Simon Knott

Stylopids are strangest parasitoids of bees. Males are rarely encountered, so finding male mating with two females on an unfortunate Andrena today in Bengeo garden was special. @StevenFalk1 @bwars2000 @hertsbna

Spring Hoverflies (1): Myathropa florea ♂ back in Bengeo garden today. Earliest record here by one day.

Two Stylops sp. males today in Bengeo garden. Males live for only few hours seeking out females on their Andrena bee hosts & so are very rarely observed. #Strepsiptera

Epistrophe eligans ♂ today in Bengeo garden, iconic spring hoverfly. Earliest record here by 4 days. #SpringHoverflies #climatechange

109 species of hoverfly now recorded in Bengeo garden with 4 additions during 2025: Cheilosia grossa (106), Melangyna umbellatarum (107), Cheilosia illustrata (108) & Pipiza lugubris (109). #Syrphidae

@ivysuckle S.rueppellii is good garden record. Species that I see in fen zone at local good wetland but it would real surprise if it appeared here in garden.

Away from the world of wasps (though frequently intersecting) - time for some year highlights of other invertebrate groups. Diptera: fab flies seen in 2025:🧵 Hoverflies first & new garden records of Scaeva selenitica & Sphaerophoria rueppellii - handsome hovers 🦟💚🍃 1/4

@StevenFalk1 @iancbeavis I asked David Clements this question yesterday on Conopid Facebook Group. His response was "The host is currently unknown but Colletes has been suggested elsewhere".

@SJBKnott @iancbeavis Is there anything published on its association with hederae? I need to get my facts right in the new fly book.

Leopoldius calceatus ♀ today in Bengeo garden, dark wasp-mimic conopid parasitoid & very recent arrival in UK (2018). All three species of Leopoldius have now been recorded here.

@iancbeavis @StevenFalk1 Expanding dramatically, recorded now in at least 18 counties. Seems to be parasitoid of Colletes hederae. Found very sluggish C.hederae female in her immediate vicinity.

@SJBKnott @StevenFalk1 Interesting to see. I wasnt aware of that one.

@StevenFalk1 @iancbeavis There was also very sluggish Colletes hederae female in her vicinity which may have just received her attention.

@SJBKnott @iancbeavis All three, that’s remarkable Simon.

Its host is unknown but its dramatic range expansion coinciding with Ivy season is very similar to that of Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae). Perhaps there is a connection?

@StevenFalk1 @DipteristsForum @ChrisRaper @RyanM_Sussex @sjthomasbotany @iancbeavis @FarmInvertsUK @jones44832 @PoMScheme @JeffOllerton Hardly any Vespula here. Nests are lasting later so no longer coincide with Ivy season but massive decline in numbers with little or no sign of vulgaris. Twenty years ago flowers would have been covered in vulgaris & germanica.

Recorded four of the five British Phasia parasite flies on the ivy flowers of my local town park last week: Phasia hemiptera, P. obesa, P. pusilla and and P. barbifrons. Never seen so many Phasia's on ivy before, yet some other flies are unusually rare on it this year.

Pipiza lugubris ♀ today on Ivy (Hedera helix) in Bengeo garden, nationally scarce with distinctive dark wing clouds. 109th species of hoverfly recorded here

@StevenFalk1 @iancbeavis All helix here. Young shoot showing downy white hairs as per BSBI crib sheet: bsbi.org/wp-content/upl…

@SJBKnott @iancbeavis Also worth double-checking if your Ivy is actually Hedera helix, because Hedera hibernica (right, with broader lower leaves and greener veins) is far more frequent & widespread in UK than most naturalists realise.

Ivy (Hedera helix) is wonderful resource for invertebrates in September. Colletes hederae ♀, Ectemnius sp. ♀, Vespa crabro ♂ & Volucella inanis ♀ today in Bengeo garden.

Callicera aurata ♀ feeding on Ivy (Hedera helix) today in Bengeo garden, magnificent rare large wasp-mimic hoverfly. #saproxylic

Stomorhina lunata ♂ today on Ivy (Hedera helix) in Bengeo garden, blowfly that is parasitoid of Locust. Every year, vast numbers migrate N from North Africa into Europe. It may be breeding in UK but, if it is, its host is unknown. #LocustFly

HUGE Flock of Glossy Ibis still at Chew Valley Lake this morning. In Herons Geen Bay (10:15/11:15) I counted 57 in flight from a video still, plus another 13 (11 +2) on the ground, a total of 70 birds. All but 2 flew off towards Herriots, where I saw most of them later.

@ivysuckle That's fine, only confusion species is Tomoxia bucephala which has shorter pygidium & lacks pair of black spots at top of elytra.

Sorting photos & came across this from Grafton Wood last week, a tumbling flower beetle on angelica - haven't met this species before, does it look right for Variimorda villosa please? 💚🍃

@ivysuckle @MikesInsectKeys Good candidate for germanicus male. I find judging these characteristics difficult from photos unless taken from above & specimen is perfectly flat.

A second appearance at light for this little mirid - perhaps the same one, an Alloeotomus. With more info on characters to look for (ty @MikesInsectKeys) - large eyes, no obvious hairs, antennae segment 2 twice length of 3/4 - seems to key to A. germanicus male? @SJBKnott 💚🍃

@ruth_newby @ladywalk_nr @WestMidBirdClub Cheilosia can be hairy. Hoverflies & soldierflies have very different wing venation. Chloromyia formosa male has unique combination of densely hairy eyes, bright green thorax & metallic abdomen.

@SJBKnott @ladywalk_nr @WestMidBirdClub Seems too hairy to be a hoverfly when looked at close up, but will post on the UK Hoverflies FB page for confirmation.

Flies from @ladywalk_nr : the hoverfly Chrysotoxum bicinctum (on the camouflage netting by Bittern Hide); soldierfly Broad Centurion (Chloromyia formosa) and a Kite-tailed Robberfly (Tolmerus attricapillus). #diptera @WestMidBirdClub