one and is often seen late summer and into autumn on a warm day.

Hoverfly - Yellow-barred Peat (Sericomyia silentis)

Yellow-barred Peat hoverfly (Sericomyia silentis) Size: 9.5-14mm Flight: May-Nov.

Species of the week – 29^th September

This hoverfly was the star species w/c 15th September and for good reason. It was not only a new species for the year but according to my records a new one ever. What was strange was that it was observed and identified in a Sheffield garden, not in the uplands where this would be typically found. As its name implies it is one of those hoverflies associated with uplands, as its long-tailed larvae are often found in peaty pools or wet rotting wood, feeding on the detritus soup.
 
So why was it discovered in a Sheffield garden when it favours acid wetlands and heathlands?

Hoverfly sightings w/c 22nd Sept 2025

When spotting hoverflies out in the field I try to find that hoverfly hot spot, this might be a glade, a woodland edge or just a flower bed. At this time of year finding that hotspot becomes a little more challenging as most of the flowers are past their best. But there is one plant that comes into its own at this time of year and that is the flowering of Ivy Hedera helix. I let it grow in my garden in the hope that come autumn it might become a hoverfly hotspot.

Hopefully I have grown a good crop and over the coming weeks it will provide me many hours of hoverfly watching just outside my backdoor.

Hoverfly - Footballer (Helophilus pendulus)

Footballer (Helophilus pendulus) Size: 11-15mm Flight: Apr- Oct.

Species of the week – 20th September

If you have a pond then this hoverfly is a likely visitor to your garden, especially around July when their numbers peak. Although its now coming to the end of its season there are still a few about, often seen basking on a leaf. See blog Garden Hoverflies

The thorax has pale yellow stripes and because of this is commonly called the footballer, as it resembles a football shirt, in particular Hull City with their amber and black striping. Other names for this wonderful species are the Tiger, which is the nickname for said football club. It is also the thorax design of this blogger's logo, chosen because of its distinctiveness. The rest of the logo design is not of Helophilus, however more information about this in a future post.

Hoverfly sightings week commencing 15th Sept 2025

Tale of Two Gardens

Stairfoot Garden 15th Sept – around 4pm

It's been a bit of a mixed weather week, a little wet & windy although still quite warm. The flora in my garden is now a little sparse, but it was nice to have the Great Pied Volucella pellucens drop in to visit the still flowering buddelia, this was the first sighting for the year in the garden.

Hoverflies Logged: 

Great Pied (Volucella pellucens), Common Banded (Syrphus ribesii)

Hoverfly sightings September 13th 2025

Stairfoot walk along the Dearne 13^th Sept 2.30-4pm

16 degrees, sunny intervals slight breeze

We went looking for migrating butterflies and hoverflies after watching a video by Trevor Pendleton on the Youtube channel 'Ramblings of an Entomologist'. See link below if you would like to watch.

https://youtu.be/eobOGqYFjxA?si=itQN-q0OpCOZaA9b

We certainly didn’t get a Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) but we did see a Large White (Pieris brassicae) in a hurry heading in the Sheffield direction, was it migrating?? There were however a few Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas), a Small White (Pieris rapae), a couple of Speckled Woods (Parage aegeria) and a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) in amongst the bramble, not sure they were going anywhere.

On the Hoverfly front:

Hoverfly - Striped-backed Glimmer (Riponnesia splendens)

Striped-backed Glimmer (Riponnesia splendens) Size: 5.5-7mm Flight: May-Sep

Species of the week – 13^th Sept

This is not a common species and would seem to be localised, with only 1479 records listed on NBN as of September 2025

https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NBNSYS0100005170#overview

This species is in a genus all by itself within the U.K, having previously been listed under the genus Orthonevra due to its morphological likeness. Prior to this it was classified in 1822 under the genus Chrysogaster, again a not too dissimilar morphological grouping.

Hoverfly sightings September 2025

This page will list hoverflies and notable species seen at various locations within the UK throughout the year.

♂= male   ♀=female

Barnsley Main 11th Sept 12-1pm

Not much around temperature 15-16 degrees, winds gusty with sunny intervals.

♀ Footballer (Helophilus pendulus) warming up on a bramble leaf, ♀ Common Banded (Syrphus ribesii) + two unknown sex, Cheilosia sp, ♀ Lunuled Apideater(Eupeodes luniger) all on ragwort. 4 species seen

Wosborough Reservoir 5th Sept 12-4.30pm