Monday 31 August 2015

Hoverflies from Peebles and Calder Wood

As I said in my earlier post about our trip to Peebles, going through my photos brought up even more species of hoverflies than I had at first suspected! Here they are, as discovered in just one small area. All species identified (or id confirmed) by UK Hoverfly Group.

Episyrphus batteatus
 Meliscaeva cinctella
 Scaeva selenitica (probably)
Syrphus species 

Eristalis horticola (as photographed by Crafty Green Boyfriend) 

We also saw some interesting hoverflies in our recent trip to Calder Wood, in West Lothian, these have also been identified by the UK Hoverfly Group.


Eristalis pertinax (probably)

 Epistrophe grossulariae
 
 Episyrphus balteatus
 Cheilosia illustrata

Hoverflies often mimic bees and wasps. There are over 200 species of hoverflies found in the UK.Some of the species are very distinctive when you 'get your eye in' others are very similar and tricky to identify. I think they're very beautiful insects though and I really enjoy finding out more about them.

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There are still a few places on my Tuesday evening adult education creative writing workshop at Tynecastle High, starting 22 September.Details here.

10 comments:

Donna said...

Wow I had no idea there were so many hoverflies...I have seen some here but I have not noticed any differences.

eileeninmd said...

Great captures of the insects! Happy Monday, enjoy your new week!

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

I think I've been seeing pertinax around a bit, recognise the big hourglass shape on the back!

Crafty Green Poet said...

Hi Simon, yes they seem pretty distinctive, until you realise that there's another species almost identical except for the colour of the legs (hence the probably in my post)

Bob Bushell said...

The Hoverflies are beautiful, thanks for that.

sage said...

I would have said they were bees, thanks for the enlightenment! I love watching bees and other insects around the blooms of thorns.

LE CHEMIN DES GRANDS JARDINS said...

Je suis à la recherche des blogs aimant la poésie et nous faisant aimer la nature. Je trouve,ici, dans le tiens, tout cela. C'est un plaisir. Bel été.

Roger

RG said...

Do they never run out of latin names? I just think of them all as hovering bees! Good work being even able to spell them.

Anonymous said...

wow, amazing what the camera sees before we do!

Crafty Green Poet said...

Bob- they are beautiful aren't they?

Sage - they look superficially like bees, but once you get your eye in, it's particularly the way they fly

Le Vhemin - merci beaucoup et j'aime ton blog aussi.

Rabbits' Guy - I wonder that too, sometimes, but they also use Greek and made up words too. They're not related to bees, really, despite the similarity in looks....

Gabrielle - it is!