Day 247 - Prettily Flamboyant Pellucid Flies

Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens)

Hey everyone today's Day 247 and I have recently been at the insect festival over in York. The festival was in the York Museum Gardens where they have a lot of flowers and bushes that bees and flies like to pollinate. One that I found was the Cuckoo Bee, but that's yesterday's news. I went for a walk in Silton Forest again that afternoon and found an array of bees, moths and flies, including a couple of Pellucid Flies! I had never seen any of them before so it was nice to see a new species.

So, here are a few facts:

• I was a bit hesitant when I was taking photos as I thought it was a bee or a wasp but then I found out that it was a Hoverfly, so I was relieved and took photos galore!

There were quite a few feeding in the forest

• Thinking that it's a Bee or a Wasp is understandable as it was got a yellow stripe along its abdomen and it's exactly the same shape.

• Adult Pellucid Flies start to appear in May and June and start to subside in October, mostly found in June and July.

• The word Pellucid means translucently clear and if you could catch one of these beasties to look at it closely apparently you can see through its middle in the right light.

• The adult females seems to be able to enter the underground nests of common Wasps without being taken for an intruder and they lay their eggs here.

• When the eggs hatch they drop to the bottom of the 'Nest Chamber' where they feed as scavengers on things,

• These 'things' may include Wasp grubs and dead adults (as a team of course).

You can see this one feeding and pollinating at the same time!

• The adults feed on, well, flowers. They are important pollinators and like to feed on the nectar. 

• They are found in woodland clearings, hedgerows and gardens. They are also commonly seen around bramble at woodland edges.

• Finally, they are mostly seen in England and Wales, they also found in Scotland but not as much. There has been about 10 sightings in Ireland.

• The adults are one of the largest flies in Britain, they are about 15-16mm long with a wingspan of around 30mm.

• The adults live for an average of 12 days but can live as long as 35 days.

Here are some links to some more information:

Wikipedia - Pellucid Flies

NatureSpot - Pellucid Flies

UK Safari - Pellucid Flies

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.