WINGED WONDERS: WHO’S WHO?

1 HAIRY-FOOTED FLOWER BEE

One of the first solitary bees of spring, they move like lightning from flower to flower making a high-pitched buzz. Males have round, golden bodies and white faces; females are black with reddish hind legs.

2 NARCISSUS BULB FLY

This hoverfly is a bumblebee mimic. Alas its larvae love nothing more than munching the bulbs of your prize daffs.

3 MARMALADE HOVERFLY

Very easy to identify, as this is the only hoverfly with thin black bars in-between each thick black bar on the abdomen. A migrant from Europe, sometimes millions arrive in summer.

4 ASHY MINING BEE

What a stunner, in evening dress of shiny black trimmed with a grey furry collar and belt. It nests in sandy soil, with many females often choosing the same area.

5 BATMAN HOVERFLY

This wasp-mimic has a very distinctive black marking on its thorax (the middle section between head and abdomen), which looks rather like a bat with its wings outstretched.

6 HORNET HOVERFLY

The biggest of all hoverflies, this is a dramatic insect but is totally harmless. It enjoys visiting buddleia flowers, and its larvae are

waste-disposal workers in the nests of bees and wasps.

7 TAWNY MINING BEE

This is one of the commonest solitary bees in gardens, sometimes nesting in lawns, but its ideal home is a southfacing dry bank. Females have chestnut backs and dense ginger fur on their abdomens.

8 WOOL CARDER BEE

A shiny black bee, with bold yellow spots down either side of its abdomen. Males guard their favourite plant – Stachys byzantina (lamb's ear) – waiting for females to feed.