Corona Wildlife Diary: Day Eighty-four

The uplifting role that wildlife plays in our lives becomes more vital than ever. So, for my own sanity as much as anything, I’m going to keep a daily diary of what I find around my garden. Post your pictures on the ‘Sussex Wildlife Trust Nature Table’ page.

Day Eighty-four 

I had a day off yesterday and, during a bit of sunshine, I was trying to photograph some of the Ashy Mining Bees which are nectaring in my wildflower lawn. This is the best photo I managed to get...

So I gave up on that idea. Then I saw a smart hoverfly which was patrolling a patch in the flowers. It hung motionless in the air so I thought I was in for a better chance of a photo.

Nope. 

So I cheated and grabbed my insect net and put it in a pot. It's one of my favourite hoverflies with smart, bright yellow markings Xanthogramma pedissequum.

I let him go and he was straight back to his little patch in the meadow and sat there in mid-air.

It got me thinking. Everyone loves bees don’t they? The recent revelations that our bees are in decline has prompted protests and petitions and highlighted the important service these buzzing pollinators provide to our planet. Without them our crops and ecosystems would collapse. Yet many other pollinators which provide the same service don’t get the same level of public support. So today I’m waving my flag for the hoverflies. 

Here's a hoverfly with an English name - the Marmalade Fly (Episyrphus balteatus) on my marmalade sandwich.

There’s something about hoverflies which just doesn’t make them as loveable as bees. Perhaps it’s because most of the time people mistake them for wasps. This isn’t totally our fault because that’s exactly what the hoverflies want you to think. The 283 species of hoverfly in the UK come in many shapes, colours and sizes but most of them sport yellow and black stripes making them easily confused for wasps, bees, hornets or bumblebees.

Volucella zonaria is our biggest hoverfly and mimics the Hornet - although it is completely harmless (Photo: Frank Vassen)

Vollucella bombylans.  "Nothing to see here folks. I'm just a tough bumblebee sitting on a leaf. I'm definitely not a harmless hoverfly."

It’s a strategy called Batesian Mimicry and was first proposed by Leicestershire lepidopterist Henry Bates in 1861. Hoverflies are harmless. They don’t sting and can’t bite but they have discovered you don’t have to actually be dangerous to deter predators – you just have to look like something that’s dangerous. 

You can try this strategy for yourself. Before your next supermarket shop, run round the car park until you're really sweaty and then cough continuously when you go inside. I guarantee you'll have the place to yourself.

Yet the hoverfly's devious mimicry isn’t the most incredible thing about them. Their wings are the things. Hoverflies (like all flies) have just two wings (half as many wings as bees and wasps).  Whereas other flies keep their wings straight hoverflies have the inclination to incline their wings and an angled downward stroke at a remarkable rate of 120 beats per second allows hoverflies to fly to a most amazing place: nowhere. Hoverflies have become the motionless masters of mid-air.

Holy hoverflies! It's the Batman Hoverfly (Myathropa florea). Can you spot the caped crusader's logo? (Photo: Marcelo Consolo)

It’s not all sitting around in the sky though. During their few days of life hoverflies fight, fornicate and feed and while busy collecting energy-giving nectar and protein-rich pollen they inadvertently provide that vital pollination service to our flowers and crops. And hoverflies have earned the title of ‘The Gardeners Friend’ because about 40% of them have a larval stage which is basically a tiny crawling stomach that roams around your flowerbed eating aphids. Pollination, pest control – next thing you know these beneficial little insects will be doing the dishes for us too.

This hoverfly stayed still for long enough for me to get a snap. The Footballer Helophilus pendulus in his stripey top.

So why not thank these friendly flies by planting some of their favourite flowers in your garden - parsley, fennel, borage, hebe, sedum and alliums - and consider putting in a pond no matter how small. Do your bit for the pollinators and they’ll keep the world working for us.