Sucking up nectar

A hot and sticky day. The morning was spent surveying the rides at Brampton Wood, which are awash with common spotted orchids.I spotted this hoverfly nectaring on the hogweed flowers, now in full bloom.

Myathropa florea is a very common European species of hoverfly. Adults may be seen on flowers from May to September. It is of similar size as the drone fly, but Myathropa are generally more yellow, with two light bands to the thorax, interrupted with a black central smudge. Larvae feed on bacteria in organic waterlogged detritus, often in the shallow rot holes of tree stumps.