Saturday 17 July 2010

Late clinch on an ID

The Safari has really had a chance to get out today but we have had three Patch 1 visits which have produced little out of the ordinary. The last one had three swallows skimming the playing field rather than the usual two and the third had barely any tail streamers, where on earth have they bred localy? Far too windy to look seriously for the White Letter Hairstreaks and of all the butterflies seen only a single Comma was noteworthy. The last safari round the patch took in the rough field where we saw very few butterflies of any species. The bright sunshine should have brought more out despite the wind if they are there.
Going back a few weeks to mid June when we saw this 'hoverfly' - a real beaut.


A bit of flukey internet trawling came up with a name for it - Green Soldier Fly - not a hover at all as it transpires. Now all we need to do is find out a bit more about what Green Soldier Flies do/life cycle etc. BTW they are supposed to be common so keep a look out in your outback.
Where to next? Somewhere alsmost exotic is on the cards for tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know if you've been able to ID something hitherto unIDd in your outback this week



2 comments:

cliff said...

The Soldierfly's a nice find Dave, [Chloromyia formosa], my books tell me little about it, other than distribution & habitat.

As for the White Letter Hairstreak flutterbyes - given the strong winds from the south we've been enduring I keep watching out for your Bispham WLH's turning up @ St Andrews milling around Lee Westwoods legs as he's lining up a putt. The poor WLH's have certainly picked some dodgy weather to turn up in.

Cliff

Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris said...

Poor things are deffo getting some ropey weather Cliff - didn't even bother taking bins or camera today it's that bad!!!

Cheers

Dave