Flagrant

One of the things I've noticed this season is a fall in the number of Helophilus hoverflies around our wildlife pond. Since we put in this pond during lockdown in the summer of 2020 it has been very popular with these hoverflies, and on several occasions I've recorded Helophilus trivittatus and Helophilus hybridus there, as well as the more common Helophilus pendulus. This year though I've only seen H. pendulus in the garden, and up till now not all that many of those.

Today however, the Tiger Hoverflies were out in force: there were two pairs in cop on the leaves of different emergent plants, and at least another four spare males patrolling the pond in the hope of getting lucky. The noise the unattached males were making as they repeatedly clashed with each other over prime perching-and-watching spots was positively waspish, but with the season drawing towards its close and the weather becoming unreliable, I guess the stakes are getting higher: they won't survive the winter, so if they're going to complete their life cycles successfully, they need to breed as soon as possible.

My only issue with getting this photo was moving slowly enough not to startle the pair into flight, because they will move very readily, sometimes right up into the trees, without breaking the copulatory tie. Having achieved that very small feat I left them in peace. I paid several return visits to the pond over the next hour in the hope of seeing one of the females ovipositing, but I wasn't lucky enough to see that interesting process today.

R: C5, D6.