I’m sure, if you’re one of my British followers, that you’ve probably already seen your first bee-flies of the year.

Though four species of Bombyliidae can be seen in Britain (you can download an excellent identification guide by the Soldierflies and Allies Recording Scheme), in my local area we only see one species, the Dark-edged bee-fly (Bombylius major). I saw my first, the fuzzy little beastie shown above, on 14 March in a local park.

And the very next day, in the small park just down the hill from where I live, I spotted two more of these busy little bee-flies.

The word cute is overused when it comes to many small creatures but it certainly applies to the appearance of bee-flies though they do have a dark side (see Bee-flies revisited, April 2023).