View allAll Photos Tagged hoverfly
The hoverflies are very lazy today, letting me get up close without even moving away with any determination
Hoverfly, Meliscaeva auricollis feeding on crocus pollen - ended up with a lot on it's feet which it promptly sucked off
Eristalis pertinax - Tapered Drone fly.
I found this very helpful for identifying hoverflies, British ones in particular.
www.bnhs.co.uk/focuson/hoverflies/html
Thank you for your friendship and comments etc. Due to chronic poor health I'm unable to take on new contacts but do my best to reply to comments. More of my shots can be seen on
Photographed in our garden, this Hoverfly was giving a demonstration of how these little insects got their name. The glistening white particles on the Hoverfly is pollen from the poppy flowers.
I am not exactly sure of the species of Hoverfly, so if anyone can identify it, I would be grateful!
Hoverfly feeding on azalea flower. Probably Eupeodes luniger. The sequence was ended by a patrolling hairy footed flower bee dive bombing the hover- now that would have been a good catch :)
This hoverfly shot was straight out of the camera, well, as it was shot in RAW I processed it to a jpeg in DPP (the canon freebie software).
Next time you're out in the countryside in the summer, look carefully for people who suddenly start jumping around waving their hands in the air and runnimng around in a tight circle, we've all seen it. This behaviour quickly spreads to any people around them, until there is a group of them doing some wild techno dance. Most of the time they're doing this because they think they've spotted a wasp (yellowjacket). Most of the time what they've actually seen is a hoverfly.
Hoverflies scare a lot of people because they look like wasps and bees, that's the point of their mimicry. Even for small animals and other arthropods, if you look like you can handle yourself in a fight, you get respect. It's only since I've been taking pictures of these insects that I've been able to overcome this natural fear and not wave my arms around like a demented air traffic controller when one of these comes within range. I've even rescued a few hoverflies and parasitic wasps from watery graves when I've seen them. Now when I see a stripey insect flying towards me, I wait a bit to identify it before acting like kid at their first all-nighter. This makes me look way cooler, but as my eyesight is failing, a whole lot more susceptible to being stung. Don't worry I have the solution, any time you see anything that looks remotely like a wasp or bee, jump around like a madman waving your hand in the air, better safe than sorry!
Hoverfly Volucella zonaria on a mission. Wonderful to watch this sequence but the biggest surprise was when she passed another volucella zonaria female coming out having already laid her eggs