 |
Attenborough Nature Reserve |  |
|
|
Attenborough Nature Reserve | |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Introduction |
|
Hoverflies are two-winged flies which as adults generally feed on the nectar or pollen of flowers. They prefer sunny and still conditions and have remarkable powers of flight including their renowned hovering close to foodplants or patrolling their territories in shafts of sunlight. Many are extremely attractive, combining black and yellow or orange coloration. Some are well known as imitators of wasps and bees but most are overlooked. The smallest are tiny black flies of less than 5 mm in length whilst the largest compete for size with bumble bees. None are able to bite or sting and the adults are useful pollinators whilst many larval forms predate aphid pests. Their larvae are extremely varied, some living in plant stems or in plant litter and others are aquatic. Only three species could be considered as harmful. These so-called 'bulb flies' as adults are completely harmless. However, the larvae live and feed in bulbs and corms. |  |
|
Species recorded at Attenborough by Carr (1935), Hartley (1964), Benson (1986-1988) and B. Wetton (1987-2004) now number 113, making Attenborough Nature Reserve the best recorded site in Nottinghamshire. Britain as a whole has over 270 species. A brief account of the genera found on the reserve including the individual species follows:
These are small, slender, long-waisted flies found hovering in low vegetation and preferring shade. They are frequently overlooked but can be found in wooded areas of the reserve, under scrub and in hedge bottoms.
This genera consists of small thin-bodied flies, which are black with yellow markings, similar to many of the Platycheirus genus, but have cylindrical front legs identifiable with a 10x magnification hand lens. They are usually in low vegetation and on low growing flowers.
These tiny black flies can often be found along paths or on other bare areas.
The flies of this genus are small, dark, thin-bodied with either yellowish or silver-grey markings. The males have modified front legs with flattened tibiae and expanded tarsi. They are low flying.
Distinctive smallish elongated flies. One species found on the reserve has orange markings on the abdomen. The male when viewed through a hand lens has a 'thumb-like' projection on the front tarsi. The other species has white cup-shaped abdominal markings. Both species are associated with marshes and wet grassland.
This is a nationally rare fly with yellow abdominal markings but with a black scutellum at the rear of the thorax. The two records at Attenborough are only the second and third for the county.
The flies of this genus are quite large with elongated, forward projecting antennae and very bright yellow abdominal markings. They are good wasp mimics and are usually seen in midsummer.
A woodland group, most common in spring. A black ground colour dominates yellow 'bars' or 'hooks' on the abdomen.
An attractive group of broad-bodied flies with deep yellow wedge-shaped markings and a loop in the wing veins.
This genus comprises of one species (eligans) in spring and a second (grossulariae) in late summer. The former is a brassy coloured hoverer and the latter has parallel yellow bands on the abdomen and is often seen on umbels. The third species (nitidicollis) is scarce.
|
This species has distinctive double black bands on a deep yellow, somewhat elongated abdomen. Once identified it is quite distinctive and is one of the most abundant species on the reserve in summer. Numbers are sometimes boosted by migrants from abroad.
Distinguished by large white quadrate spots at the base of the abdomen. They are often associated with umbels.
| 
|
|
Melangyna These thin bodied flies have whitish or yellowish oval or triangular spots on the abdomen and black legs.
A narrow-bodied group of flies with elongate wings and variable deep yellow markings.
These oval-bodied flies are similar to the abundant Syrphus group but are usually darker with bright yellow marks and are lower flying.
Early spring flies of which one species was first recorded in April 2002.
This is a large fly with whitish hook-shaped marks on the abdomen. It is usually seen singly in late summer and is a migrant.
Elongate, smallish flies with yellow on the thorax as well as the abdomen. They are grassland species and the genus is poorly represented on the reserve.
This is the genus thought of by the 'layman' as the typical hoverfly. They have yellow bars and 'moustache-shaped' abdominal markings. The species are difficult to separate.
These are mostly small black flies, which are very difficult to identify. One species (illustrata) is an exception, being a small bumble bee mimic. This is a large group, which is not particularly well represented on the reserve. The larvae live in plants. |
| 
|
|
Rhingia |
This genus includes the 'long nosed' or 'Heineken' fly which can reach the parts of flowers that other flies cannot reach. It has a dark thorax and orange abdomen and its larvae live in cow pats.
These small black flies have flat-topped abdomens and are difficult to identify without magnification.
| 
|
|
Lejogaster Small metallic flies with concave faces.
These tiny elongate flies have narrow waists, bulbous abdomens and a concave face. They are low flying.
Smallish metallic-coloured flies whose larvae live in organically rich mud by ponds.
These dark, medium-sized flies have a striped thorax and yellow or grey abdominal markings. They are aquatic breeders.
These are black bodied flies and the species found at Attenborough has distinctive spotted green eyes. This is an aquatic breeding species.
|
|
Eristalis These common flies are large enough to attract attention as they hover in front of an observer. They are dark with orange markings. The group are known as 'Drone Flies', imitating hive bees. Their larvae are 'rat-tailed maggots' found in muddy water with a long breathing tube at their tail end.
| 
|
|
Helophilus These aquatic breeding flies have bright yellow abdominal markings and yellow and black striped thorax.
