New hoverflies for NN02

Female Eupeodes latifasciatus at Cruachan Power Station 07/05/2013

I made my first visit of the year to Cruachan Power Station, Argyll, on Tuesday, coinciding with the hottest day of the spring so far. Temperatures reached 20ºC and I managed to complete my first set of Breeding Bird Survey transects and have a poke about for inverts.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the cold conditions until now, the spring flowers are well behind schedule, with no Cuckooflower, Bugle and Bluebell present – so hopes of an early Pearl-bordered Fritillary were not forthcoming. There was plenty of Primrose though, and masses of Lesser Celandine in the new wildflower patch we've been creating at Cruachan Visitor Centre.

These produced a number of decent flies including five 'firsts' for the site list – Eupeodes latifsciatus (thankfully a female, making ID easier), Cheilosia albipila, Melangyna lasiopthalma and Ferdinandea cuprea. In additon, there was a clear-winged Pipiza spp that I caught and which will need to go under the microscope for proper keying out.

Ferdinandea cuprea at Lesser Celandine, Cruachan 07/05/2013

This lot moves the site list up to 49 species and puts a few more dots on the map. The four species named have been only occasionally recorded in Argyll, based on maps shown by the Hoverfly Recording Scheme, and these are all ticks for NN02. F.cuprea was recorded in the neighbouring square (NN03) – but over 100 years ago.

In general, though, numbers and diversity of hoverflies at Cruachan were low – none of the really common flies were present, possibly due to the cold weather. Four species of butterfly were present, however, and the bird transects went well – although very few Wheatears had taken up territory in the upland parts of the site. Hopefully, we'll see the weather continue to improve and I'll make a second visit before the end of the month.

Cheilosia albipila at Cruachan 07/05/2013

The big white ghost

Adult summer Glaucous Gull at Longannet, Fife, 29/04/2013

Survey season is in full swing and I've contracts to carry out fieldwork in Fife, Argyll and Dumfriesshire. Hopefully the weather will start to improve – I reckon we must be about a month behind following the cold, dull start to the spring. Today (06/05) the Blue Tits in my garden are only just starting to collect nesting material for the bird box.

Winter was certainly lingering the other day when a scan of the gulls at Longannet Power Station's ash lagoons produced a very fine adult summer Glaucous Gull. This species breeds in the Arctic but small numbers spend the winter in the UK, mostly in Scotland. They are seen barely annually in Fife, so this is a decent record.

The Glauc was found with a bunch of juvenile Great Black-backed Gulls offering a great chance to compare their sizes. It is a truly impressive bird with that pale grey mantle and all-white wingtips – it stands out even better in flight when it looks like a big white ghost.

Adult summer Glaucous Gull in flight at Longannet, Fife