View allAll Photos Tagged hoverfly
This hoverfly looks like a dangerous, stinging hornet but is quite harmless. This mimicry helps keep predators, such as birds away.I really like it's colour... shame it landed on the highest flower from me.
Hoverflies, also called flower flies or syrphid flies, make up the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while the larvae (maggots) eat a wide range of foods. In some species, the larvae are saprotrophs, eating decaying plant and animal matter in the soil or in ponds and streams. In other species, the larvae are insectivores and prey on aphids, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects.
This is a species of Hoverfly with I had been hoping to photograph for some time now, for obvious reasons of course. The first time I found one on the Mendips was nearly 8 years ago and searched ever since without much luck.
Seems I should have been looking a little closer to home as we discovered quite a few of these little hoverflies, just a short walk from our house.
On an earlier visit when checking the Wasp Spiders, we spotted one only to then watch a wasp grab it and duly dispatch it. The weather had not been ideal for macro photography so I have waiting for an opportunity to photograph one.
I had started to think I may have missed the window but managed to find one last weekend albeit quite late in the session as the wind had started to pick up. In the end managed to get a small number of sharp images with this one being the best.
Best viewed very large.
Visit Heath McDonald Wildlife Photography
You can see more of my images on my other flickr account Heath's moth page
Lots of hover flies about at the moment but funny they is not much else in the garden.
Does a FLY count towards a fishing theme.
Not many flowers have popped but the few that have are drawing in the regular visitors. This hoverfly takes advantage of this pretty yellow blossom.
Taken 22 May 2023 at the Alaska Botanical Gardens, Anchorage, Alaska.
The eastern band-winged hoverflies were out in force on the Gregg's mistflowers at the Wildflower center...
Hoverflies have been a bit on the scanty side this year, despite the amount of blossom we have had. However, a trip to my favourite flowerbed at the Pineapple near Airth revealed some old favourites.
Syrphus (probably) ribesii on ox-eye daisy
Hoverfly, visiting a dwarf Hypericum at Holehird Gardens. There are lots of unusual plants at Holehird and this Hypericum was just a few inches high.
Another shot below.
Hoverflies were out in force on this sunny morning in our back garden. These daises are the size of a ten cent piece and the flies themselves between 4-6 mm in length.
Hoverflies (Syrphidae) have the unique appearance of a bee or wasp with the eyes of a fly. They are superb pollinators. But perhaps their real benefit in our gardens is that they eat pests like Aphids.
Unlocking the Wonders of Hoverflies: Nature's Dual Heroes in Your Garden
www.diggers.com.au/blogs/learn/unlocking-the-wonders-of-h...
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You don't get the scale from this photo. The yellow flower is only about 1cm across and the hoverfly is tiny. I'm still not sure of the species.
Social distancing maintained 😊
Hoverflies are a fascinating group of insects, there are over 280 species in Britain. They are often brightly coloured and very common in gardens, many having black and yellow markings making it easy at a first glance to confuse them with bees and wasps, however hoverflies are totally harmless. They are good pollinators and the larvae of several common species have a voracious appetite for aphids! And best of all, most species are very patient whilst you get up close to photograph them. 😁
Created for the Kreative People Group Contest Green Day
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During one of my lockdown walks I was looking for bees to photograph when I spotted this tiny hoverfly sitting on the edge of a beautiful poppy flower petal. The fly can't have been larger than a few millimeters. Hence I had to crop a fair bit.
One from the same visit as the bees in the earlier post, one of a couple of hoverflies I found that morning.
There are lots of hoverflies to be found here and I didn't really have very much time to spend on these before the breeze started to pick up. The seedhead is Fleabane with great patches still in flower as you can see from the background colour.
This is not a species I've photographed before although very common and fairly easy to identify, the other common one around here is H.pendulus.
Best viewed very large.
Visit Heath McDonald Wildlife Photography
You can see more of my images on my other flickr account Heath's moth page
I captured this hoverfly at the Alaska Botanical Gardens in Anchorage. It was distinctly different from some of the other hoverflies so I submitted it to my iPhone app iNaturalist for identification where they've identified it as Helophilus intentus.
Taken 19 July 2018 at Botanical Gardens, Anchorage, Alaska.