Later a brief errand in Petersfield produced just one Med Gull and a Kestrel from the car en route and gave the opportunity for a walk round the pond in an unexpected break in the weather. About 125 Sand Martins, 30 or so House Martins and a few Swifts were forced down by the weather but gradually dissipated as the sun came out; a single 2cy Med Gull dropped in and the Reed Warbler in the bramble scrub was still chuntering away.
In the lee of the trees and bushes several Common Spotted Orchids almost flattened by 12 hours of rain, lots of flies whose name I can't remember and three Volucella bombylans in the same few square metres as last week, plus one Volucella pellucens. This Chrysotoxum, probably veralli, almost went unnoticed as it seemed very small. Anything else was wise to be ensconced in the undergrowth sitting out the howling gale!!
(Just remembered that the flies were a type of snipe fly, Chrysopilus cristatus)
