An all black sawfly, Dolerus anthracinus (common name Sooty Griever) sits on a white sweep net bag. A rare sawfly in Yorkshire, associated with good quality chalk grassland and found here at Frendal Dale in Millington Pastures, East Yorkshire.

2026 Sawfly season started for me today with 2 Sooty Grievers (Dolerus anthracinus) at Millington Pastures VC61. Associated with quality chalk grassland here and flies (very) early, so is it really as uncommon as 2 records in last 50 years suggests? @ynuorg.bsky.social #yorkshiresawflies #symphyta

Athalia rosae (Turnip Sawfly) generally seems to be having an incredible year...huge numbers everywhere. This one not quite so much...any ID possible on the spider? Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve yesterday. #yorkshiresawflies @britishspiders.bsky.social

Cimbex luteus (Willow Clubhorn) on Salix in the Howardian Hills today...there can't be many better looking sawfly larvae in the UK! #yorkshiresawflies #sawflies #symphyta #ukwildlife

Euura sylvestris on Salix

Pristiphora testacea on Birch

Strongylogaster multifasciata on Bracken

Hemichroa australis on Birch

Before you know it, many adult sawflies are on the wane and it's all about their larvae... Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today. (Names on ALT) #yorkshiresawflies #symphyta #ukwildlife

An attractive, quite large, grey and white sawfly larva, with black and yellow spots...for some reason found in an actinic bulb moth trap.

It's nice when your daughter turns up with a sawfly larva she found in her moth trap. 😀 Abia aenea (Cryptic Clubhorn) ...perhaps the more common of the Honeysuckle feeders in Yorkshire (and elsewhere). #yorkshiresawflies #symphyta #ukwildlife

Third time in a week I've seen Harlequin Ladybird larvae preying upon sawfly larvae (Euura poecilonota here). We've had so many aphids in E. Yorkshire this spring that Harlequins are in huge numbers and after whatever they can find apparently. @ukladybirds.bsky.social #yorkshiresawflies #symphyta

Two Meadowsweet-associated sawflies on Hogweed on banks of the R. Derwent in E. Yorkshire last week...Phylloecus xanthostoma (Meadowsweet Stem-sawfly) and Arge ciliaris (Meadowsweet Fusehorn). A good time to get out and find these beauties! #symphyta #yorkshiresawflies @yorkswildlife.bsky.social

The hoverfly Criorhina asilica (Pale-banded Bearfly) and the scarce sawfly Harpiphorus lepidus (Elegant Oakcutter)...2nd Yorkshire record...at Allerthorpe Common, East Yorkshire this pm. Chilly compared to recent weeks, but worth a quick trip out. 🙂 #hoverflies #yorkshiresawflies #ukwildlife

Stunning Spotted Regal-sawfly (Nematus septentrionalis) on Silver Birch in my daughter's garden this morning. Looking forward to the beautiful, spotty larvae in a few weeks time. 🙂 #yorkshiresawflies #symphyta #ento #ukwildlife #fatfeet

The sawfly Dolerus madidus. A male, so all black apart from a red band round the middle segments of the abdomen. The light is catching its fringe of pale hairs as it clings to a Juncus rush stem.

Dolerus madidus...a common early-spring sawfly associated with Juncus meadows and always one of the first sawflies to appear each year. East Yorkshire today. #sawflies #ento #yorkshiresawflies #ukwildlife #symphyta

Dolerus anthracinus

Claremontia brevicornis

Sawfly season kicks off with Dolerus anthracinus and Claremontia brevicornis...species of chalk grassland found on the Yorkshire Wolds today. Very few county records for either, as they fly so early in the year, before most folk are out looking in their habitat. #symphyta #ento #yorkshiresawflies

2024 was a good year for getting to grips with #sawflies on Larch, and so next year can be all about adding some more dots to the distribution maps, as they're so poorly recorded in Yorkshire up to now. 🙂 #ento #yorkshiresawflies #symphyta #ukwildlife