A few hoverflies.....

On such a beautiful Sunday afternoon and spurred on by the excellent field guide by Ball and Morris, Britain's Hoverflies (2nd edition) and the Hoverflies Facebook group I had my first attempt at photographing some of the hoverflies at Pilmoor.  Virtually the only plant in flower were some tall umbellifers and a small stand of purple-flowered mint sp..  I was reasonably happy with the results, hand-held on a day with some breeze, and at least managed to identify most of the species taken.

Eristalis pertinax

Helophilus pendulus

Leucozona glaucia (fem)

Melangyna umbellatarum

Epistrophe grossulariae

There was the odd imposter such as this next one a Tachinid fly that as a larva preys on the larvae of many moths.

Tachina fera

There were a small number of butterflies about, at least two Brimstone, four Comma, several Large White and a couple of Peacock.

Brimstone

Comma

Comma - underside