Wildlife trust's call to protect hoverfly 'heroes'
The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) and the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) said hoverflies are the second most significant pollinator after bees.
They are also food for birds and help break down gardens' organic matter but intensive agriculture, pesticides and climate change have meant their population has declined, BBOWT and the RHS said.
In 2022, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature added hoverflies to its Red List of threatened species.
"Hoverflies are a tiny but essential part of the natural world," Andy Coulson-Phillips, BBOWT's principal ecologist, said.
"They are vital for pollinating both wildflowers and garden plants alike, so we'd love everyone across our three counties to invite them into their gardens or outside space."
Stingless hoverflies are often mistaken for wasps, bees or hornets. Common species include Batman, Footballer and Marmalade, named after their distinctive markings and colours.
Hoverflies have only one pair of flight wings but bees and wasps have two.
They can be easily identified by their behaviour, rather than the way they look, because they hover or zigzag around plants.
Vicki Hird, strategic agriculture lead for The Wildlife Trusts, said hoverflies are the "hidden heroes of our gardens and countryside".
"Whatever their shape, size or disguise, they are critical for our food security," she added.
The RHS's senior wildlife specialist, Helen Bostock, said the gardening charity wants people to "open their garden gates to hoverflies this summer".
She said: "Gardeners can help attract them by planting open, easily accessible flowers.
"In spring, they'll be drawn to aubretia. In summer, they'll love blackberry flowers, oxeye daisy, marigolds, fennel, cow parsley and poppies. Come autumn, they can be seen on heather, aster and even common ivy."
You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
City hopes to become 'pollinator capital'
In pictures: High hopes for Cairngorms hoverflies
Thousands of rare fly grubs released in Cairngorms
Hopes for record breeding season of rare hoverfly
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT)
Royal Horticultural Society
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Buzz Feed
3 days ago
- Buzz Feed
25 Genius Home Upgrades That Transform Daily Life
Sometimes, a small addition to your home can make such a big difference that you wonder how you ever lived without it. Recently, people on Reddit shared their favorite small home upgrade that improved their lives, and it's given me a ton of ideas. Here's what people had to say: "I got a smart bulb in my bedroom lamp that slowly comes up in brightness for 20 minutes before my alarm goes off. Because our bodies are programmed to wake with the rising sun, I actually feel more awake when the alarm goes off, rather than like a patient being jarringly shocked back to life by an alarm going off in the dark." —HaiKarate "We added smart open/close sensors connected to smart thermostats, so if someone leaves any window open, it sets temp high in summer or low in winter and then reverts to regular schedule when windows close. Also notifies me of which window opens/closes." "Ceiling fan on the back porch to keep bugs away." "A high-quality garden hose and nozzle. The nozzle is a nice-to-have, but the hose is just soooo much easier to use. Such a time saver when getting it out and hanging it back up. Less kinks and easier to move around." —DavidAg02 "Motion sensor switches in the laundry room and walk-in closets. My wife kept forgetting to turn off the light in her closet, so I installed them. Typically, we have our hands full moving folded laundry, so a motion sensor switch eliminates us from using our elbows/hands. Also keeps the wall and switch clean since we also go in and out to the garage through the laundry room." "I started keeping scissors in every drawer, and as they migrate away, I just keep replacing them until the house reaches equilibrium." "Keeping a battery on-hand for power outages is really nice. You could build a simple DIY solar system, or just use a bench (lab) power supply to keep the battery trickle-charged. Then, connect a cigarette lighter and USB car charger to the battery. Boom, you now have phone, laptop, and USB flashlight backup power." —960be6dde311 "Here's a relatively minor, but stupid life hack that came with my house: the light switch to the basement is installed upside down. Infuriating, right? Wrong! When you're going down the stairs with a basket of laundry, a downward motion turns on the lights. When you're coming up with