2 Jun 18

Broadcroft Quarry Butterfly Reserve

This afternoon I had a walk around the butterfly reserve and there were certainly a few about with Common Blue, Holly Blue, Small Blue, Dingy Skipper, Small Skipper, Large White, Speckled Wood, Wall Brown, Red Admiral and Comma.

And it wasn't just butterflies on the reserve with several Swollen-thighed Beetles and Dagger Fly's.

Also found were a few hoverflies including Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare), a Xanthogramma pedissequum and both Volucella plumata and Volucella bombylans (More on this Mimic Bee Hoverfly Here).

There were also a few flies and an Ichneumon wasp to ID. One of the flies looks like it could be Neomyia cornicina a member of the Muscidae family.

Here are a few images from this afternoon.

Broadcroft Quarry Butterfly Reserve

Some of the mixed habitat here.

On the other side of Broadcroft Quarry Lane the view south across the scrubland. The light coloured area in the centre is the building site for 71 houses in Bumpers Lane. A real shame to have a blot on the landscape.

A Small Skipper

A Dinghy Skipper

Holly Blue

Common Blue

And another

A Wall Brown

A female Small Blue

The hoverfly - Xanthogramma pedissequum

Another view.

A mimic bee hoverfly Volucella plumata with a white tail

And another.

And this is Volucella bombylans and........

...........another one. Told apart from V. plumata as it has an orange-red tail.

A Swollen-thighed Beetle

A Dagger Fly

This one caught me out at first but it's a Chequered Hoverfly, Melanostoma scalare

A really unusual looking fly..........

...........and another which could be a Neomyia cornicina a member of the Muscidae family of House flies.

An Ichneumon wasp to ID.