The Drab Wood-soldierfly
26th June 2007, TuesdayNot a very good picture but a very interesting fly. This is a Drab Wood-soldierfly (Solva marginata), a nationally notable species associated with poplar, the larve living underneath the bark. Several individuals were found on and around the poplar near the Rye Harbour entrance to the reserve yesterday, and a quick check on Recorder revealed that this species has not been recorded in the Rye Bay area previously. Even better, Penny Green of the Sussex Biological Records Centre informed me that their database only contains four records of this species for Sussex, all of these from Lewes and the most recent nearly ten years ago!
Drab Wood-soldierfly