BOMBYLIUS MAJOR

The scientific name, Bombylius major, sounds like an old military gent with indigestion problems but it is in fact the Dark-edged Bee-fly.  The dark edges refer to the leading edge of the wings.   There are 450 bee-flie species in the world and at least four of them have been recorded n Britain but B. major is by far the commonest.

You may have noticed this very furry fly hovering with a loud whining buzz near flowers.  It holds the flower with its front paws but keeps the wings going as it thrusts its very long proboscis into the flower to collect nectar and occasionally pollen.  Despite its rather alarming appearance it does not bite or sting and is quite harmless to humans.

Photo Mike Neale

Less common is the Dotted Bee-fly, Bombylius discolor, which has  dark dots on its wings rather than a dark edge.

Photo: Don on the Naturespot website

 Bombylius flies parasitise solitary bees.  The female flicks eggs towards or into the entrance of the bee's burrow.  Mostly they miss but some manage to hatch and crawl into the tunnel where the fat bee grubs are there to be devoured.

April is the top time for seeing these Bee-flies.  They seem to specially like lungwort (Pulmonaria) flowers, but will plunder any flower they can find and in the act of feeding they may pollinate several different species.

I found this warning at the end of a wikipedia article on B. major:   

The fly will hide in the trees during the night and usually dart away from a cast shadow and occasionally hide in clean washing brought in fresh from the washing line and fly out causing unsettled behaviour in the discoverer.

'unsettled behaviour' - love it 😆

Like many of the things I describe, I have written about them before, as you may have noticed if you check back into the archive.  I've been writing this blog since 2012.