Wasp and fly

After lunch, I took my apple collecting basket and camera to the bottom of the orchard. Last time I looked, there were still quite a lot of crisp Discovery apples on two trees, as well as a lot of small cider apples of various kinds which I planned to use for jelly - they have not yet had a large enough crop to warrant borrowing a press and attempting cider. I was disappointed to find that almost all the apples had disappeared - they were not on the ground, they were not hanging bird-pecked on the trees, they had just gone. I suspect the badgers have eaten any windfalls; and perhaps they have learned to shake them from the trees... Next year, I will have to be less dilatory about my harvesting - picking a few at a time, so that I can keep up with using them, is clearly not an option.

Having abandoned any thoughts of chutney and tarte tatin, I headed for the bottom hedge, which is bright with hawthorn berries and ivy, found the ivy buzzing with insects, and realised I had dropped my lens cap. It took twenty minutes of retracing my path around the trees and rummaging in the long grass to retrieve it, leaving little time for photography,  so I wasn't choosy. It was breezy and the flies and wasps were skittish, so anything which stayed still for more than a couple of seconds was targeted. I'm a novice at insect identification, but I think the main photo is a common wasp. The fly was more difficult: the best match for its shape and reddish brown eyes seemed to be Haematobalca Stimulans, part of the house fly family - but this is described as "a rather plain brown fly", without the reddish legs mine sports, and it should be living close to cattle, while our neighbours are sheep. I struggled to find a good fly identification website - most of them seemed to focus on pest control. As always, I'm happy to be corrected and educated. My last two Tuesdays have been taken up with larger preoccupations - the urgent need to buy a washing machine and a day in France - so it was good to get back to tiny things on such a glorious, golden afternoon. Thank you Jill @JDO for hosting.