A beauty and a beast

To be frank, it was a pretty drab day in Pembrokeshire today, with very poor potential for finding active wildlife to photograph and light conditions to take decent photos. As such, I was pleased to find this little fly sitting pretty on a lovely cornflower (Centaurea cyanus). I'm no expert in insect identification (one of the reasons for blipping insect photos is to make me learn more about it!) but, as far as I am able to determine, this looks like it might be what is known as a therevid fly (a true fly, Family Therevidae), possibly the commonest British species Thereva nobilitata. It is one of the commonest insects around here at present, on all the flowers whenever the sun is out. I realise that this photo probably juxtaposes something that many people will find really attractive (the flower) with a subject that might not appeal or automatically generate a sympathetic reaction. But much of the beauty in nature is hidden in the little things around us. I constantly marvel at the detailed structure and articulation that I find when I photograph insects up close. So I hope you can view them with an open mind and develop some appreciation for the many important roles filled by insects such as, in this case, pollination of garden flowers (and many of our most important food plants!).