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 Migration: Incredible Journeys

The most remarkable migrants of all

It is the Autumn season birds are leaving our shores heading to their wintering grounds, a phenomenon known as migration. But did you know insects including some species of hoverflies are known to migrate too.

We are probably all familiar with the migration of the Monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus in the Americas and even closer to home in Europe the Painted Lady Vanessa cardui. But a fly no bigger than a 5p migrating such mass distances you might be a bit skeptical of the suggestion.

Why are hoverflies found on Oil Rigs?    credit Google maps

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.

Artificial Intelligence in Natural History

Thought for the Week 

Is the use of Artificial Intelligence in Natural History a good thing?

Do we think over the coming years with the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (A.I) for natural history, will we lose books dedicated to identification?

Strange Jelly Discovered!!!

Tree Snot – the intricate and often overlooked wonders of woodland life.

Sometimes when you go for a nature walk you go with a specific subject matter in mind such as listening to birds in spring, to catch insects on a warm summer day, particularly hoverflies; or as autumn draws-in search for galls and leaf miners, before the trees shed their leaves and the first frosts appear. During such a ramble I always keep an eye out for anything unusual, a natural history curiosity, something either observed behaviourally, or on this occasion a new species to add to my records.