Well..hello!!

Today our flowering Ivy was heaving with insects, including our first Ivy Bees of the year. While we were admiring the sheer abundance of visitors, Pete spotted a large golden hoverfly visiting flowers at the very top of the hedge.

Although it was fast-moving and flighty, this wonderful golden creature stayed for a while and we were able to confirm that it was a female Ivy Long-horned Hoverfly Callicera spinolae, the first that either of us had ever seen in our lives!

This species is graded as Vulnerable and is also a Priority Species listed in Section 41 of the 2006 NERC Act. It breeds in the wet rot holes of mature broadleaved trees including Beech, Ash, Field Maple and poplars and historically has been most frequently recorded around Cambridge.

It looks as though it might be moving north and west...so keep an eye on any flowering Ivy and take a photograph of any large golden hoverflies, if you can! If you have a good photo you can submit the record to iRecord.