Tag Archives: drone fly

An insect paradise in our street – with ivy bees

October 18, 2025 philipstrange 6 Comments

The ivy on our neighbour’s gate post showing the pale flower heads

I was standing in our street, enjoying the gentle warmth of the late September morning sun but I wasn’t alone. Nearby, a large clump of ivy covering the top of our neighbour’s gatepost was alive with insects. For much of the year this ivy is dominated by shiny dark green leaves but from late summer, the woody climber throws up many pale green flower heads mostly from the upper part of the clump. The flower heads soften the look of the ivy and mature into spherical umbels of 20 or so florets, each loaded with nectar and pollen and emitting a sickly-sweet fragrance. This rich source of forage acts as a magnet for insects especially at a time when many flowering plants are shutting down.

A female ivy bee on the ivy flowers, note the pollen collecting on her back legs

When the sun shone, I saw many hoverflies, mostly drone fly (Eristalis) species, some common wasps, a few honeybees and bumblebees and the occasional red admiral butterfly on the ivy flowers but I was hoping for something else. And suddenly there it was, an insect about the size of a honeybee but with a shock of reddish, pale brown hair across the thorax and bright yellow bands around its black abdomen as it tapers to a point. It was also carrying large amounts of chrome yellow ivy pollen on its back legs as if it had collected sunshine (see picture above and at the head of this post). This smart insect is an ivy bee (Colletes hederae), a relative newcomer to the UK, first spotted in Dorset 24 years ago, but now seen across much of England and Wales. Ivy bees are solitary species that emerge in early autumn roughly in synchrony with flowering ivy. Mated females nest in aggregations in friable soil and I saw increasing numbers of the bees over the next few days gathering pollen and nectar from the ivy. This felt like an increase over previous years and I wondered if there were nests nearby although finding them is a matter of luck.

I took photos of the ivy bees and one photo delivered a surprise. This photo contained an ivy bee as intended but also, nearby on another leaf, was a very different insect. It had a bright green abdomen about 1.5 cm long with a prominent brown stripe along its back, very long green legs and antennae more than twice the body length of the creature. This was a speckled bush cricket a flightless insect that consumes leaves from various plants. In daytime they like to bask unseen among vegetation in sunshine, as was this one.

The speckled bush cricket basking on an ivy leaf (a better photo would have shown the speckles that decorate the insect) Clicking on the picture to enlarge it will allow the very long antennae to be seen. The photo has been cropped to remove the ivy bee.

Ivy in early autumn can be a paradise for insects but it’s not an entirely safe one. In the low autumn sunshine, strands of spider web strung across the top of the ivy stood out like telegraph wires and later I saw a spider catch a fly and kill the unfortunate insect. Given the mass of insects that frequent the ivy at this time of year, it is hardly surprising to find spiders taking advantage of this bounty.

The mass of insects on the ivy also helps pollination of the ivy flowers. Each pollinated floret produces a round black berry, a rich food source for hungry birds in winter.

Spider and prey (there may be two spiders or one and part of another in the picture along with the fly prey, see comments below)

Two bumblebees on an ivy flower umbel. The upper is a tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) the lower probably a buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

nature writing

A commotion of hoverflies

September 11, 2025 philipstrange 6 Comments

There’s a narrow passageway not far from our house running between rows of private gardens, it’s probably an ancient right of way. The path itself is lined by stone walls, wooden fences and mixed vegetation and it provides a useful cut-through towards the town centre. It’s usually very quiet but one morning in late August I encountered an unexpected commotion. Several chunky insects with yellow and black markings were flying repeatedly back and forth across the pathway. There was much high-pitched buzzing and they sounded angry. I felt as though I was intruding on some private dispute. I approached cautiously in case they were wasps but when I got close enough, I could see their eyes, large and round and set high on their head, clearly hoverflies. (see video below and picture towards the bottom of this post)

The source of the aggravation turned out to be one or two ivy flower heads that had matured early and, that morning, were caught in a pool of sunshine. There were plenty of ivy flower heads along the path but only these had opened, sepals peeled back, revealing stamens and the rich source of pollen and nectar afforded by ivy flowers and loved by these hoverflies.

With their nervy, continuous movement they were difficult to count but I estimated that there were perhaps six of the hoverflies. Based on their distinctive black and yellow striped abdominal patterns and fringes of bright yellow hairs they were all the same species, Myathropa florea, and all males. They seemed to be obsessed with feeding so that each time one managed to get to a flower head another would try to take its place leading to much angry buzzing and circling about.

One of the hoverflies on an ivy flower head

I watched the insects for a while and eventually realised that I was not the only spectator. A perfectly constructed web hung across nearby vegetation not far from the ivy flowers and the spider was looking on. The arachnid was nearly lucky when one of the hoverflies blundered in to the web. It struggled for some time before managing to extricate itself and return to the feeding frenzy.

