Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

The usual Saturday jobs cleaning and setting up the Lodge for the next guests. We were having the first heavy-ish rain for about 5 or 6 weeks. In dry spell I nipped out and took a few shots of rain on the Cotynus leaves and I notice hoverflies round the Hemrocalis (Day Lilies) so I took a few shots of those as well.

I am not good at insect identification but I wanted to put something other than Hoverfly so I set off to try to identify these two. Luckily they are one of the commonest garden species. They are identified by the double black stripes on the abdomen and the vague grey longitudinal lines on the thorax. I also learned that they are both male (I think) as the compound eyes meet together on the top of the head which doesn't happen in females, at least that is what the reference said. I was interested to notice they were eating pollen as Honey Bees gather pollen for feeding their larvae.

After that we called in on Clickychick's studio where "The Mate" was playing with setting up the new lights and stands.