Even before we start a Wildwatch recording morning, Carys May of the West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre has made two identifications: an intimidating dark giant horsefly (Tabanus sudeticus) with huge eyes close together and a notch-horned cleg or horsefly (Haematopota pluvialis), which bit me.
As we walk through Pencoedtop, a former conifer plantation now being restored to moorland (rhos in Welsh), Carys moves slowly and looks hard. She spots a mining bee, one that can only be identified under a microscope. This one doesn’t collect pollen neatly in its leg baskets, but exits flowers covered in powder, which the female seals into her nest with her eggs. In a bank of brambles, Carys points out several marmalade hoverflies (Episyrphus balteatus), which look like slim wasps. These pollinators migrate at great heights from the continent. She says that, if in doubt, the county hoverfly recorder, like a kind of naturalist archangel, is quick to respond to queries.
