Elegant

I'm always pleased when I spot a Xylota segnis. They're rather elegant hoverflies, I think - if you can apply that word to something that's barely more than a centimetre long - and I always enjoy trying to photograph them to their best advantage. That's not always easy, because this is a woodland species and it's often seen in quite dark situations, scuttling back and forth across the surface of leaves, collecting the pollen and honeydew on which it feeds. Luckily though, this one posed rather nicely for me on the box-leaved honeysuckle, and provided an easy portrait opportunity.

Given how many woodland hoverflies we get in our garden I keep hoping that one day I might find a Xylota sylvarum - a slightly larger species than Xylota segnis, with a lovely furry golden tip to its abdomen. But really - that's just being greedy. It may not have a golden tail, but Xylota segnis will do perfectly well.