Hmmm. No flies, no swallows or other insectivorous birds. So bearing that in mind, we’re delighted to have the start of a ‘fly list’ for Wheatland Farm and Popehouse Moor SSSI, courtesy Rob Wolton and the Devonshire Association, who visited recently.
It will sit alongside our flower list, for Popehouse Moor, started in 2009.
Rob found a southern yellow splinter cranefly (Lipsothrix nervosa). It’s not an especially pretty species, but is rather scarce, found in the UK and one other European country. Their larvae need saturated deadwood under a woodland canopy – and preferably quite large bits of wood at that. Allowing dead wood to lie where it falls, and leaving woody debris in the really wet bits of Popehouse Moor should help.
Rob found a hoverfly that parasitises ant nests, Microdon myrmicae, and that has its national stronghold on Culm Grasslands. He also found a kind of robber fly (this group are sometimes called assassin flies because they are ruthlessly predatory). The species found here was Leptarthrus brevirostris.
Rob’s fly list for Popehouse Moor SSSI is as follows:
| Anthomyia liturata |
| Chirosia cinerosa |
| Delia platura |
| Delia radicum |
| Pegoplata aestiva |
| Pegoplata infirma |
| Leptarthrus brevirostris |
| Pollenia angustigena |
| Clusiodes albimanus |
| Campsicnemus curvipes |
| Campsicnemus loripes |
| Dolichopus pennatus |
| Dolichopus picipes |
| Dolichopus plumipes |
| Dolichopus simplex |
| Dolichopus ungulatus |
| Gymnopternus aerosus |
| Gymnopternus cupreus |
| Gymnopternus metallicus |
| Rhaphium appendiculatum |
| Rhaphium monotrichum |
| Syntormon aulicus |
| Syntormon sulcipes |
| Clinocera fontinalis |
| Dolichocephala oblongoguttata |
| Empis pennipes |
| Hilara cornicula |
| Phyllodromia melanocephala |
| Rhamphomyia tibiella |
| Fannia armata |
| Fannia similis |
| Suillia bicolor |
| Meiosimyza affinis |
| Meiosimyza rorida |
| Minettia longipennis |
| Tricholauxania praeusta |
| Austrolimnophila ochracea |
| Dicranomyia autumnalis |
| Dicranomyia fusca |
| Erioptera fusculenta |
| Euphylidorea aperta |
| Helius flavus |
| Helius longirostris |
| Lipsothrix nervosa |
| Lipsothrix remota |
| Molophilus appendiculatus |
| Molophilus medius |
| Neolimnomyia filata |
| Ormosia nodulosa |
| Phylidorea fulvonervosa |
| Pseudolimnophila sepium |
| Azelia zetterstedtii |
| Eudasyphora cyanella |
| Haematobosca stimulans |
| Hydrotaea albipuncta |
| Musca autumnalis |
| Mydaea urbana |
| Myospila meditabunda |
| Phaonia incana |
| Phaonia pallida |
| Thricops semicinereus |
| Geomyza tripunctata |
| Opomyza germinationis |
| Chrysopilus cristatus |
| Rhagio scolopaceus |
| Sarcophaga sinuata |
| Scathophaga stercoraria |
| Renocera pallida |
| Sepsis fulgens |
| Cheilosia albitarsis sens. str. |
| Cheilosia variabilis |
| Chrysogaster solstitialis |
| Eristalis arbustorum |
| Eristalis pertinax |
| Helophilus pendulus |
| Melanogaster hirtella |
| Microdon myrmicae |
| Orthonevra nobilis |
| Platycheirus rosarum |
| Rhingia campestris |
| Sericomyia silentis |
| Syritta pipiens |
| Syrphus ribesii |
| Volucella bombylans |
| Volucella pellucens |
| Dufouria nigrita |
| Lydella stabulans |
| Nephrotoma quadrifaria |
| Tipula oleracea |
Additionally, these species were found around the main wildflower pond at Wheatland Farm:
| Botanophila striolata |
| Sicus ferrugineus |
| Sapromyza quadripunctata |
| Lonchoptera bifurcata |
| Anasimyia contracta |
| Lydella stabulans |