a basket of laundry, and upward motion turns off the lights. It just works naturally." "My husband bought some smart LED light bulbs from Phillips that have an app to use them. You can adjust the color, set up a timer, and turn them on or off from the next county over. I'm a big fan! I especially love the color adjust feature. He has them set to a warm tone, almost peachy. It is so homey!" "Maybe not a home upgrade but a robot vacuum. We have a dog that sheds like a fool and a long-haired orange cat. It takes a minute or two to empty and brush out the container every morning. It keeps the hair under control, so I only have to actually vacuum every 10-14 days." —Unlikely_Kangaroo_93 "Top down window shades if you're in an area where the homes are close together, as well as magnetic door holders if you're the type who likes to have your windows open for the breeze." "Installing those outlet covers that include a nightlight built-in, especially on stair landings and outside the bathroom." "Outlets with USB/USBC ports included and code locks for front door." —gretchens "Adding a garbage disposal. We still compost food scraps, but cleaning the soggy crumbs out of the sink drain was always my least favorite chore." "A motion sensor for the driveway/front walk. If I'm coming home, it kicks on for me to pull in. If I'm already home, I know if anyone is outside or coming up the walk in the evening." "Dimmers in several rooms: main bathroom, baby's room, and baby's bathroom. It's such a lifestyle improvement to be able to dim the lights when we're getting ready for bed or in the morning. I also have a few smart ceiling lights in the living room and kitchen that I can dim with a phone app. I don't love connected devices, but it was the simplest solution." —1bananatoomany "I built a bar as soon as I moved in. It's been the center point of conversation, the hub of entertainment, and the greatest investment I've made in the home." "Blackout shades on my bedroom windows that slide into a frame that's attached to the window frame, so there's no light at all when I'm sleeping. I no longer wake up at dawn every day, and I don't have to put a sleep mask on to sleep in past 5 a.m." "We installed pot racks in our pantry, and we hang all our pots and pans there now. It improved access to the items we use all the time and freed up a ton of cupboard space." —AThousandBloodhounds "It's amazing how quiet new dishwashers and bathroom fans have become. If yours are 10+ years old, you'll be stunned at how much pointless noise you've acclimated to." "I installed timers on the light switches that control the outside lights. Saves the headache of remembering to turn them on before I go to bed and off when I wake up, and gives me some peace of mind when I am gone that the lights still change (like someone is home). Such an easy thing to do!" "A bidet." —Lotsavodka"My bidet has a motion-sensing light and lid built in. Also, heated seat and water."—lead_injection "Fingerprint locks on my front and back doors! With a push-button start on my car, my keys never leave my purse; it's wonderful! I can also control them from my phone from anywhere, so letting someone in to water my plants is easy." "We replaced our kitchen cabinet hinges with soft-close models. Much quieter when kids slam them late at night." "Two comforters for the bed! There's no reason to ever have to fight for covers." —PaxtonSuggs "Wall-mounted can crusher. You can fit more cans in the recycling and reduce trips to the larger bin in the back of our house." "Instant hot water heater. Makes nearly boiling water at the tap. If you like tea, need to quickly sanitize things, or boil pasta, etc, it's the best $400 I've spent on my house, I think." "I replaced the old smoke/CO2 alarms throughout my home after moving in. They look nice, the batteries last 10 years, they are very easy to get down if needed, and I have the option to silent test them, which is perfect for dogs. I can also silence them from the app (yep, my cooking has already caused one to go off), which comes in handy for tall ceilings and having to find a ladder during the chaos of one going off." "The cherry on top is that I can see the status of them on an app, including battery status. So if one goes off and I'm at work, I get a notification. The app is also set to bypass DND if alarms go off, so I would never miss an alert. I highly recommend it."—hark_the_snark And finally, "All our doors have handles, not knobs. Hands full? Just lean whatever you are carrying on the handle and it opens." Is there anything else you would add? Tell us all about it in the comments or via the anonymous form below!
