I first noticed flying noses several years ago and I saw several the other day at a local nature reserve. But knowing that flying noses are quite widespread, and having seen them here before, I looked for them in my garden and saw several – so I bet you might too.
Flying noses are my name for the large bee fly, Bombylius major. They look like smallish bumblebees at first glance because they are brown and hairy, but they also look like hoverflies, because they can hold themselves still in the air. But they are neither – they are bee flies.
These bee mimics use their long proboscises to feed on the nectar of primroses (I can identify them too!) and other early spring plants. Their larvae feed on the grubs of solitary bees and wasps.
Since they are widespread in Europe, North America and parts of Asia in spring, including early spring, have a look out for them and I bet you’ll see them soon. Let me know if you do.
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Aha! Check out my latest posting, with photos, on ‘Westfield Wildlife’! Happy coincidence? Cheers, Ralph
Ralph – very good! Great minds think alike, fool seldom differ! Thanks for your comment.
i saw one a few years ago and got a photo – from a distance – as i had no idea what it was. then i found out they are harmless and i love their arrival in spring. saw the first of this year about three weeks ago and last week i witnessed one nectaring. they hover in a similar manner to hummingbirds. wonderful creatures.
Laurence – welcome and ‘Snap!’.
But have you ever listened to them? Try here with the similar, but rarer Dotted Bee-fly.. http://ryeharbouruk.podbean.com/
no flying noses but the cows were covered in midgies last night – we do not normally get any numbers until August. Wierd……..
Here’s a picture of an ‘odd bee’ taken on the RSPB Otmoor Reserve last weekend by one of the vol wardens. Looks like you’ve identified it for us Mark!
http://otmoorbirding.blogspot.co.uk/
Richaed – yes I think I have! They are clearly everywhere really! Had hail here in east Northants this afternoon and it’s distinctly yuk weather now – so I’m glad I’ve already seen some flying noses!
Snap. In all senses. I was out enjoying the sunshine yesterday, snapping away – and became obsessed with photographing these little guys!
They’re a great sign of spring. Er, before the cold and rain swept through today!
Rob – snap!
Wondered what they were Mark,our garden absolutely full of them.
Dennis – really? How wonderful. Getting lots of comments from people that they are seeing them so I just seem to have hit the right subject at the right time!
Lovely to see these flies out and about again, certainly one of the spring signs that always lifts my spirits (I do try to notice the birds as well but flies come first!).
There is a similar but rarer species to watch out for as well, the Dotted Bee-fly (Bombylius discolor), which as you’d expect has dark spots on the wings instead of the solid dark band of the commoner species. But first you have to find one with its wings at rest, not hovering! It is restricted (so far as we know) to South Wales and the southern half of England. You can always get identifications checked on iSpot, see Dotted Bee-fly:
http://www.ispot.org.uk/search/determination/bombylius%20discolor
and Dark-edged (or Large) Bee-fly:
http://www.ispot.org.uk/search/determination/bombylius%20major
Martin – many thanks!
Saw them at Bishop’s Wood, near Selby last weekend on a beautifully warm Spring day.
Rob – welcome! Good job you made the most of last weekend as it looks like this weekend is going to head a few steps back towards winter!
Yes!! We have them in our garden. Probably a bit soggy at the moment.
Sarah B – welcome and thank you! Yes I’m not sure there will be many in my garden tomorrow.
The bee fly is critter that manages to be both good and bad.I suppose it would be an environmental net gain if it pollinates more than the bees that it destroys would have done. Certainly busy in the garden at the moment, hovering about on Aubreta and primrose – While the official bumblebees are able to hang on Pieris and blueberry flowers.
Which got me thinking about bees, varroa, neonicotinoids, and what if? I don’t suffer from lack of bees, what with a garden stocked with nepetas, lilac and lavender and all, but I am willing to believe the reports of the decline of bee numbers. While this is clearly Not A Good Thing, in itself, what would be the impact of a severe decline of bee species on human food supply? Would other pollinating insects respond by exploiting the abundance of nectar? Would there be a noticeable effect on food crops in UK? None of our staple food crops require insect pollination.
Looking at my plate from yesterday, I find that pollination was not required for salt beef, butter, bread, chicken, chorizo, onion, milk, lettuce, coffee, tea. I’m uncertain about chili and Romero peppers. The dill pickle in the salt beef sandwich – maybe, but flies commonly pollinate umbellifers like dill. Cornichons – who knows? There are parthenocarpic cvs of cucumber, otherwise, they need bee pollination to set fruit. So, yesterday, I didn’t eat anything which needed pollination, except maybe for a slice of gherkin or whatever it was, as a minor ingredient in a sandwich.
So – I think a lack of bees would be survivable in the short term, until I go looking to see whether the raspberries have set.
While on the topic of spring insects, does anyone know what cluster flies are for?
Re food crops, “Insect pollination, mostly by bees, is necessary for 75% of
all crops that are used directly for human food worldwide” (Potts et al., 2010: Global pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers – Trends in Ecology and Evolution). See also the information note from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, downloadable from:
http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/POST-PN-348
@ Filbert Cobb – I’m pretty sure coffee is bee pollinated, or at least yields will be significantly increased if bees are present.
Interesting to think if other insects would ‘take up the slack’ if bees weren’t about but it might also be(e) that if the bees aren’t about then the factors limiting the bees would also have detrimental effects on the others – probably best not go down that route and look after our bees in the hope that that will also have a knock on effect with a whole suite of other insect/invertebrate species; and of course it’s much easier to ‘sell’ bee conservation than it would be for Custer Flies – not sure how or what they feed on but they are earthworm parasites so maybe not all that good for us humans….we need worms almost/just as much as bees.
@ David Mcgrath: I’m pretty sure coffee is bee pollinated
In that case, a lack of bees would be not be survivable, even in the short term, by me.
I think that despite its parasitising bees the bee fly for me is a welcome harbinger of spring, although i have as yet to see one. a case of the wrong place at the wrong time. but I’m sure I will soon. I have actually found them easier to get good photos of than several bumblebee species.