A large hoverfly with distinctive banding on the abdomen as well as beautiful thin yellow bands on the shiny black thorax.

A close up of the head, showing the pattern of ommatidia on the eyes, as well as the three simple ocelli at the top of the head.

Helophilus pendulus (the Common Stripeback).

Using my new Guide to the Flies of Britain and Ireland I set out on a back garden safari.

What a beauty! Typical that when I look it up it’s described as ‘Common’.

Canon 90D Laowa 100mm macro Godox v350C
#hoverflies
#Syrphids
#diptera
#macrophotography

A medium sized fly seen from the top looking down on it in the middle of a flower. It seems to be imitating a wasp : it is boldly patterned in bright gold and brown/black. It manages, though to look more jewel like than your average yellow jacket. The anatomy of course is all fly: it does not have the narrow 'wasp waist' of wasps, and it has chunkier fly eyes ( I don't have the technical vocabulary to explain, but different than wasps or bees) and noticeably does not have longish to really long antennae wasps and bees have. It is perched on a pale purple daisy-like composite flower, against a cluttered background of foliage buds, spent flowers, and just a hint of other flowers visible.

See description on the other photo-- same fly on another flower in the patch, this time we see it sideways, facing to the left. Background is less cluttered, just blurred blobs of light and colour- goold, pinky brown, green, and some blurred foliage to the left.

I only learned about Drone Flies/Flower Flies/Bee Flies / #Syrphids etc in relatively recent years (I'm 60, so that could be 10 or so years...lol) and I'm quite impressed by them 😊 #InverteFest #nature #FlyDay #Alberta #garden #pollinators 🌿🌱