Chrysotoxum cautum

As Batesian mimics go, this hoverfly is pretty effective: not only does it look a lot like a wasp, it also moves fast and erratically like a wasp, and sounds irritatedly waspish. 9/10 - would recommend.

It was concert day today, so I only had a short window of time in which to conduct a garden bug hunt, before going out to our (veeeery looooong) final rehearsal. Nonetheless, I'd hoped to find more than I did on my rapid but quite thorough search of all the most usually favoured sections of the garden. Everyone seems to agree that this year's invertebrate numbers are well down on what one would normally expect to see, and various people have proposed theories as to why this might be. Only time will tell if the culprit is unusual weather patterns over the past year, in which case the situation should improve again, or if those patterns are about to become the new norm, in which case we're in deep trouble.

The concert was great fun. Stanford's The Revenge has been a huge challenge to learn, and - I cannot tell a lie - there were some sections we still tripped over tonight, but other sections were a blast to sing, and I think we made a pretty good job of Elgar's From the Bavarian Highlands. Certainly, our lovely Musical Director looked pleased at the end, and the audience (which for me is R) seemed to have a good time. I'm already looking forward to next season, when we'll be tackling Mendelssohn's Elijah - another piece I've never sung before.

R has chosen this image for today's post, but his (and my) second choice - a Large Red Damselfly - has gone up on my Facebook page if you'd like to see it.