Mimic

I was walking into the clearing at Cleeve Prior Mill this afternoon, between high banks of bramble and wild flowers, when I half noticed a yellow and black bumblebee with a white tail, nectaring on cow parsley. In my defence, my mind was very much on Odonata at that point, but I'd got as far as thinking lucorum, or hortorum...? when the less dozy part of my brain went wait - what...??? At which point I threw my bum into reverse, backed up, screeched to a halt, and took a harder look.

I love Volucella bombylans. I even love saying Volucella bombylans, because it rolls off the tongue so satisfyingly. After greeting her politely - "Oh, hello Volucella bombylans! Apologies for mistaking you for a bumblebee, but you're doing that mimicry thing really well," - I found her name rolling around in my head like a mantra for the rest of the afternoon.

Volucella bombylans (try saying it out loud - I'm sure you'll enjoy it) is a large hoverfly, with females like this one being about 1.5cm long. The adults fly from May to September, peaking in June and July, and visit a range of flowers including umbellifers and bramble. There are several variants, but the two most common are this one ('plumata') which mimics the White-tailed Bumblebee, and a Red-tailed Bumblebee mimic ('bombylans'), which as you'd expect is black with a red tail. Females lay their eggs in the nests of bumblebees, and the larvae develop in the base of the nests, where they eat dead bee larvae and other debris.

There are more convincing bumblebee mimics on the list of British hoverflies, but as I think I've demonstrated, this one is good enough to pass a cursory inspection. I've always found the species to be skittish and flighty (rather surprisingly, given that their breeding strategy requires them to commit home invasion on bumblebees - you'd think they'd have nerves of steel), but this particular female was cool and calm, and totally ignored me while I photographed her from all angles. I think my good manners must have impressed her.