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This was seen on July 7th 2007, in a woodland clearing with low bramble bushes, just north of Reading, in Oxfordshire vice county.
Can someone tell me what sex it is ? The markings on the abdomen suggest it is a female Villa cingulata.

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I apologise for this dreadful photo, but it's just to show there was another Villa specimen present at the same site that day. This one was very active, rarely settled, and was a long way from the camera.

Chris.

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Was that on the Warburg Nature Reserve at Bix Bottom, near Henley? :) There is a strong colony there but I haven't heard of records further afield in Oxon yet. The other colonies are further west - though I am sure David Gibbs can give us a more authoratative summary of their distribution. As far a I am aware, the only alternative is V. modesta but that is found mainly in coastal counties.

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Hi Chris
These were seen at Gillsmithers Wood, which is the northern part of Crowsley Park Woods. I'll see if they're at Kent's Hill too.
Just been down to the sand dunes at Hayling Island, but sadly saw no V.modesta.

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Hi Chris

Definitely worth reporting that V.cingulata to David Gibbs - it might be a new site and quite significant. :)

Chris R.

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Ever since I saw this thread I've been thinking that it would be nice to find V. cingulata in Buckinghamshire (UK), and today it happened :D! This fly was actually found by my colleague Laura Fennell during a butterfly walk that we were running at Homefield Wood Wildlife Trust reserve this morning (in light rain). The site is chalk grassland and mixed woodland, some 10km east of the Warburg reserve population that Chris Raper mentions above.

(The same reserve produced the conopid Leopoldius brevirostris a few days ago, so it's doing pretty well for scarce Diptera B))

Thanks to both Chris's for alerting me to the possibility of this fly being found.

Martin