Bee-fly

We had an early start to the day, as Pete had a meeting with the warden of Woodwalton Fen NNR to discuss some water-beetle survey work, which gave me the opportunity to revisit some of the nearby woods I've been writing up recently. It was one of those perfect dew-soaked April mornings, and the woods were rich with the scent of damp earth and bluebells, which are pretty much in full flower, three weeks earlier than last year. One sheltered glade was awash with primroses and lesser celandines, which were attracting many solitary bees, hover-flies and bee-flies.

An entomological blip seems appropriate to celebrate Pete's birthday, and the large bee-fly Bombylius major is one of the most characteristic and easily recognisable species seen at this time of year. The adult flies are striking and have a hairy body with long hairy legs and a characteristically long, slender tongue which they use for nectar retrieval whilst hovering beside a flower head. Bombylius major larvae parasitise beetle larvae as well as the brood of solitary wasps and bees - another reason for its name. The female has been seen to flick her eggs mid-air into the ground bees’ and wasps’ nests.

The curator of Diptera at the Natural History Museum has this to say about them "This fly not only looks good, but has a fantastic life cycle - not many creatures go through two different larval stages, eat their hosts alive and then emerge to become vegetarians! This species was described to the Angela Marmot Centre for UK Biodiversity as a very small flying narwhal!"

I could quite happily have lingered all day, but we had to be back at lunchtime so that I could take Alex to Whittlesey for his second round of injections, and then it was Ben's turn for a visit to the orthodontist. Just time for a cup of tea before a short walk with Rosie (who had been too stiff to come out with me in the morning after yesterday's expedition) and then out to the pub for a celebratory meal.

Unfortunately the meal wasn't quite the success we'd been hoping. The salad that I ordered turned up with a number of its constituent parts missing, and the head waiter was bordering on rude. Once the remainder of my meal had been found we had a pleasant time, and were looking forward to dessert, but after sitting for half an hour without anyone coming to take our plates, we decided to pay and leave, and ended up buying a luxury sticky toffee pudding and vanilla custard at a nearby supermarket on the way home. We also purchased a bottle of Benedictine (Pete's favourite liqueur) and some Bendick's bittermints - so it all turned out pretty well! I was debating about writing an e-mail complaining about the service, but in the end it seemed too much effort - we'll just go elsewhere next time!