Marmalade hoverfly

This is said to be one of the easiest hoverflies to identify, and if I can identify it, then that must be true. The marmalade coloured abdomen and the double black stripes together with the big red eyes are diagnostic. The macro lens reveals so much more that is not obvious to the naked eye - the little antennae, the metallic thorax (which if I try hard enough, I can convince myself contains my reflection), the hairiness. This one is feeding on the ox-eye daisies in the garden, and thank goodness for them, as we don't have much else attracting insects at the moment.

We had a lovely evening last night at Will and Sheila's barbecue, and it was more of a blip meet than I expected. Life of Tiree was there, and I finally got to meet that blipper with whom I always agree, W & S's son Rob and the World. After a soggy day, the weather cleared just in time.

I had a few blip options today, I went to Middlebarrow quarry this afternoon to follow up Bern's latest observations. In the afternoon sun, there were large numbers of narrow-bordered five-spot burnet moths feeding on the teasels and Buddleia. I shall go back in the week for a better photograph than I managed today.