Hoverflies: A Gardeners Best Friend.

Narration by Dave Gillies. Original score by Richard Collins.
You can listen to, and buy the soundtrack here:

We are used to seeing hoverflies everywhere. They are very common insects in the UK. What their larva eat will amaze you, and hopefully encourage people to appreciate what they do for your garden.

[raerae]

Dont use insecticides. If you need to, hit insects with water from a hose. Mites especially hate excess moisture. Prune to encourage airflow. Plant flowers that encourage beneficial insects. Umbral-type flowers like parsley and carrot are special faves. But look it up and plant some out.

[itbeginswithi]

The first time I discovered hover flies was two days ago, did my research & caught one this evening while hovering on my mint plants. The fact that they feed on nectar while the larvae feed on aphids changed the way I perceive the species. And to top it off, one of my amazing channels that almost never posts shared a video about what I've been amazed by today tonight. Huge thanks for the professional content you produce!

[ampoo]

I like these flies when I was a little girl bc I could take a good look at them. They are surprisingly cute and beautiful

[Indigoharpy]

I love my hoverflies in my yard. They're so beautiful and cute. I had never known they even existed before I started planting

[Warriorking.]

I never knew hoverfly larvae were carnivorous, I learnt something new today.

[RogerDDog]

The other day I was at the bottom of the garden, closely examining a climbing rose. It was 9am warm sunny and very still. Around the rose were a cluster of about 6 Hoverflies which I always marvel at because of their effortless ability to hover in position like tiny drones. I instinctively held out my open hand under their little squadron. One then hovered about an inch above, then gently it landed on my palm. Things like that shouldn't elate me but it did. I kept my hand there until it decided to lift off and rejoin the others. In this garden I have also observed the fascinating hovering Humming Bird Moth which I was able to video and uploaded to Youtube.

Excellent video by the way. Fill the screen to see this amazing creature up close!

[MrWuddles]

wonderful
I'll have a new happiness when seeing hoverflies in my garden
Thank you

[RJLicksRocks]

Hoverflies seem like total bros. Dont sting. Just wanna pollenate and lay their eggs so their kids can help take care of your sweet garden.

[jpe]

What I find especially cool about flies (Diptera) in general, and hover flies in particular, is that they use only a single pair of wings to fly, and the hind wings have evolved into the most incredible mechanosensory organs (called halters) which work to sense rotational movement and are what allow flies to, uh, *fly* so well. High-speed macro photography will show the club-like halters banging up and down in counterpoint to the flapping of the wings, acting like a vibrating structure gyroscope, transmitting rotation in the plane of oscillation via the campaniform sensilla (sensing strain loads similar to Golgi tendon organs in mammals) and chordotonal organs (stretch receptors).
I have used the fact that Diptera evolved this function with modified hind wings and insects in the order Strepsiptera have convergently evolved similar functionality with their fore wings as evidence against “intelligent design” (but unfortunately proponents of ID are usually too uninformed of the basics of insect anatomy that they dismiss the argument as with “who can know the mind of God”)
Anyway, I loved the footage of the larvae eating aphids! I’ve never seen that before.

[daveadams]

DNA is incredible - how the young already know what to do with zero teaching about what to eat etc

[iakonasisler]

imagine how horrible they'd be at hunting if the aphids just like...walked away

[ReptilianTeaDrinker]

I'm allergic to plants and pollen, so sadly I can't have plants or grow a garden of my own, but this is fascinating and I have so much more respect for hoverflies now! Like bees, they're friends.

[Hellefleur]

3:35 Aww, they probably eat the aphid sugar poop!
3:45

[prodrxxthefirst]

Great stuff once again, keep it up you guys, love it!

[sussybaka]

This was INCREDIBLE to watch! I've always been terrified of them, because they're loud and their print is intimidating. I assumed they were the large version of the smaller ones, whom I also believed were a type of sweat bee. I'm allergic to wasps/hornets so I'm already jumpy around anything that flies 😆 but now I can relax when I see these. Thank you!

[CogHoarder]

Is it just me. Or do Aphids tend to get eaten...a lot.

[BunnaySango]

My bug loving child is currently obsessed with these guys. I want to plant some flowers for them now

[Wydeedo]

Just had one of these little guys land on me and sit for a minute while I drink coffee! I finally found a fly that doesn’t torment me when I’m outside in the morning!

[DerFliegendeMocca]

i love how they start transparent and become more and more green xD

[WhenMattAttacks]

Hi I'm new, and I want to say this channel is absolutely incredible. It's informative, entertaining, and has unbelievably professional production. I cannot overstate how much I appreciate this channel for providing close-up looks at these animals and their lives that most people would never get the chance to enjoy. Best youtube find in a long, long time for me. Keep it up!!