Marmalade hoverfly

Woke up to pouring rain, which carried on pretty much all morning. Then the afternoon turned suddenly hot and steamy, but with a gusty wind - all very strange. At least the bad weather gave me a chance to make a batch of gooseberry chutney, and I spent much of the afternoon in the garden, dead-heading and generally tidying. The damp and warm conditions mean that the growth is prodigious! 

I always keep a look out for interesting things while I'm gardening, and today I spotted a Ringlet (not a frequent species in our garden) and the striking black and yellow Banded General soldier-fly Stratiomys potamida, which seems to turn up at least once or twice every year. Neither of them stopped, so my photography was limited to this Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus, a common species which often occurs in large numbers as a result of mass migration from Europe.