Thursday, April 17, 2008

Hoverflies and sand heaps

20080416 Metre Syrphus ribesii 007

20080416 Metre sand heap 2

With the arrival of warmer weather insects have once again come into their own.  Today there were many hoverflies, like the Syrphus ribesii in the toppicture above, sunning themselves and nectaring on the diminutive flowers of wavy bittercress.  Another hoverfly, Melanostoma scalare, was also common these plants and a bee fly, Bombylius major, also visited them briefly.  The flowers are so tiny one would not imagine they held significant amounts of nectar or pollen.

I  bought a packet of silver sand and unloaded it on the western branch of Troy Track - I saw a man on television doing this for the benefit of mining bees and other insects.  It will also be interesting to see how it develops both in terms of fauna and flora.

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