‘Volucella Zonaria’

I walked up to the village in glorious sunshine this morning to go to a cancer awareness coffee morning organised by the Friends of St Luke’s (FoSL). As well as raising funds to donate to four charities (Breast Cancer Now, Prostate Cancer UK, Macmillan Cancer Support and Cancer Research UK), there was plenty of information about spotting the early signs of cancer and also dealing with having cancer, and of course coffee, tea, bacon butties and cake. I came away having chatted with lots of people, including some who have been diagnosed with different forms of cancer in the past and who now want to help others. Coffee mornings like this are a good thing all round really, as they are also an enjoyable community event - something which the people of Tiptree always like coming along to.

I forgot to take any photos at the coffee morning, so popped out into the still-sunny garden to find a blip. I thought this insect was a hornet at first - it was pretty big! On researching, I discovered that it’s a hornet mimic hoverfly (Volucella zonaria), so is completely harmless. They were quite rare in the UK until the second half of the 20th century, but since the 1940’s they have become increasingly widespread in the South and South-East of England. I’m pleased to have seen a few late butterflies fluttering around in the sunshine today as well.