Hooray for Horseflies!
30th July 2007, MondayHighlight on the weekly butterfly/dragonfly count today was a creature belonging to a less well appreciated group of insects. It was a female Saltmarsh Horsefly (Atylotus latistriatus, below), a rare species which as the name suggests is associated with saltmarsh in Britain. Despite its rather fearsome aspect, this species rarely bites humans (though other warm-blooded creatures are less fortunate) and in fact is more likely to be found feeding on flowers. Among the dragonflies/butterflies the most interesting records included a couple of Brown Argus butterflies, Brown Hawker and Small Red-eyed Damselfly (bottom) behind Bourne’s.
Saltmarsh Horsefly
Small Red-eyed Damselfly