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Plans submitted for new homes at waste facility
Plans have been submitted to redevelop a waste facility build up to 131 homes. The Shorts Waste and Recycling Facility is situated off St George's Lane in Ascot, Berkshire, and a project for its transformation was approved in December 2020. Earlier this year, plans for the site were submitted by Shorts Group, the landowners and Nicholas King Homes. The scheme has received support from some agents, as well as opposition from residents, with one saying the development would make the site "a concrete jungle". Th proposals are currently being considered by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM). The project would involve building 127 homes, with 22% of the development designated as affordable. A planning agent from Boyer wrote that it would "transform a brownfield site to provide much needed high quality homes and landscaped open space". However, neighbours and Sunninghill & Ascot Parish Council opposed the project. "This is a total over development of the total site and making it a concrete jungle," a resident wrote. Planning agent Duncan Gibson, who was appointed by a neighbouring landowner, argued the design of the homes would be "too regimented". The parish councillors highlighted that 95 trees would be felled, and that the detailed application diverges too much from the approval in 2020. They also argued 30% of the homes should be designated affordable. On Wednesday, a fire erupted at the facility at about 19:30 BST. Shorts Group, which runs the waste centre, stated in a post: "Whilst we do not know the cause, we suspect that the fire was started from an exploded lithium battery in our waste pile." You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Similar stories Final go-ahead for 200 village homes Developer reveals 1,200-home plan on farmland site Hundreds of homes approved after tied vote Related Links Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Yahoo
Keeping up with watering, picking and deadheading in the heatwave
Well, the sun lovers among you certainly don't have anything to complain about. We have had the second official heatwave of the year this week and it has again been a challenge to get much gardening done, apart from keeping up with watering, picking and deadheading. If, like me, you have taken all of your indoor plants outside to a shady spot for a summer holiday, you should see that they are really enjoying it. Mine definitely need less water outside and they seem to flourish in their little summer community, rubbing leaves with plants they don't see all winter, putting on new growth in the dappled sunlight and clearly enjoying the drop of liquid seaweed they get when I am feeding the other pots each week. Laura Strand Sam Stark-Kemp Hampton Court 2025 (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) I have some clivia which were originally my great-grandfather's and must be nearly 100 years old. They have been passed down three generations already, divided and shared out between great-grandchildren. They have been much neglected and, in some cases, have not flowered for years, but the recent summer holiday regime clearly suits them and they now flower every summer under the shade of the wisteria and vine canopy. I was at RHS Hampton Court Flower Festival at the beginning of the week for the wonderfully exciting moment when two of our Diploma in Garden Design students, Laura Strand and Sam Stark-Kemp, were awarded a Gold Medal and Best City Pocket Planting for their Teucer Wilson: Green the Gap Garden. Certificate in Practical Horticulture revising pruning (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) They have worked incredibly hard over the past days, weeks, months, putting together this design, sourcing plants and hard landscaping, as well as Teucer Wilson's beautiful sculptures at the same time as producing outstanding work for their diploma. The awards were well deserved, and we fully expect they will go on to be very successful designers in this part of the world and beyond. Laura and Joe Carey from Holt, outstanding designers and tutors on our diploma, scored their second Gold Medal of the season with the Alan Partridge Sound Bath Garden, after their success at Chelsea. Their beautiful planting and touches of Norfolk in the locally sourced larch fencing and the metalwork created by local craftsmen was interspersed with sculptural speakers and Alan's voice was to be heard throughout the garden. 100 year old Clivia on summer holiday (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) The unusual combination of horticulture and humour was a really welcome innovation at an RHS flower show! Meanwhile, the Certificate in Practical Horticulture students were busy revising for their assessment and by the time you read this they will have completed their assessment, on, we hope, a slightly cooler day. And we had our last Advanced Practical Gardening session before the break. It is a really popular monthly course for experienced gardeners: get in touch if you would like more information. These are some of the first courses next term which have spaces available. Let us know if you'd like to join us: · Introduction to Garden Design – 11th September · Certificate in Practical Horticulture – 12th September · Advanced Practical Gardening – 17th September · Plants for Free – 24th September · Border Renovation – 1st October Digitalis ferruginea (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening) Plant of the Week Digitalis ferruginea is our second unusual foxglove and a favourite of ours. Pointed spires of slender, honey-coloured, tubular flowers, which Claire Austin says look like choir boys in full song! They are lined up on slim, closely packed spikes above a rosette of deep green, slender, evergreen leaves. This is a short-lived perennial foxglove, unlike most of its biennial relations and it has a striking, even exotic appearance, standing very erect right now in the borders. Digitalis ferruginea is easy to grow from seed and is one to impress and interest your neighbours and visitors. Contact us via or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
