At a quick first glance, I thought this creature was a hoverfly, one of the larger species like Volucella pellucens (the last of the five hoverflies featured in Five big hovers, June 2025) but, when I looked more closely, I noticed the multiple rounded bands across its abdomen and knew it must be a species of sawfly. It was not, however, a species I’d ever seen before, so let’s give a warm welcome to Abia fasciata, also known as the Banded clubhorn.

Though records are not particularly numerous, this distinctive sawfly is present throughout Britain and, according to The Sawflies of Britain and Ireland website, has been recorded as far north as Inverness. Its larvae feed on plants from the Caprifoliaceae family, not a name I’d heard previously, but it includes the various honeysuckles (which is what I presume local specimens use as a larval plant), as well as a diverse range of plants that includes Elder, Guelder-rose, and Snowberry. The larvae are rather striking (see the Sawflies website) so I’ll definitely be checking for them on any Honeysuckle plants near where I spotted this adult.