Bombylius major

I found a few of these flying around the garden today. Apparently  they are  quite common but I swear that in all my 50+ years I have never seen one before!

They are also called bee-flies due to their similarity to both bees and flies. They reproduce by laying their eggs close to a bee or wasp burrow and then proceed to flick them into the nest where they feed on stored food and also the bees or wasps themselves. They have an enormous proboscis to feed on nectar. I think they are quite scary looking. Oh, and they buzz like a mosquito.

Thanks must go to Conventboy1 who did the research on it. Ain't Google wonderful!