Long hoverfly

It rained here all morning, and well into the afternoon - though not the heavy, soaking rain we actually need, just a constant spattering of irritating drizzle. By mid-afternoon I decided I needed to get out in the garden with the camera anyway, and I found a few quite nice invertebrates, though getting photos in the murky light was a challenge. Just before dinner time the cloud thinned and it brightened up marginally, so off I went again on a second garden bug hunt. I've posted a selection of my finds here, if you'd like to see them.

Sphaerophoria scripta is a sexually dimorphic hoverfly. Males like this one are distinctive, even though the extent of their dark markings varies between individuals, because the abdomen is long and straight-sided, and the wings are shorter than the body. The Hoverfly Recording Scheme still recommends that you should examine the genitalia under a microscope, to confirm that you have S. scripta rather than one of the other, less common Sphaerophoria species, but in practice they usually accept a reasonable photo as evidence. Females are shorter, and a more typical shape, but unless they're seen mating with an identifiable male they can't be be narrowed down to species even by experts, because every female within the genus looks the same.

Sphaerophoria scripta is primarily a grassland species, and in the UK it's thought to be at least partially migrant, with summer influxes arriving from the Continent to swell the native population. It's common in southern England and Wales, but less so the further north you go. Adults feed on pollen and nectar, but the larvae eat aphids. It has a very short life cycle - from egg to egg-laying adult in less than three weeks - and a long flight season - potentially from April to November, depending on the weather - so in a temperate year it can produce numerous generations. It overwinters at the larval stage.