Bee wolf
One of our largest and most impressive solitary wasps, the bee wolf digs a nest in sandy spots and hunts honey bees.
One of our largest and most impressive solitary wasps, the bee wolf digs a nest in sandy spots and hunts honey bees.
Despite its name, the large blue is a fairly small butterfly, but the largest of our blues. It was declared extinct in 1979, but reintroduced in the 1980s and now survives in southern England.
As its name suggests, the Large skipper is bigger than the similar-looking Small skipper! It can be seen in summer, resting on the long grass of grasslands, woodlands, verges and sand dunes.
The aromatic fragrance of Large thyme can punctuate a summer walk over a chalk grassland. It is an evergreen that grows low to the ground, with erect spikes of tiny, lilac flowers appearing over…
The St Mark's fly is small, black and shiny. It is so-called because it emerges around St Mark's Day, April 25th. Large numbers of adults can be found in woodland edges, hedgerows,…
The scorpion fly, as its name suggests, has a curved 'tail' that looks like a sting. It is, in fact, the males' claspers for mating. It is yellow and black, with a long 'beak…
Our most common hoverfly, the marmalade fly is orange with black bands across its body. It feeds on flowers like tansy, ragwort and cow parsley in gardens, hedgerows, parks and woodlands.
The Alder fly is a blackish invertebrate, with delicately veined wings that it folds over its body like a tent. It can be found near ponds and slow-flowing rivers; the larvae living in the silt at…
A common hoverfly, the Heineken fly has a distinctively long snout that enables it to take nectar from deeper flowers, reaching the parts other hoverflies cannot reach! It frequents hedgerows,…
Honeybees are famous for the honey they produce! These easily recognisable little bees are hard workers, living in large hives made of wax honeycombs.
The fly-shaped flowers of this fascinating plant are attractive to insects - but not the ones you might expect!
The Ivy Bee is a new arrival to the UK. First recorded here in 2001, it is slowly spreading north. It feeds exclusively on the nectar of Ivy flowers and can be seen in autumn when this plant is in…