Blotch-winged Hoverfly

A second day out surveying springs in Lincolnshire, in perfect weather. We started at a spring-fed waterfall in Stoke Rochford Park, a beautiful feature with tufa cascades down each side, and tumbling mats of opposite-leaved golden-saxifrage and hart's-tongue ferns, whose new fronds were just unfurling (see extra). For the first time this year there were plenty of ninsects on the wing, including the very distinctive blotch-winged hoverfly Leucozona lucorum which is often found on lush herbaceous vegetation in damp woodland and well wooded areas and orange-tip butterflies flitting around the cuckoo-flower and occasionally stopping to nectar on the wood forget-me-not.

The afternoon was spent around a couple of springs and an extensive seepage area on the bank of the River Witham just south of Grantham. I'd never visited this part of the river, and was stunned by its beauty - an unspoilt stretch with a meandering course and some magnificent riverside alders. The grassy slope was surprisingly species-rich, with masses of pignut and locally frequent dropwort and betony - an under-rated area