Here’s the second of my more general blogs about the insects I’ve been finding in the past week that are managing to survive the season’s destructive heatwaves and drought by feeding on the flowers of Drought-tolerant Common fleabane. Today we have some of the many species of hoverflies I’ve noticed and managed to photograph.

First up, two different Eristalis species – I included the first image just because I liked it.

Episyrphus balteatus, aka Marmalade hoverfly, one I’m sure most people will have seen.

The Footballer, Helophilus pendulus, which gets its common name from the resemblance of its stripy thorax to a football strip.

The Sphaerophoria species of hoverfly were probably the most common in my favourite wildflower field, but they can be tricky to name precisely.

There were also a lot of these Syritta pipiens, but they were very wary of me getting close enough for photos so I was pleased to snap this one.