forked tongues

...we have been enjoying a much more relaxed day today. This morning, we went for a walk on Godlingston Heath where I was delighted to see, not only dozens of Red Admirals, but several Small Tortoiseshells in great condition - this is great because we have a long journey up to Cheshire tomorrow, so I will be able to make a quick stop here to capture tomorrow's image en route.

One of the reasons that we make so many trips to our local heaths, is that I keep hoping to be able to blip a Smooth Snake. Unfortunately, we have not seen a single one this year - in fact, snakes in general have been rather thin on the ground (no pun intended!)

Anyway, it is not only snakes that have forked tongues. This tiny (8mm) fly is a Heath Bee-fly Bombylius minor. It is the diminutive cousin of the common Bee-fly Bombylius major that is often seen in gardens in spring and early summer. They are excellent fliers and are, consequently, often mistaken for hoverflies, but they are actually parasitic flies. The adults are good polinators but they lay their eggs at the entrances to the underground nests of solitary mining bees, where they get taken into the nest. After hatching, the larvae feed on the bee larvae. These little flies are rare and in decline across most of Europe. As a result, they are on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

To round off our walk, we saw a pair of recently fledged nightjars, which helped to compensate for the sad loss of the two chicks that didn't make it over at Studland.

Oh, I nearly forgot - the Bee-flies have lovely forked tongues as can be seen better in this image...