A Lesser House Fly (Fannia canicularis). Maybe.

This little dude landed on my arm and just wouldn’t leave – fortunately I already had my camera in hand as I was trying to photograph a flower. After some gentle coaxing it appeared that there was something wrong with his* left wing. Well, you can’t take a Hoverfly to the vet so I was just patient and let him clean, then clean some more, then re-clean his wing and rest up for a while. After a few minutes while I managed to carefully place him on the flower in the second photo and, after some pollen-based goodness, he was able to fly away. A happy ending!

*To sex a Hoverfly, look at the eyes. Generally the male has eyes that touch, the female has eyes that are further apart.

Flies love a bit of pollen.

These wolf spiders are often active very early in the spring. They can be seen scurrying around hunting for prey and warming themselves in the sunshine on patches of bare soil.  Unlike spiders who use a web to catch their food, these wolf spiders catch their prey by running it down.

The best things happen when hanging out the washing… I saw (and photographed) my first Bee Fly. Bless that little furry beast.

The Natural History Museum has this to say:

The large bee-fly is a bee mimic - it resembles a small bumblebee.
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.

Gorgeous little creature enjoyed a nice little rest on the fence and gave me enough time to run in and grab my camera – most considerate!