Weather was pretty poor so looking for hoverflies was hard work, but I stuck at it and used the "stair at a tree for 20 minutes" method. In the end I had a fair haul of 30 species. The best being Platycheirus tarsalis, Parhelophilus versicolor and Pipiza austriaca. Most numerous was Syritta pipiens (15). The bigger more colourful hoverflies are finally starting to emerge, with firsts of the year with Volucella bombylans and Volucella pellucens taking me to 67 species in May alone. The umbellifer season has also started with both Cow Parsley and Ground Elder blooming making it much easier to locate multiple species at once.
Otherwise all the usual suspects in the insect and bird world led by the Bilberry Bumblebee.
Volucella bombylans - plumata form
Cheilosia albitarsis - checked in hand
Volucella pellucens
Melanogastor hirtella - checked in hand
male Parhelophilus versicolor - checked in hand, but the photo does show the lack of ventral projection (hair clump) on hind femur.
Bilberry Bumblebee
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