First time lucky

Little Hill - Friday 27th May 2016

After much um-ing and ah-ing about the weather I decided to make my annual trip up Little Hill, the pimple at the southern end of The Wrekin, to see if the "Scottish" hoverfly was still in residence.

I no longer find the trip up to Little Hill very interesting as forestry work around the Wrekin has widened the paths into tracks, hardcore laid down and the verges hacked back to make way for the wider tracks and drainage ditches.

So with the prospect of little to distract me I strode out for the summit. There were, however, two distractions. One, a cuckoo calling in a neighbouring coppice; two, a walker who was lost, without a map, who needed directing to the top of the Wrekin!

When I got to the top of Little Hill it was warm and the sun was shining. There were plenty of insects buzzing around the Scot's Pine. After a while I was able to pick out the characteristic colour and shape of Callicera rufa about 4 metres above the ground.

It was kept very busy and only rested for a few moments before flying off to do whatever it needed to do before returning to roughly the same spot for a pause.

I took lots of photographs but these were mainly of the bark of the Scot's Pine where the hoverfly had been as my reactions were not as swift as the hoverfly's



This is now the sixth year that the hoverfly has been found at Little Hill so I think it is safe to say that a colony has been established. Long may it remain.

Only one distraction on the way back to the car - the cuckoo was still calling.