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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

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  1. Matt Prince

    The Hoverfly Thread

    Hi, They are often the commonest hoverfly, but a huge increase in numbers suggests mass migration - a known phenomenon with this species. Cheers, Matt
  2. Matt Prince

    The Hoverfly Thread

    Here's one from a moth trapping event at Offwell wood. Picture taken after a night in the cold cell (aka the fridge). Keyed out as female xylota segnis. I thought the cold of the fridge had done for it - but, despite appearances it flew off three minutes later !
  3. Matt Prince

    The Hoverfly Thread

    They all look like episyrphus balteatus (marmalade fly) to me even the 3rd one from your first post, though I've never seen one that dark before. The extent of the markings and depth of colour vary a lot, but maybe one of the more experienced hands could confirm my hunch that #3 is an extreme e...
  4. Matt Prince

    The Hoverfly Thread

    Yes it is indeed Scaeva Pyrastri - nice distinctive hover that one.
  5. Matt Prince

    The Hoverfly Thread

    Your fly has a deep v near the end of the wing - V for Volucella.. (In this case volucella bombylans, variation plumata because of the white tail) Cheers, Matt
  6. Matt Prince

    The Hoverfly Thread

    I'm not an expert, but I can rule out Eristalis - that genus is easy to identify with its whopping dipped vein, look aat the huge dip in this wing diagram - above the 'r4+5' in the following image:- Eristalis Wing veins
  7. Matt Prince

    The Hoverfly Thread

    As mentioned above I've started a thread for anyone interested in a hoverfly workshop in the Devon area (or SW for that matter) here Despite the high winds on Sunday, good numbers of V. Bombylans var. plumata on Hemlock Water Dropwort around Dawlish Warren, outnumbering the 'normal' form.
  8. Matt Prince

    The Hoverfly Thread

    Thanks for that tip Dave, I'll try it, as seeing fine dusting on the frons through plastic is problematic at best. I'm assuming your technique is to net them, extract by hand, then key them with a x10 hand lens. Ill probably keep the plastic bag for now though, as I find it useful for checking...
  9. Matt Prince

    The Hoverfly Thread

    Well that's a 1/4 of the students required, 1/3 if I can twist my other halfs arm a little. I'll see if I can get in touch with Roger Morris and maybe start a seperate thread, but I'll post back here when I have anything of wider interest (on the grounds that others might want to consider a...
  10. Matt Prince

    The Hoverfly Thread

    Just had a internet trawl for this sort of thing, and noted that on the Hoverfly recording scheme Roger Morris was offering training courses for the winter 2011/2012 - looking for classes of 12 in "North-East, North-West, Devon/Cornwall, Wales and Cheshire/Lancashire." with venue to be provided...
  11. Matt Prince

    The Hoverfly Thread

    Andrew, Bizarrely a couple of clear plastic bags are proving quite useful in the field, gives the opportunity to get a good x10 lens view (still not sure that x20 brings much to the party but thats another thread...) without killing the subject (though I've come close from sheer frustration...
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