Spotting a bee fly ( no, not a bee, a bee fly)

Buds and blossom are bursting out all over the trees, all the flowers of the season are decked out, birds are nesting but, for me, the re-appearance of the insects from hibernation or migration is the greatest excitement of Spring.

For a short time in the Spring, you can spot an odd little insect that I suspect you've seen lots of times but always assumed you were looking at a bee.

It looks like this:

Leaving my house on one of the rare sunny mornings we've had recently, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a bee that was behaving in a distinctly un-bee like fashion around the pansies. Sure enough, closer inspection revealed the syringe-like proboscis, long front legs and gothic wings of Bombylius major or bee fly. Virtually impossible to catch in flight as its wings are a blur, its movement resembling a humming bird, I was fortunate that it decided to take a breather on a foxglove long enough to whip out my phone and capture this short-lived insect for posterity.

Bee flies are as much a sign of Spring as daffodils but a lot of people expressed surprise at seeing it when I posted the picture on Twitter and said they'd never seen one. Thing is, I bet they have but assumed that it was just a little bee passing through. They're not rare or exotic but they are beautiful.

Of course, I should point out they are parasites on the Adrena species of mining bee. After mating, the female bee fly flicks her eggs into the tunnel entrances of Andrena from where the hatched larvae will travel into the bee mines and eat the eggs and larvae of the bees.

Still even if it isn't welcome in a bees nest, its certainly a welcome guest in my little front garden and I can't help but be excited when I spot one.

So next time you spot a little ginger bee acting a bit oddly, look closer. It might actually be a bee fly!