Imposter

Merodon equestris

So, it's a bumblebee, right? You'd be forgiven for thinking so, since this imposter looks rather like the bumblebee it's mimicking. But you'd be wrong, because this is actually a fly — the hoverfly species Merodon equestris, to be precise — and looking like a bumblebee is its way of potentially avoiding predation. Known colloquially as the Greater Bulb-Fly, this is probably an introduced species, since it wasn't reported in Britain until the 1800s. Its larvae develop in and feed on daffodil bulbs (as well as the bulbs of a host of other species), so it may have originally stowed away in daffodil bulbs imported from Europe, where it's common and widespread. Greater Bulb-Flies can be quite variable in colouration, with somewhere between 4 and 7 different named varieties (experts disagree on the exact number) mimicking the patterns of several types of bumblebees. This one appears to be the form bulborum, which mimics the Red-tailed Bumblebee. They're most common in late May and early June, but are found from mid-March right through until the middle of October, so we're likely to see a few more before the year is out. Maybe we'll spot one or two of the other varieties as well!