A great day in Cholsey

Tony’s meadow in Cholsey has been a survey site for the Hornet Robberfly (Asilus crabroniformis) because it is the center of a thriving population and he has been monitoring them himself for many years.

Today I went over there with my friend Carim, who had traveled out from London specially to see Asilus. The weather was a bit overcast but there were still plenty of Asilus in the meadow (Tony saw 27 on a transect) and I photographed quite a few tachinids on the Wild Carrot.

Bithia spreta (a fairly rare grassland tachinid)

Eriothrix rufomaculata (one of the commonest summer tachinids)

Eurithia anthophila (note the shiny tergite 5)

Lydina aenea (small, shiny, dark green including head)

Meigenia “mutabilis group” (female, so unidentifiable)

Phasia pusilla (note the lack of dusting and shiny parafrontal)

The rest of the flies are all tachinids – mostly fairly common summer species but it was nice to find Bithia spreta in Tony’s meadow for the third successive year.

A great day in Cholsey

Published by ChrisR

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