Bee-fly

This is a bee-fly (Bombylius major) which has just emerged and is warming up in a beam of sunlight.  After I had watched it for a while, it slowly turned around and started beating its wings very fast, warming them up for flight.  It then flew off.

Bee-flies can be seen hovering over flowers with the long proboscis going for the nectar.  It is the first time I have managed to photograph one in the garden.

They  are parasitic on other insects and their larvae make their way to a nearby solitary bee or wasp nest (usually in the ground) where they eat the young bee or wasp, and then its food store.  Nice.