As soon as I saw today’s RDP word, I thought of these photos of a very large hoverfly, taken the other day in my garden. I was struck by its size obviously but particularly the yellow cone shape on its face. Further research has identified it as Volucella inanis aka the hornet mimic hoverfly which thankfully feeds on the larvae of wasps and hornets and is expanding its range Northward and so has reached Derbyshire now! [A larger, more orange version is Volucella zonaria also a hornet mimicer]
Adults feed on nectar and pollen and hence hoverflies are also call flower flies!
For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: Cone
That’s a great shot. I haven’t seen many hoverflies or honey bees. Nearly all white or buff tailed bumblebees and some tiny carder bees or possibly miner bees.
I’ve missed the marmalade flies this year – honey bees at the moment on Persicaria flowers
A bit of a whopper compared to the pretty marmalade versions – also in short supply in BC.
I’m, surprised about the lack of our most common marmalades since the hot weather often draws them over from the continent to add to the numbers of our own home grown ones but here’s some ominous data recently published:
“New Official Statistics from the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS) during Insect Week 2026. shows hoverflies declining by around a third in both their abundance and number of species recorded during this time,…” [source]
Hm. I have certainly noticed fewer bees of all sorts this year. But I have also seen some very miniature hoverflies.
some small black ones were visiting these mint flowers alongside this hornet mimicer
What a wonderful beneficial insect. Finding a new insect and one that has such a great disguise is fabulous. Great macro photos too Laura.
Thanks for joining in RDP 😀
thank you for providing a prompt which gave this remarkable insect an airing