We’ve been busy making artificial rot-holes for hoverflies!! Wait a minute hear us out, there’s method to our madness!!

Karl Wotton, Senior lecturer at the University of Exeter’s College of Life and Environmental sciences says - “When people talk about pollinators, they often think of the domesticated honeybee that has been part of our lives for thousands of years. In contrast, hoverflies don't have this history, and bees often get undue credit from the casual observer as many hoverfly species are easily mistaken for bees.”

Writing in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences journal, Karl and his team argue the insects are sometimes even more effective pollinators than bumblebees and that their role in fertilising and protecting crops is often underestimated. “Hoverflies show immense potential as alternative managed pollinators and in addition, hoverflies provide ecosystem functions not seen in bees, such as crop protection from pests, recycling of organic matter and long-distance pollen transfer."

So, we’ve teamed up with ecological consultancy specialists Ecosupport with this latest wildlife enhancing R&D project which aims to recreate an important, and sadly now disappearing, kind of micro-habitat known as ‘rot holes’.

In nature, rot-holes appear in standing dead wood or fallen trees, however these are very often ‘tidied away’ from the public realm for various reasons relating to aesthetics and public health and safety. The upshot of this is that rot-hole habitat has now become scarce in many public places like parks, gardens, towns and cities.

This video clip shows the larvae of a hoverfly species known as a Dronefly (Eristails sp) thriving in an Artecology Hoverfly Lagoon AKA artificial rot-hole. The specialised hoverfly larvae are known as Rat-tailed maggots, the so called ‘rat tail’ refers to the long tubes through which the maggots breathe. The maggots literally have bum-snorkels…imagine that!!

Of course not all species of hoverfly lay their eggs in the still or stagnant water found in rotting wood, but many do. When the aquatic larvae hatch from their eggs, they then feed on any organic matter that has accumulated in the rot-hole, in this way they are able to complete their complete metamorphosis lifecycle. This then is the habitat we’re recreating with our latest invention that we’re calling the ‘Artecology Hoverfly Lagoon’. Each pool is handcrafted using two special and very different types of ‘Natural Cement’ based concrete. The first concrete type is waterproof and strong, this is what holds the structure together and makes it durable. The second type is highly bioreceptive, this is used to sculpturally line the water holding part of the structure, bringing form complexity and detail.

Early results for our prototype rot-holes/Hoverfly Lagoons are excellent, with hoverflies happily completing their lifecycles in and around them.

Once our field tests are complete we hope to roll out our Hoverfly Lagoons across the UK through a series of Ecosupport collaboration projects.