Critters in Mum's garden

I spent the afternoon with Mum today. The weather wasn't particularly great, quite chilly and cloudy, so there weren't many critters around to photograph.

 

The Honeybee (Apis mellifera) was probably the most commonly seen, with most being attracted to the huge clumps of Japanese Anemone......

 

Next up were the Common Carders (Bombus pascuorum) with their endearing habit of buzzing loudly whilst collecting pollen......

 

 

and seen only a couple of times was a solitary White-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum) which preferred the Passion Flowers......

 

The high-light of my day though was this teeny weeny hoverfly, one of the genera Sphaerophoria, which is fairly widespread over the UK. I've had confirmation from the expert, Roger Morris, that this is a female and therefore unless it's examined under a microscope, the exact Sphaerophoria species cannot be identified.....

But it was a beautiful little thing.....

 

 

Also braving the chilly day was this Fourteen-spot Ladybird (Propylea 14-punctata)....

 

 

and several Crane Flies.....

 

and I think these ones below were finding their own way to keep warm.........