Hello hivers and I hope you are enjoying this wonderful week.
Today I am going to show you one of my favourite insects. The humble marmalade hoverfly, and this blog is my entry into the Amazing Nature Contest Entry: Thematic Challenge - #1/11/21
Marmalade hoverflies (Episyrphus balteatus) are some of the most familiar insects in our gardens, meadows and many other habitats throughout Europe, North Africa and North Asia.
They do hover and that is why they are called hoverflies.
Because Marmalade hoverflies mimic bees and wasps one sad fact is that people kill them thinking they will be stung. This is such a shame as these gorgeous little insects are completely harmless. How sad is that:(
So the next time you see one hovering, please don't harm it and leave it alone.
When I did my research for this blog, I was fascinated to learn that they migrate!
I was shocked and amazed to learn that Maramalade Hoverfiles head south in early Autumn to spend the winter in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. This can be a distance of thousands of miles.
Their offspring come back in Spring to lay eggs and so the cycle of life starts over again.
Now marmalade hoverflies are named because of their orange and black bands and are approximately 9-12mm in length. So they are tiny little guys, which makes their migration for me all the more remarkable. I think another reason I like them so much, is I love marmalade, and most mornings will eat toast with marmalade. Do you like marmalade too?
We as humans can learn so much from the animal world, and to aid their flight, hoverflies climb upto very high altitudes. They then take advantage of strong tailwinds to help them reach their final destination. Pretty clever huh?
The marmalade hoverfly is not a particularly efficient pollinator. It is small and not very hairy. The lack of body hair really is a disadvantage, because pollen transport depends on having abundant body hair. However, even handicapped with next to no body hair, the marmalade hoverfly is known to improve the yield of strawberries.
For your reference I have shown a picture of another favourite insect of mine the buff-tailed bumblebee, just look how hairy the bee is compared to the hoverfly, that is why bees are such amazing pollinators.
A marmalade hoverfly carries an average of 10 pollen grains from approximately three plant species. This is not much when you compare it to a bee but when you think there are millions and millions of hoverflies then this adds up.
This picture was from my garden when I was lucky enough to capture two of them on a little plant. I am fortunate that I do talk to animals and they seem to be natural models for me. All these pictures are taken with my Haifury smartphone in either my garden or my local park in Kirkcaldy Scotland.
There we have it, and some of the marmalade hoverflies I have been fortunate enough to capture on film. They are awesome and colourful members of our amazing nature and you can see why I like them so much.
Thank you so much for reading and visiting!