I have to say that the garden has been very quiet this last few months. Even insects have been scarce and I put this down to the use of pesticides in adjoining gardens over the last year. However, yesterday we had the first of the "special" hoverflies in the garden. Hoverflies are an interesting insect that we probably take for granted and ignore, but close inspection reveals an interesting group. There are 276 species of Hoverfly in the UK, I have recorded 23 in the garden. Some are quite familiar and common but as I said easily, and  often over-looked. Many are colourful, some are frankly stunning but all of them are interesting because they use imitation as a strategy to escape predation. Not only are they attractive in the garden they are, in the main useful both as pollinators and predators in their own right. In common with other flies, they have 3 stages of development, egg, larva and adult. It is as  larva  that they are usually most beneficial to gardeners because at this stage they eat mainly greenfly and other aphids. Hoverflies need to be encouraged and their presence in the garden is a sure indication of a healthy environment. There are very few exceptions to this rule and today the Narcissus Fly (Meredon equestris) was on the wing in my garden, feeding on pollen from the new summer blooms. The Narcissus Fly gets it's name from the annoying habitat of damaging daffodil and tulip bulbs  as a larva, foraging underground on the bulbs of these plants.  This Hoverfly is a Bumble Bee imitator an could easily be confused as such. But have no fear, all Hoverflies are harmless to humans and carry no sting, nor do they bite.

I just had to post this picture of a Little Egret that I took yesterday at around 6.30, after watching World Cup football and before tea!  I just popped down for an hour to the hide and this lovely crept past just 3 feet away from me. He was very wary and as soon as he heard the shutter on the camera, he left in a real hurry but returned later to carry on fishing, but now further down stream.   I particularly liked the eye on this bird, piercing, yet quite pretty. But being a predator he has a dagger like beak and you can imagine the damage that he can inflict with a weapon like this. He is also sporting a very impressive long plume.