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Taking a bee-fly for a walk

Dark-edged bee-fly by Jean Young

Jean has a "bright" idea and then delves into the fascinating world of bee-flies...

I love this time of year as the flowers start to appear, they brighten my day and provide a much needed energy boost for a whole host of insects. About a week ago I was fed up with being stuck indoors and with the cold grey miserable weather outside. So as soon as the sun started shining I was out like a shot for a bit of exercise and to see what Mother Nature had in store to perk me up.

Hoping to spot some of the bees and bee-flies that were starting to emerge with the warmer weather I was disappointed when the sun soon disappeared and the temperature dropped. As I was about to head indoors, I noticed something on my sleeve.  Initially, thinking it was a bit of plant debris, I was going to brush it off; luckily I didn’t as it was a dark-edged bee-fly, my first of the year!

Side-on view of a dark-edged bee-fly by Jean Young

Dark-edged bee-fly by Jean Young

Goodness knows where I picked it up from or how long I'd been carrying it around. I tried taking some photos but it turned out to be rather tricky as I’m right-handed and the bee-fly was on my right arm. Not having much success with my left hand as it was windy, pretty parky and my hands were frozen (as undoubtedly was the poor little bee-fly) I had a "bright" idea...if I could take off my jacket with the bee-fly still in position I might be able to get better photos. This was one of those moments where I was glad none of my neighbours were passing as my antics would have made them think I’m even odder than they already think I am! It took a fair bit of wriggling, tugging and some very strange moves whilst my camera was dangling from my teeth before I managed to extricate myself from my jacket without disturbing or dislodging the bee-fly.

Fortunately the bee-fly was too cold to think about flying off so I snapped away and enjoyed the privilege of a close up inspection of the strange little creature. After a brief walkabout with the bee-fly still clinging to my fleece I found a patch of Pulmonaria (lungwort) for it to feed on and deposited it there as a thank you for its participation in my impromptu photoshoot!

If you haven’t come across a bee-fly before they are well worth looking for as they are adorable little bundles of fluff with some very strange habits. They look and sound a bit like small bumblebees as they dash around busily feeding on flowers but unlike bumblebees they only have one pair of wings not two, not that you can tell at the speed they whizz around!

Dark-edged bee-fly drinking nectar from cream-coloured cherry laurel flower by Jean Young

Dark-edged bee-fly by Jean Young

They can be spotted in front of low-growing flowers with wings beating frantically and dangly legs supporting them as their long non-retractable proboscis searches out the nectar deep in the flowers. I find they are particularly partial to ground ivy and Pulmonaria and also see them feeding on violets, lesser celandine and cowslips.

They may be cute and cuddly but they do have a dark side as they are parasitoids of various species of solitary bees and wasps. We shouldn’t hold that against them, however, as bees and bee-flies have been co-existing together for a long time.  They're also great little pollinators and although that proboscis may look fearsome they are harmless to us.

Dark-edged bee-fly sitting amongst lilac Pulmonaria flowers by Jean Young

Dark-edged bee-fly by Jean Young

Our commonest species is the dark-edged bee-fly and her method of egg-laying is something to behold. On a low-level flypast she hunts for holes of ground-nesting solitary bees and on finding a likely spot dabs her rear end down to collect dust or sand to coat her eggs. The extra ballast adds a bit of weight to her tiny eggs for the next stage of their journey; with a quick flick of her rear end she sends them off in the general direction of a bee burrow. Obviously this ‘scattergun approach’ means a lot of eggs are wasted but some will survive and the larvae that make it into the burrow will feed on the bee larvae and become the next generation of bee-flies.

Dotted bee-fly sitting next to a tawny mining bee by Jean Young

Tawny mining bee and dotted bee-fly by Jean Young

Another bee-fly species to look out for, that we’ve been seeing more of in the last few years is the dotted bee-fly. Whilst it can be difficult to see whether a bee-fly has dots on or dark edges to its wings, dotted bee-flies are generally a bit bigger and are a redder kind of ginger - the female also has a white stripe on her rear end, which shows up nicely. So get out there and see if you can spot some of these charismatic little creatures!

Jean is fascinated by the natural world and spends a lot of time peering into the undergrowth of the communal gardens on the estate near Pershore where she lives.

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