It seems hard to believe that this crazy looking fly larva …

… could become this rather striking hoverfly, Dasysyrphus albostriatus, also known as the Stripe-backed fleckwing.

I’ve seen similar larvae before, either those of this exact species or another of the Dasysyrphus species (see The Godzilla of hoverfly larvae, October 2021), but I’ve only once seen an adult and that view was not a good one, so I was very pleased to get a closer view of this individual during a recent local walk.

My British Hoverflies guide book says ‘the downward-facing oblique bars on abdomen segments T2-T4 and the pair of grey stripes on the thorax make this species straightforward to identify.’ This hoverfly prefers to inhabit woodlands and can be seen from Spring through to early Autumn, though is most often seen on sunny days in April and May.