Colourful
Overly colourful, if we’re honest. If I’d had more energy this evening, I’d have selectively edited this to dampen the hemp agrimony down a bit, and let the Phasia hemiptera sing out in his full glory. As it is, I’ll … Continued
Empis tessellata
This is the largest UK species in the Empididae family, which are commonly called dagger flies, balloon flies or sometimes dance flies. The first of these names is the one that makes most sense to me, because they mostly have … Continued
Bee grabber
My first thought when I spotted this was that it was some kind of hoverfly I’d never seen before, and it took me a few minutes to identify it as a conopid – though I don’t feel as silly as … Continued
The flies have it
It usually starts with hoverflies, I think, which are mostly pretty, and generally pretty inoffensive – at least in their adult form, though I wouldn’t recommend the sight of a syrphus larva cutting a swathe through a group of aphids … Continued
Broad Centurion
My Facebook page post yesterday contained a photo of a female Broad Centurion, and here for completeness is her other half. The books would have you believe that you can tell the difference by their colours – while they both … Continued