Much Binding From Snails In The Marsh

After getting a nice pic early this morning of a small copper butterfly on ragwort I spotted my first painted lady. I've been dodging the showers on and off all day trying to get a decent image. They're quite skittish and settle high. I'll post when I get a pic of which I can be proud.

So I'm afraid I haven't got a crowd-pleasing pretty butterfly for you but a weird fly that I've never seen before. What strange antennae it has, what odd stripy eyes, what peculiar spotted wings.

I'm delighted that I've been able to identify it. It's a marsh or snail killing fly. The adults sip nectar and dew, it's the larvae that prey on snails. Our disused car-park is a hodmedod killing field. There's a thrush's anvil there and the song thrush was watching me as I photographed the fly on the brambles.