Wakeham
There wasn't that much, which wasn't surprising, but what was of interest was coming across several Marmalade Hoverflies. This seems to be an excellent year for this species of hoverfly and not just here on Portland but across the country.
One particular county where there are good numbers of these hoverflies is Shropshire. This county is of special interest to me, as I am one of the co-founders of the group called the Friends of Priorslee Lake.
The lake is actually a balancing reservoir for the area east and north of Telford, and the FoPL group was founded in 2006 to protect the fauna and flora around the "lake" from developers. It is still going strong and is now recognised as Nature Reserve.
I'm still an active member of FoPL, even though I'm a good 200+ miles away, but my role now is running the blog and updating it daily with sightings and photos. FoPL Blog Here.
Here are a few images from today:
My first attempt at photographing one of the Marmalade Hoverflies in the really dull conditions.
The same hoverfly but with a bit of flash.
Here are a few more shots.
And another.
Plus an attempt to capture one in flight.
This is a Rough-haired Lagria Beetle (Lagria hirta) and................
..........gets its name hirta from the Latin hirtus meaning rough hair or rough wool, referring to the coarse, fuzzy appearance of the beetle, which you can see a bit more clearly in this image.
They have been caused by the mite Aceria cephalonea. The galls are less around 3 mm high. More Here.
Its not often I can get a photo of Benji and Ted together.
However there is more interest in..........
..................what is going on, on the other side of the gate, than this side of the garden. Yep that would be the Khaki Campbell Ducks, which these two would very much like to be acquainted with. I think not!!
Hoverflies Recorded: 7+ Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded: 2 fly sps.