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Lassioglossum prasinum - distinctive heather bee

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Submitted by MattPrince on

Got shown a nice lassioglossum by John Walters on the weeked - I expect many of you are already familiar with it - l.prasinum. Its a heather specialist, quite big for a lassioglossum (relatively speaking!) and the males which were in evidence, have a red tipped abdomen (hard to see without capture). Females have white hairs extending along the sides of the tergites. Easiest to find visting on the edge of bare patches amongst heather. Quite a restricted range according to the BWARS map - worth looking out for and submitting records perhaps....

Ringed Border at Parke NT, Devon

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Submitted by MattPrince on

On the evening of the 25th July, Nicola, Myself and Andrew Cunningham headed out to Parke, a NT owned estate near Bovey Tracey on the edge of the moor. It was a Devon Moth Group event and after a hot day we were hoping there might be some good mothing to be had. We met up with NT ranger Fred Hutt and the guvnor of Devon mothing Roy (the nailer) Mcormick and headed down to the river with a small group of lepidopterists and out into one of the fields were Roy already had two portable traps set out.

Whilst waiting for it to get dark I had a wander around as the site looked like it...

Bog Hoverfly - Eristalis cryptarum

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Submitted by MattPrince on

One of the most local and hard to connect with hoverflies is Eristalis cryptarum, the bog hoverfly.  Never present in huge numbers at any of its remaining sites, it is also quite flighty and can easily put up.   ...
At least it is fairly easy to recognise - in the field the impression is more dumpy and gingery than your average eristalis, and (unless its on marsh marigold) the all yellow legs stand out.
  So when the Devon Fly Group

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