Bee Fly

I know this is a hoverfly - because I saw it hovering. But it was well over 1 cm long - or about 3 times the size of our regular common or garden hoverfly. It's also a lot hairier than the regular hoverfly. And it has a very long proboscis, which in this image is neatly curled up.

I'm pretty sure it's a member of the Bombyliidae or Bee Fly family. Which makes it bloody very hard to identify specifically.

There are roughly 4,500 described species, and certainly thousands yet to be described.

Therefore I do not feel at all disadvantaged by not being able to identify this fly correctly.

Longer golden hairs.

It's been a perfect day - the Open Garden scheme has finished now until after Christmas, so we went up to the Mount Lofty Botanic Garden - which is another very special place not far from where we live. Much too windy up there for critters, but we had a great time, followed by afternoon tea at the Mt. Lofty lookout.