State of the Syrphs - Pre-CNC update and strategising

Hello all,

With the ides of April behind us, and despite the weather, it looks like my estimate of 2500-3000 observations this month will be too low. We are already approaching 1500 and the City Nature Challenge looms! It starts on April 26th. Last year the period of the City Nature Challenge saw more than 1300 hoverfly observations uploaded.

For those not familiar with the City Nature Challenge you can read all about it here. It includes four days of observing (26th-29th) and nearly a week more to upload and identify things. For the purposes of the City Nature Challenge it is important that as many observations as possible are identified by May 5th. You can use this link to identify these observations specifically. If you would like to help this intensive ID effort you might want to familiarise yourself with how to identify some of the top 10 species from last year, which accounted for well over 500 observations:

1. Epistrophe eligans
2. Eristalis pertinax
3. Episyrphus balteatus
4. Myathropa florea
5. Melanostoma scalare
6. Helophilus pendulus
7. Syrphus ribesii
8. Platycheirus albimanus
9. Rhingia campestris
10. Leucozona lucorum

All the best!

Posted on April 14, 2024 10:10 PM by matthewvosper