Bee-fly (Bombylius major)

I think I'd have called it a hummingbird-fly with its long proboscis and the hum it produces as it hovers. It's body is about 1cm long.

Sadly I'm suffering jet lag and not sleeping well. Combined with a headache, raised temperature, cough and general achiness, results in a not-so-happy Fairweathergirl... but I'm lucky to have a lovely garden to wander in, which today was full of colour under the sun. I got lots of admin done too for the course I'm assisting on next week.

There were many of these Bee-flies, all favouring the various blue flowers. I've read that the larvae live as parasites in the nests of solitary bees and wasps, and we are all asked to help the bees in our gardens, so having Bee-flies is perhaps not a good thing. But it's all part of the food chain I guess.