Article by Daniel Marshall
Hoverflies are quite fascinating. I have frequently watched them just hovering under the Rowan tree in our garden, appearing perfectly still apart from their blurry wings, until a little fly intrudes on their patch and they veer off wildly to chase it away. However, my interest has never really gone beyond that, at least until now. I have spent a lot of time this summer trying to take pictures of all sorts of wildlife with my digital camera. Butterflies tend to get a lot of exposure, but I'm thinking of turning more of my attention towards hoverflies.
Hoverflies, like butterflies, sometimes stay still for a little while. This does tend to make them easier to take pictures of! It's a challenge, of course, not to scare them off by sticking your macro lens within a few inches of them (and a challenge not to turn the air blue as the hoverfly innocently flies away just as you were about to capture the perfect picture!), but as I have been discovering this year, the results can be well worth it.
I am by no means an expert on hoverfly identification, but taking pictures of them helps greatly in the identification of the commoner species. Episyrphus balteatus or the Marmalade Hoverfly is a common little fly, but when I took a picture of one last year I had no idea what it was until I looked it up later. However, the picture is now one that has stuck in my head, and identification in the field is a lot easier because of this. As a memory aid and encouragement to learn, taking pictures is very useful.
On my quests for the stationary hoverfly, I also start to appreciate the plants that they sit on. I could stand around all day in a sunny woodland ride with hoverflies buzzing past left, right and centre, but I'd never get a good picture. What I need are some good umbellifers, like Hogweed. Hogweed is a frustrating plant though – all those lovely hoverflies and other insects, completely preoccupied and ready to be photographed in all their glory, and then the sun comes out, reflecting light off the white flower heads and over-exposing your picture! Fortunately with digital photography it's just a case of snapping away until you get a decent picture (either that or learning the manual controls!).
Another advantage of digital photography is due to the fact that all photos are tagged with the date and time they were taken. This means I can gather up all my hoverfly pictures at the end of the year, and show them to someone more knowledgeable than myself, with the simple question 'What's that?'
If identification is possible, then we've got a record: the species; a date; I'm the recorder; I can remember where I took the photo, so that's a location too. In the case of hoverflies, every record helps – for the common Episyrphus balteatus, there are just 99 records on the BRERC database.
So, if you've got a digital camera (or if you are brave, a normal film camera!), get out next summer and take some pictures! You'll get frustrated, elated, but most importantly more knowledgeable about these under recorded species, and even get some records into the bargain!
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