Andrew McGleish
@scotsguyinwales.bsky.social
Noticer of lifeforms but trying to focus on Hoverflies and Bees. Retired, so volunteering, enjoying being a papa, recording wildlife and learning. South Wales now. Lefty.
Music, books, art, nature.
Music, books, art, nature.
They're smart wee bees, easier when fresh. I've seen them at Merthyr Mawr as well as Kenfig. @liamolds.bsky.social found them nesting in old machine gun casings at an Army Training area last year.
June 1, 2025 at 5:33 PM
They're smart wee bees, easier when fresh. I've seen them at Merthyr Mawr as well as Kenfig. @liamolds.bsky.social found them nesting in old machine gun casings at an Army Training area last year.
Cheers, Another voice called it too though!
June 1, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Cheers, Another voice called it too though!
As for your wasp type, then I suspect something that small would need sending off to a specialist at the NHM or the NMS collections centre in Edinburgh. There is a Bees, Wasps and Ants group on Facebook, but it's busy.
@gavinbroad.bsky.social
#hymenoptera
@gavinbroad.bsky.social
#hymenoptera
May 29, 2025 at 8:27 PM
As for your wasp type, then I suspect something that small would need sending off to a specialist at the NHM or the NMS collections centre in Edinburgh. There is a Bees, Wasps and Ants group on Facebook, but it's busy.
@gavinbroad.bsky.social
#hymenoptera
@gavinbroad.bsky.social
#hymenoptera
For your aphid, there is a good Aphid, Psyllids etc group on Facebook. I've also heard good things about influentialpoints.com and that they are quite responsive to emails.
InfluentialPointsDotCom: Statistics and Aphids, things that Bite and Suck
Influential Points .com: Statistics, Tabanids, Aphids. Things that Bite and Suck
influentialpoints.com
May 29, 2025 at 8:17 PM
For your aphid, there is a good Aphid, Psyllids etc group on Facebook. I've also heard good things about influentialpoints.com and that they are quite responsive to emails.
I get the frustration. I've learned a lot from various groups on Facebook, but as the season gets moving they get very busy and posts just get lost in the scrum. Do you look at Steven Falk's Flickr account? Very useful.
May 29, 2025 at 7:10 AM
I get the frustration. I've learned a lot from various groups on Facebook, but as the season gets moving they get very busy and posts just get lost in the scrum. Do you look at Steven Falk's Flickr account? Very useful.
So many insects just can't be identified from photos. Assuming an expert even sees the photos in the first place you might be lucky to get to genus for some flies.
May 28, 2025 at 10:52 PM
So many insects just can't be identified from photos. Assuming an expert even sees the photos in the first place you might be lucky to get to genus for some flies.
And we did, but not many in the cloudy windy weather. This Sericomyia silentis was the showiest of the day, and waited till back at the car park. I see I've even got a selfie in the reflection.
@sewbrec.org.uk @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
#Hoverflies #Syrphidae #Diptera #Sericomyia
@sewbrec.org.uk @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
#Hoverflies #Syrphidae #Diptera #Sericomyia
May 27, 2025 at 8:18 AM
And we did, but not many in the cloudy windy weather. This Sericomyia silentis was the showiest of the day, and waited till back at the car park. I see I've even got a selfie in the reflection.
@sewbrec.org.uk @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
#Hoverflies #Syrphidae #Diptera #Sericomyia
@sewbrec.org.uk @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
#Hoverflies #Syrphidae #Diptera #Sericomyia
Reposted by Andrew McGleish
@scotsguyinwales.bsky.social leading a hoverfly walk (hoping he finds some 😁)
May 24, 2025 at 11:23 AM
@scotsguyinwales.bsky.social leading a hoverfly walk (hoping he finds some 😁)
As a follow on, I carefully dismantled one very aphid-covered Brassica earlier in the week, it needed to go in the compost bin. I came away with several Syrphus Hoverfly larvae to raise. Result!
May 15, 2025 at 7:56 PM
As a follow on, I carefully dismantled one very aphid-covered Brassica earlier in the week, it needed to go in the compost bin. I came away with several Syrphus Hoverfly larvae to raise. Result!
Can anyone smell cats?
May 1, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Can anyone smell cats?
I found my first garden record yesterday,not on the Pulmonaria but on the Purple Sprouting Broccoli which is flowering profusely. Bees do seem to love brassicas.
April 28, 2025 at 7:39 AM
I found my first garden record yesterday,not on the Pulmonaria but on the Purple Sprouting Broccoli which is flowering profusely. Bees do seem to love brassicas.
They're fab, eh? It was zooming about too fast for photos, soI netted it, and held its legs for my record shots. It then sat there and groomed after I'd released my grip. Would have been rude not to take a few more snaps. Funnily enough it was feeding on Purple Gromwell, which is also pretty rare.
April 9, 2025 at 9:49 PM
They're fab, eh? It was zooming about too fast for photos, soI netted it, and held its legs for my record shots. It then sat there and groomed after I'd released my grip. Would have been rude not to take a few more snaps. Funnily enough it was feeding on Purple Gromwell, which is also pretty rare.