Hornet Robber Fly

Cloudy with sunny spells, 23°, light NNE.

A later than usual drive up visit to the hill today and 1½ hours spent there.

The Common Redstart still present along with 4 Common Whitethroat, 2 Chiffchaff, a Lesser Whitethroat, 3 House Sparrow, 2 Robin, 1 Yellowhammer, 5 Linnet and 3 Blackbird all in the same section of hedge. The Robins were quite aggressive towards the Warblers and chasing them from any lookout spots.

Very few insects present on the hill but a Hornet Robber Fly seen. Arguably our largest fly, it is a voracious predator of other insects but harmless to humans.

Mammals: Brown Hare.

Dragonflies: unusually a male Banded Demoiselle flew in from the south and flew over the hill. At least 500m from the nearest water. And a Southern Hawker also noted.

Butterflies: Large White, Holly Blue, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown.

There has been another influx of Painted Lady butterflies with at least 19 in Alan’s garden today. Sounds like a record count for the village!

Insects: Hornet Robber Fly.





from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2019/08/hornet-robber-fly.html

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