A male Dark-edged Bee-fly feeding from a grape hyacinth flower. He is a large fly with a rounded body covered in mid-brown hair, and a hairy face. He has long, thin legs and a very long proboscis, which he holds out in front like a narwhal's tusk. He has brown eyes, which meet each other on top of his head, and his wings have a dark, scalloped mark along the leading edge.

My first Dark-edged Bee-fly of the year, a week earlier than last year's.
@uk-soldierflies.bsky.social
#insects #invertebrates #Bombyliusmajor #DarkEdgedBeeFly #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders #InsectThursday #beeflywatch

At first glance, these fuzzy, flittering insects look quite cute, but the edges of it's wings isn't the only dark thing about this master of mimicry...

Learn more in my latest post in my Nuggets Of Nature series ✨️ #DarkEdgedBeeFly #Insects #Nature

www.instagram.com/p/DJdy9_poh0...

To all gardeners who think #Cleavers aka #StickyWilly is just a useless weed, check this #DarkedgedBeeFly just hanging out in afternoon sun on #Galiumaparine which is also an important food plant for several Hawkmoths, habitat for many insects + acts as a nurse plant 🌱
#Allotment #botany #insects

A copulating pair of Dark-edged Bee-flies. These are ovate flies, covered with mid-brown hair. They have long, spindly legs and a long, narrow probscis that is permanently extended. The front half of their wings has a dark, scalloped marking. The female is bigger than the male. Her eyes are separated, while his meet on the top of his head.

Dark-edged Bee-flies in cop. Is #FornicationFriday a thing here?
#insects #invertebrates #fly #BeeFly #DarkEdgedBeeFly #BombyliusMajor #BugSex #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

A Dark-edged Bee-fly feeding from the blossom of a blackthorn hedge. This is a medium sized fly, covered with yellowy-brown hair. It has spindly legs, and a long, straight proboscis. Its wings have dark markings along their leading edges. Females lay their eggs in the nests of mining bees.

A Dotted Bee-fly feeding from a pink pulmonaria flower. This is a medium sized fly, a little bigger than a Dark-edged Bee-fly, with chestnut hair over most of its thorax and abdomen, and a black abdominal apex. It has spindly legs, and a long, straight proboscis. Its wings have a dark fore edge, and are marked with black spots. Females lay their eggs in the nests of mining bees.

Blossom time:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/335459...

#insects #invertebrates #DarkEdgedBeeFly #BombyliusMajor #DottedBeeFly #BombyliusDiscolor #BeeFlyWatch #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders #InsectThursday

A Dark-edged Bee-fly approaches a pulmonaria flower. It's a bee mimic, with a brown furry pile covering its body, long spindly legs, a long slender proboscis which is permanently extended forwards, and wings with a dark scalloped marking along the leading edge. This individual's eyes meet on top of the head, indicating that it's a male. In this image he's flying with both back legs extended backwards and outwards from his body, and both wings extended sideways, so he forms a kind of star shape.

Star jump:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/335243...

#insects #invertebrates #fly #BeeFly #DarkEdgedBeeFly #BombyliusMajor #BeeFlyWatch #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

Dark-edged Bee-fly (or Fluffy-flying Narwhal?) Spotted this one enjoying a sunbathe. They have such an interesting lifecycle 😁🐝🪰 #darkedgedbeefly #beefly #fly #nature

A Dark-edged Bee-fly resting on an ivy leaf in a sunny garden. It's a medium-sized fly, a little under 1cm in length, and densely hairy with a tawny brown pile. Its wings, which it holds in a delta shape at rest, have a dark scalloped marking all along the fore edge. The most unusual thing about it is its long black proboscis, which is permanently extended forwards like a narwhal tusk.

Major:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/334879...

#insects #invertebrates #BeeFly #DarkEdgedBeeFly #BombyliusMajor #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting #MacroPhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders

Hover fly:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/322268...
#insects #flies #BeeFly #DarkEdgedBeeFly #BombyliusMajor #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #StingsNWings

Bee-fly day:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/321855...
#insects #BeeFly #DarkEdgedBeeFly #BombyliusMajor #UKWildlife #GardenWildlife #NaturePhotography

Nice mooch around @RSPBLeightonM this afternoon. Near constant booming #Bitterns plus an early singing #ReedWarbler pick of the birds. Some lovely flora on show including lots of #WoodAnemone plus a couple of #DarkEdgedBeeFly zooming around the wildlife garden #Lungwort.