The Zone

I nipped to Croft Hill again this evening. No high expectations at it was around 18:30 by the time I got there so aside from plenty of bumblebees not much going on. Still masses of flowering Ragwort, and ridiculously still a relative lack of Cinnabar larvae - I've seen a bigger mass on a single plant down the lane in the last week than I've seen here.

Still, there was some gold amongst the bees - almost literally in terms of colour ....

Volucella zonaria - by far the biggest hover to be seen and one I love to see

I also spied what I was certain was a new fly for me, so no dithering trying to get an 'on-the-flower' shot, I needed to get it potted and check it at home. Sure enough, I was right ....

Physocephala rufipes

I also stumbled, almost literally, on a female Emperor in the grass. I grabbed a quick shot before it made a quick escape.