A yellow and black wasp mimic related to the Eristalis group.
| 
|
|
Parhelophilus Another aquatic breeding fly having a striped thorax resembling Helophilus but more orange in colouration.
These small dark flies are also known as 'Lesser Bulb Flies'. Their larvae live in bulbs and corms of bluebells and garden plants.
Known as the 'Large Bulb Fly'. It is a hairy bumble bee mimic with a wide range of distinct colour forms all of which have black legs.
A small metallic blue-black fly classed as nationally vulnerable in the Red Data Book.
This is a tiny black fly with a flat face profile and whitish hairs. It is difficult to separate from Pipiza.
This is a small group of flies with flat faces. Individual species are difficult to identify.
Similar to Pipiza but even smaller.
Large moorland and heathland flies which breed in boggy pools. One was surprisingly found in 2002 feeding on ivy late in the year, evidence of dispersal to find food resources.
|
These bumble bee mimics occur in mid-summer and bombylans has various colour forms to imitate different bumble bee species. Pellucens is a pied hoverfly. Their larvae live in the nests of bumble bees. Inanis is an ectoparasite on hornets and large wasps and Attenborough is its northern most site.
This fly is associated with rotten wood. It has orange abdominal markings and care should be taken to separate it from Tropidia, which has hind femora with triangular projections.
| 
|
|
Criorhina These large hairy bumble bee mimics have a projecting lower face. They breed in dead wood and the adults visit hawthorn.
This is a small narrow fly with orange-spotted abdomen and swollen hind femora.
This is a medium sized fly with an orange marked abdomen. The hind femora are arched with a triangular projection. They are associated with marshes and local in distribution but they are remarkably common on parts of the reserve around pond margins.
Robust, fast, parallel sided flies perhaps resembling solitary wasps.
Updated 2004 
On the afternoon of 20th July, my wife Pat and I were surveying hoverflies at Attenborough Nature Reserve. As we walked along the Works Path she drew my attention to a fly on Creeping Thistle which she did not recognise. I captured it and it proved to be a male Volucella inanis. All the key features were observed including the yellow second sternite. I photographed it in the hand and later released it on the Beeston Meadow area of the reserve having shown it to my son and the Reserve Manager, Keith Corbett. We were excited by the record since Pat and I had only previously seen this large and striking species in France. When I consulted the Hoverfly Atlas, we found that it had not been recorded north of Oxfordshire. It is an ectoparasite on wasps and hornets and is normally restricted to the Home Counties. We were away in the New Forest for several days but when we returned I had a telephone call from John Szczur and Tony Critchley on 31st July saying that John had caught an inanis that day on Beeston Meadow and when he had taken it back for release there had seen a second specimen. Keith Corbett, Pat and I went to the Reserve the following morning (1st August) and our first port of call, Beeston Meadow, produced two specimens of inanis again feeding on thistles. I photographed them. Later the same morning a third specimen was found on the riverside feeding on Hedge Parsley. On 13th August, Pat and I again visited Attenborough and found three further specimens: a male feeding on Creeping Thistle on Beeston Meadow, a female briefly resting on Angelica in the Riverside Marsh and another male on Bramble by the Delta Path. On 15th August, our son Paul also saw inanis on Angelica on the Bund and on 21st August yet another pair were feeding on Creeping Thistle on Beeston Meadow. Another episode in the story occurred on 22nd August when at Colwick Country Park Pat and I found a male briefly on Ragwort by the Trout Lake. During the period of my sightings, there were large numbers of migrant hoverflies in the area such as Episyrphus balteatus. My first thoughts were that Volucella inanis had migrated with them. The numbers subsequently encountered however suggested that they had probably bred locally. The discovery of the Colwick specimen meant that either there had been a more widespread immigration or a wider expansion of breeding range than initially thought. The idea that perhaps one had simply had assisted passage to Attenborough on the adjoining railway line no longer seemed plausible. Could climate warming be encouraging their northward expansion? I would like to know if any other records have been reported. On a hoverfly chat-line on the internet, several have been reported this year in Northamptonshire and in the same source Stuart Ball, the national recorder, says that one was reported in Norfolk last year. These confirm a more general northward expansion. I shall certainly be keen to see if other sightings occur next year to suggest established breeding locally. (Records have continued to 2004) Identification References Gilbert, Francis S, "Hoverflies" - Naturalists Handbook No 5 - Cambridge University Press/Richmond Publishing Co. - 1986 (Simple introduction with good illustrations but not comprehensive). Stubbs, Alan E and Falk, Steven J, "British Hoverflies" - Entomological and Natural History Society - 2002 (comprehensive keys, text and illustrations) Other References Carr, J W, "Invertebrate Fauna of Nottinghamshire" and "Supplement" - Bell 1916 and 1935 "Attenborough Nature Reserve : Invertebrates" - NTNC - 1970 Wetton, B W, "Hoverflies of Attenborough Nature Reserve" - Nottinghamshire Wildlife - 1989 Wetton, B W, "Hoverflies of Attenborough" - Attenborough Bird Report: 1984 - 1989 Wetton, B W, "Updates on Other Insects" - Attenborough Wildlife Report: 1993 - 1996 Wetton, B W, "Hoverflies of Nottinghamshire" - Sorby Record No. 39, 2003. |
 |