ID please

[GREENWIZARD]

backgarden last night
like it's markings

[GREENWIZARD]

[nippie]

I don't know GW but they are great pictures and as you say lovely marking.

[isbister]

That looks like a beefly

[Barnowl]

Looks very like a beefly but where's the long proboscis?

[norfolklass]

I typed in flies on google images and found this:
http://www.ento.csiro.au/Ecowatch/Primary/diptera/pages/Scaptia_auriflua.htm
I know these are Australian, but the stripes and eye shape are very similar... but I also googled horsefly and they look nothing like yours, GW.
definitely not a beefly, although quite velvety: http://www.brantacan.co.uk/BeeflyX.jpg

[redimp]

It might take some identifying:

Stubbs, A.E. and Falk, S.J. (2002) British Hoverflies An Illustrated Identification Guide. Originally published in 1983 with 469 pages, 12 col plates, b/w illus.British Entomological and Natural History Society [ISBN 1-899935-05-3]. 276 species are described and their identification is made easy by the extensive keys, which incorporate over 640 line drawings. The 12 superb colour plates by Steven Falk show 263 specimens depicting 190 different species. Good information on the family. An extensively revised second edition was published in 2002. This incorporates the new species added to the British list since 1983 and includes many name changes. The keys have been extensively revised to include the additional species, and also to include a number of European species which are considered likely to be found in Britain. There are 17 additional black & white plates illustrating the male genitalia of the difficult genera Cheilosia and Sphaerophoria.

[Fork]

Its definately a Hoverfly

I poisted this some minutes ago and it ended up on a thread about apple trees dying.......how strange!.....I must be going senile.

[GREENWIZARD]

thanks for the feedback

[Robert_Brenchley]

It seems to be a Volucella, possibly zonaria.

http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/photos/img2270.htm

[Fork]

It seems to be a Volucella, possibly zonaria.

http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/photos/img2270.htm

Doesnt look like any of those two suggestions to me but Im no expert.With 250 different species in the Uk apparently,weve got some looking up to do  ;D

[Paulines7]

I think it could be the common hoverfly "helophilus pendulus".  Plenty of pictures found on Google.

[GREENWIZARD]

think your right P7
i've just been looking on the wild about britain site & that's the name that pops up on similar  postings

[Fork]

Yes I think you could be right with that.

Certainly looks like helophilus pendulus

Well done  :)

[Barnowl]

Once I learned that hoverflies may look like wasps but not only do they not sting but also they eat aphids I became quite fond of them. Haven't seen any this year.  They look very different in close-up - amazing photos GW.

[Trixiebelle]

Looks like a hoverfly to me.

Just out of interest, has anyone ever seen the larvae of these beasties?

I found some swimming in my onion feed water butt with rotting grass cuttings. Absolutely VILE things. Prehistoric almost.

http://www.entsoc.org/pubs/periodicals/news/2005_issues/photo2.jpg

I swear they were about 2 inches long.

I was in 'irradication mode' when my dad told me what they were so I left them alone. But even so ......... URGGGHHHHHHH!

[norfolklass]

Just out of interest, has anyone ever seen the larvae of these beasties?

oh no!!! is that what they were?
I found some in a tray of water and was so horrified that I slung the whole lot away :(
it was the traily thready thing that really freaked me out, looked like they were in the middle of dissolving...

[Trixiebelle]

They look VILE don't they Norfolk  ::)

Still, I suppose it's a lesson to us all: Never judge a book by its cover and all that.

Actually, most of them died anyway without my 'medical intervention'. I think they must have needed the rotting grass to stay on the surface to 'hold on' to, but that rotted and sank eventually.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I found some swimming in my onion feed water butt with rotting grass cuttings. Absolutely VILE things. Prehistoric almost.

Those are rat-tailed maggots, nothing to do with hoverflies. Their larvae look like this:

http://www.mybitoftheplanet.com/2006/big_pics/December/1812larva.html

They eat aphids in large numbers.

[HappyMouffetard]

Fascinating fact - hoverflies are easily identified by the fact that they have a 'false margin' to their wings. It's a vein that runs along the rear edge of the wings, which wasps etc don't have. It can be clearly seen in the fantastic photo that Greenwizard posted. Lovely.

[redimp]

Looks like a hoverfly to me.

Just out of interest, has anyone ever seen the larvae of these beasties?

I found some swimming in my onion feed water butt with rotting grass cuttings. Absolutely VILE things. Prehistoric almost.

http://www.entsoc.org/pubs/periodicals/news/2005_issues/photo2.jpg

I swear they were about 2 inches long.

I was in 'irradication mode' when my dad told me what they were so I left them alone. But even so ......... URGGGHHHHHHH!

They are the larval stage of the drone fly.  Sorry to disagree Robert (tis unusual) but they are a type of hoverfly :-[