The spider and one of the ivy flower heads with one of the hoverflies

I came back a few days later and found a much quieter scene. The ivy flowers were still there, caught by the sun as before, but all I saw were a few drone flies (Eristalis sp.) feeding quietly. The Myathropa must have found a better place to forage.

Myathropa florea is a common species whose lifecycle includes a larva living in stagnant water in holes in tree stumps and crevices between tree branches. The larva is often described as a rat-tailed maggot from its long tail, a breathing tube able to reach the water surface.

One of the hoverflies with a marking resembling the Batman logo on its thorax. Look at the area above where the wings emerge to see this. See below for a picture of the Batman logo. This picture also shows the position of the eyes as discussed earlier in the text.

The species is commonly referred to as the “Batman hoverfly” because, although the yellow and black markings are rather variable, some individuals, especially in the summer, have a marking on their thorax resembling the Batman logo.

Batman logo

As Robin would have said, “Holy hoverflies, Batman!”

bees, Leechwell Garden, nature writing

Back to the town centre, at last – Lockdown Nature Walks 10

September 4, 2020 philipstrange 6 Comments

Many of the lockdown restrictions imposed across the UK to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have now been removed or relaxed but life still feels very different from what we were once used to. It does, though, seem inappropriate to continue referring to Lockdown Nature Walks and this will be my last one with that name. So, for my tenth walk I want to come back to where I started back in March by walking round some of the town centre gardens and car parks looking at what is out and about in late August/early September.

Let’s start at the Leechwell Garden, a peaceful, green oasis in the centre of Totnes open to all. There is always plenty to see here and it changes week by week. Many flowers grow and I pop in regularly to look at the insects that have been attracted. During my lockdown visits to the Garden, I have talked to many people and I came to realise what an important lifeline the Garden has been for those without green spaces of their own or for people wanting a physically distanced conversation. The Garden has also echoed with children’s laughter and the sandpit and play area have been a much-needed diversion for families.

Here are a few highlights from my recent visits:

This drone fly (Eristalis) is feeding from the fragrant white flowers of myrtle with their yellow-tipped stamens

Three honeybees (Apis mellifera) feeding from globe thistle (Echinops)

Late summer is the time that these male common furrow bees (Lasioglossum calceatum) appear and they are often to be seen on the marjoram

A green shieldbug (Palomena prasina) on rudbeckia

It’s a short walk from the Leechwell Garden to the Nursery Car Park, one of the town centre car parks, surrounded by tall stone walls, grassy banks and soil borders. In April and May, one of the soil borders was unexpectedly enlivened by colourful wildflowers that commandeered its scruffy surface. Insects were attracted and in Lockdown Nature Walk 5, I described how I found beautiful orange-tip butterflies here. As spring gave way to summer, the first flush of flowers was replaced by large clumps of spear thistle occupying the border with their architectural presence as if the triffids had taken over. These thistles proved very popular with bees:

A leafcutter bee (probably a patchwork leafcutter bee (Megachile centuncularis)) feeding on the spear thistle and gathering pollen beneath her abdomen

Orange-vented mining bee (Osmia leaiana) feeding from spear thistle, her orange/red pollen brush is visible beneath her abdomen

In mid-August, the local council decided to mend the fence along the back of this border and in the process cut all the flowers and trees down to ground level. This did seem rather drastic but most of the plants had finished flowering for the year so perhaps the damage was mostly cosmetic. I do, though, wonder what happened to the chrysalises of the orange-tip butterflies?

The other borders were unaffected by this scorched earth policy and a large buddleia in one corner is currently covered in its purple plume-shaped flowers that perfume the air with their distinctive but slightly sickly fragrance. In another corner, brambles still retain a few late flowers. Both are currently attracting butterflies.

Small tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae) on buddleia, one of three on the bush together.

Holly blue butterfly (Celastrina argiolus) on bramble

Finally, I want to go to the Heathway Car Park, also close to the Leechwell Garden. Along one side of the parking area there is an old stone wall covered in dark green-leaved ivy and now is the time of year that I begin to peer at stands of this climber. It’s the developing flower heads that interest me and they currently show considerable variation: some still resemble tiny, pale green golf balls composed of a tight cluster of small spheres. In others, slightly more mature, the individual spheres are held on extended stalks like a clutch of ice cream cones. Then on August 23^rd, in the Heathway Car Park I found that some of these ice cream cones were showing yellow-tipped stamens, the ivy had flowered. Insects come immediately to take advantage of this new canteen of nectar and pollen and a stand of ivy in full bloom and covered with insects can be an awe-inspiring sight. So far, I have only seen wasps and hoverflies on the flowers but I hope to see some ivy bees, the last of the solitary bees to emerge each year and a sure sign of the changing season.