Helophilus pendulus
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
Helophilus pendulus is a European hoverfly. Its scientific name means "Dangling marsh-lover" (from Greek helo-, "marsh", -phil, "love", Latin pend-, "hang"). It is a very common species in Britain, where it is the commonest Helophilus species. It is found throughout Europe from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, westward to the Faroe Islands and Iceland, and through eastward through Russia from the Kola Peninsula south to Crimea and across Siberia to the Pacific Ocean.
It also has the common name sun fly, although this is probably based on a mis-reading of helo- as helio-. Like other members of the genus Helophilus it has black and yellow longitudinal stripes on the upper surface of its thorax. The abdomen is patterned with yellow, black and grey, and for this reason it is sometimes called the footballer. It has a black central face-stripe. It has a wing-length of 8.5–11.25 mm (0.33–0.44 in).
The tergites two and three are yellow patterned with black. The black pattern consists of a band across the apex of the tergite (on its discal part only, not extending to the sides), and stripe down the centre of the tergite, and a black band across the full width... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 6 | Amsterdam | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 7 | Copenhagen | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 8 | Leeds | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | Hamburg | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Warsaw | 🇵🇱 Poland |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Sun Fly sighting in Manchester on a given day, based on 143 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 28th most-seen of the 458 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Sun Fly in Manchester on a given day, against under 5% in November to February, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sun Fly sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 30
Of the 30 cities where we can rate Sun Fly sightings, Manchester ranks 3rd at about 20%. The best odds are in Birmingham (United Kingdom, about 30%) and Liverpool (United Kingdom, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sun Fly is recorded against all the insects logged in Manchester (143 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
