Impersonator

Out into the garden early this morning - it's going to be a scorcher today, a very nasty 39-40 degrees C, with a northerly wind.

We are all on high alert for bush fires - a catastrophic fire alert has been posted; it's incredibly early in the season for that.

So - it's been a while since I went outside early, and I never saw so many tiny skippers - there were dozens of them all flitittering around.

Too early for bees, so what is this weird thing? It's a drone fly, to b=the best of my knowledge. I thought it was a bee-fly at first, but I don't think so on closer inspection.

It kept hovering about six inches away from my face, clearly checking me out, before diving down onto the verbena which is flowering at the moment. It would land for a millisecond before taking off again.