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~ a celebration of nature

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Tag Archives: British flies

Fly: Anomoia purmunda

28 Saturday Sep 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Anomoia purmunda, British flies, British fruit flies, fruit fly, fruit fly on Hawthorn

I see tiny fruit flies, little wing-wagglers, quite often. In fact, for some reason, on warm summer days when I’m wearing a tshirt, they frequently come and sit on my arms (drawn by the coconut scent of my moisturiser perhaps, or maybe to lick my salty skin?). However, during a recent walk, when I spotted this little fruit fly sitting on a leaf, I knew immediately that it was a different species as the markings on its wings were quite different.

240928 Anomoia purmunda (1)

It was tricky to photograph as it constantly flashed its wings at me, but I managed a few reasonable close-ups. And, though I often have trouble identifying flies, with the two red stripes across its green eyes and those distinctive wing patterns, this one proved much easier. Say hello to Anomoia purmunda, a fruit fly that can often be found around Hawthorn as its larvae feed inside Hawthorn berries.

240928 Anomoia purmunda (2)

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Flies: Sciara species

02 Friday Aug 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Tags

British flies, flies, Fungus gnat fly species, Fungus gnats, Sciara hemerobioides, Sciara species

When I first noticed these little flies feasting on the nectar of Wild carrot flowers, I thought perhaps they were sawflies but, when looking at my photos on my laptop later, I realised their heads were far too small.

Turns out these are some kind of fungus gnat though, according to the NatureSpot website, there are several species with the same bright yellow abdomen. So, although these flies look very like the Sciara hemerobioides shown on that website, I’ve recorded them as Sciara species. As you may have worked out, it’s the larvae that feed on fungus, whereas the adults prefer umbellifers and other flora.

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First Bee-fly

20 Wednesday Mar 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

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Bee-fly, Bombylius major, British bee-flies, British flies, Dark-edged bee-fly, signs of spring

As well as the lovely Comma, Monday’s walk also produced my first bee-fly sightings for 2024. We only have Dark-edged bee-flies (Bombylius major) in my area and these were all males, as they usually emerge before the females. It’s so heartening to see these wonderful little signs of Spring.

240320 dark-edged bee-fly

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Greenbottle

18 Monday Mar 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

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British flies, Greenbottle, Greenbottle fly, Lucilia sericata, Lucilia species

I was enjoying seeing a few flies and hoverflies out and about in the sunny sheltered spots during yesterday’s local meander but this little one, in particular, caught my eye with its iridescent green shimmer. It’s one of the so-called Greenbottle flies, a species of Lucilia, and is most likely the commonest of those species, Lucilia sericata, as it seems to have the correct identifying features. The Naturespot website entry lists these as a ‘pale basicosta and a single anterodorsal bristle on the mid tibia’, which may make you say ‘What???’ out loud, as I did, but fortunately they include photos to illustrate what this gobbledygook – er, scientific anatomical description refers to.

240318 greenbottle

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Out they pop

09 Tuesday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British flies, British hoverflies, Buff-tailed bumblebee, early invertebrate emergence, Honey bee, winter insects

Invertebrates in the winter: some warm sunshine in a sheltered spot and out they pop: my first hoverflies of the year, several species of fly, a couple of Honey bees and a queen Buff-tailed bumblebee.
I should probably add that these images were taken on Sunday, before freezing Baltic air came blasting in from the east, causing temperatures to plummet. I imagine these critters have all now taken shelter once more, in amongst dense vegetation like Ivy or within cosy holes in the earth.

240108 invertebrates awake

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U is for unknown

26 Tuesday Dec 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects, spiders

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British flies, British insects, British spiders, insect larvae, invertebrates, larvae in leaf litter

As happens every year, I found many invertebrates I’ve not been able to identify, especially from riffling through the leaf litter. Perhaps one of you will recognise one of these creatures but, even if you don’t, I feel they deserve their moment in the spotlight.

231226 unknown larvae231226 unknowns in leaf litter231226 unknowns

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Fly: Nowickia ferox

24 Monday Jul 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Apamea monoglypha, British flies, Dark arches, endoparasitoid fly, fly parasite of moth, Nowickia ferox

I found a new fly! Okay, you may not be as excited about that as I am, but I’m always excited when I find something new, and it’s a bonus when I’m able to identify it quite easily because of its distinctive markings. So, meet Nowickia ferox, a bristly brute, with a less-than-appealing endoparasitoid life cycle – its larvae grow inside and eat the larvae of the Dark Arches moth (Apamea monoglypha), emerging only when ready to pupate.

230724 Nowickia ferox

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Comes the sun

27 Monday Feb 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British flies, Episyrphus balteatus, flies, hoverfly, Marmalade hoverfly

Comes the sun, come the flies! A sheltered south-facing ivy-covered wall with assorted small shrubs, wild plants and dense leaf litter below is their little bit of paradise. The first of these images shows my second hoverfly for the year, a Marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), the rest I don’t know, nor am I bothered to discover their identities – I was simply enjoying seeing little critters flitting about the vegetation again, and knowing that more, including my beloved butterflies, will soon follow.

230227 flies

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Nemorilla floralis

17 Tuesday Jan 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British flies, British insects, fly, Nemorilla floralis, parasitic fly, parasitoid

Another day, another summer fly. This one, from last May, is a little bristly beauty called Nemorilla floralis, whose name means something like ‘little visitor to the flowery glade’ (according to a tweet by @ivysuckle). Unfortunately, this fly doesn’t live up to its pretty name as it’s a parasitoid, laying its eggs in the living larvae of various micro moths and butterflies.

230117 Nemorilla floralis

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Yellow dung fly

16 Monday Jan 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British flies, British insects, Scatophaga stercoraria, Yellow dung fly

I was going through my ‘pending’ photos and realised how many images I have from last summer that never got posted, just because each day’s walk in the warmer weather often produces several potential blog subjects. So, while we wait for the weather to improve, I’ll share the occasional 2022 find. And here’s one I’m sure many of you have seen as it has a very wide distribution – meet the Yellow dung fly (Scatophaga stercoraria). The etymology of its scientific name explains this little creature’s preferred habitat: Scatophaga comes from the Greek skatophagos, from skat-, skōr excrement and phagein to eat, and stercoraria is from the Medieval Latin stercorarium meaning toilet (stercorary is an archaic name for a place [e.g. a covered pit] for the storage of manure secure from the weather) (Merrian-Webster Dictionary). So, Scatophaga stercoraria is the dung eater from the dung pit.

230116 yellow dung fly

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sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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