Cheilosia caerulescens

I have watched my mother's patch of house leeks for several years now, hoping to detect Cheilosia caerulescens. on one occasion I found a single mine, but no real evidence that the fly was here. Today there was a big change. The patch looked very sorry for itself as can be seen in the accompanying photos.

This is a species that was introduced by the horticultural trade, probably about ten years ago. It is now on the march, probably augmented by additional imports. We know it from the London area (quite common) and from south-east England into Bedfordshire and as far east as Norwich. It seems to be recorded more frequently by photographers than specialist Dipterists and is therefore highly suited to recording by 'citizen science'. If you have a patch of house leeks then take a look, photograph them if there are signs of damage, and put these on iSpot or the Hoverfly Recording Scheme site (or UK Hoverflies Facebook page).

I tried providing links to two very nice shots of the hoverfly on Flickr but unfortunately Blogger could not locate them (they work for me).