Stripe-faced Drone Fly
This post is about the hoverfly, not the peacock butterfly which is rather stealing the show, I’ll admit!
We can see this is a female as the eyes don’t meet in the middle. This particular species of hoverfly is a drone fly known as a Stripe-faced drone fly or Orange-Spined drone fly. They fly between April and October and are quite common.
Their larvae are the rat-tailed type and are aquatic - not sure whether they have grown in a pond on the allotment site or whether this rather worn-looking adult was attracted to the buddlea from across the marsh.
Interesting to see and a good pollinator, as all hoverflies are, so a welcome visitor. 
Here is its back view which shows its narrow stripes and this slightly blurred shot shows the orange flashes (spurs?) on its abdomen. The pale legs also help with the id.
Oh, and here’s a better picture of the peacock butterfly, definitely worth having buddlea on the Wildlife plot.
Oh what a fantastic blog, wonderful to see all this wildlife, and especially your focus on the littlest creatures, along with the fascinating facts. I'm always on the lookout for these brilliant beings in my garden and then off to look something up which I haven't seen before, but I rarely manage to take any decent photos. Yours are superb, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThankyou for the kind comments and for popping by! The smallest things are so often even more fascinating 😊 I hope I can help you out with some future ids.
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