I am afraid I forgot all about the blog and it was only seeing the excellent Northamptonshire Birds blog run by Neil and Eleanor McMahon that reminded me. Anyway I intend to get it going again so if you have any Diptera news or photos do let me know.
This year has been very poor for Diptera but the past couple of weeks or so have seen something of an improvement and maybe the season will turn out to be interesting. Particularly notable are the large numbers of hoverflies visiting umbellifers, especially wild angelica and wild carrot. Many of these are Eristalis species, mainly E. pertinax and E. arbustorum but the other common species are present if you look carefully. In my garden, marjoram is also attracting a lot of hoverflies at present. At least 10 species of Hoverfly have been around over the weekend. Also in my garden I have been invaded by the weed Soapwort Saponaria officianalis. It is a nightmare to control. However it has added a new fly record to my garden list as its leaves are mined by the Agromyzid fly Amauromyza flavifrons.
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