I have plenty of life on my balcony.
#lizard #insects #butterfly #syrphid #aphids #spider #plants #flowers #gardening

Macro photograph of a maize calligrapher hoverfly on a blade of grass

Hoverfly in the grass. A pleasant surprise to find this wandering the back yard -

#macrophotography #insect #invertefest #hoverfly #syrphid #toxomerus #naturephotography #flies

Macro photograph of a very small syrphid fly, Orthonevra nitda, or "wavy mucksucker." It's on the yellow interior of a daisy. The eye is very patterned and detailed.

A little "wavy mucksucker" syrphid fly wandering on a daisy. There are some pretty far out eyes among the dipterans -

#diptera #flies #insects #invertebrates #syrphid #macrophotography #naturephotography

Lejops vittatus

Last week @unsociable-lapwing.bsky.social and I had 5 days in Norfolk and the unexpected happened.

Thought to be extinct in the county, at Great Yarmouth we saw 3+ Lejops vitattus hoverflies including a pair in cop!

@norfolknats.bsky.social
#UKWildlife #UKHoverflies #syrphid #NorfolkWildlife

A syrphid hoverfly is working on the anthers of a mutabilis rose, with pink petals in a blurry background

A hoverfly in a mutabilis rose, picking up some pollen -

#macrophotography #macro #MacroMonday #insect #flower #naturephotography #hoverfly #diptera #syrphid

#Meromacrus acutus #syrphid fly Nature is medicine for the soul. I get a buzz when she is around🤎

I get a buzz when she is around.🤎
Nature is medicine for the soul.
#syrphid fly #Meromacrus acutus

Yellow-legged flowed fly
(Melangyna novaezelandiae)

On New England aster
September in Chicago

Happy Fly-day, and fly-scape. 🪰

Hope the Heathrow fire hasn’t thrown your schedule into disarray.

#diptera #syrphid #flyday #flies #macro #photography #nature #flowers #gardens #gardening #bugs #scape

A little Hoverfly with big bug dreams.

#Syrphid #fly #nature #photography

A pink flower with yellow centre macro shot. There is a single hoverfly on the flower.

Surprised to see a #hoverfly this late in #Toronto

#syrphid #syrphe #syrphidae #entomology

Research Highlights Best Plants to Attract Important Pest Predators - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog (Beyond Pesticides, May 3, 2023) New research is highlighting the best flowers to plant in order to attract syrphid flies (also known as hover flies, or flower flies), an important pollinator and, in its larval stage, a predator of many common farm and garden pests. With spring in full swing, the results of the study, published in the journal Environmental Entomology by researchers at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), provide a helpful guide for growers wishing to avoid pesticide use and leverage biological pest management techniques. Study authors indicate that their research is partly a response to growers in the New England region moving away from planting brassicas due to the impact of the cabbage aphid. While there is considerable research on the benefits of syrphid flies for growers in other parts of the country, less is known about the species and flowers that support these insects in the Northeast. “This paper is the first report of the species composition of syrphids living and foraging in our local vegetable systems,” said study coauthor Anna Wallingford, PhD, of UNH. “We knew that syrphids as a group can provide important ecosystem services, and we knew plenty about the foraging behaviors of […]

#DN: New @UofNH study highlights the best #plants & #flowers in #newengland to attract #syrphid #flies, an important #pollinator & #pest #predator.

With #spring in #fullswing, a helpful guide to avoid #pesticide use! 🌼#organic @Wallingbug et al.

beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/…