conopid fly

Went for my Tuesday lunch insect safari up Blackford Hill. I managed to shelter underneath a tree during one of the unusually heavy showers. It was well worth it. I spotted a small copper butterfly and this fly. At first I thought it was some sort of hover fly. It turns out to be a conopid fly. They are parasitic (this one goes for bumble bees). They hunt them down and insert their egg by prying open their abdomen in midair. The infested bumble bee buries itself to shelter the larva which consumes its host. Pretty grim, but I do think the fly is quite pretty.