The Humble Hoverfly

2016 has not been kind to Britain's hoverflies. Because the British Hoverfly Recording Scheme is the best there is - based on the hard work of some very dedicated people and having plugged itself into social media, allowing it to collect over a million records in the last few years - we can be pretty sure that hoverfly numbers are currently well down on where they usually are at this time of year. The late, wet, windy Spring was hard on the first generation to emerge this year, and the hot dry period that followed in the South and East finished more of them off. Consequently, the numbers emerging in the second (and in some cases third) generations are well down, which means that next season is likely to be adversely affected too. A worrying trend. 

I like the humble Uriah Heep hand-rubbing pose in this shot. In reality of course she was just cleaning some of that sticky pollen off. Not a vintage shot, I didn't quite nail the focus on those eyes. 


The Footballer, Helophilus pendulus. Nikon D7200 f11 100mm 1/160 ISO 720. Two image focus stack.