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The garden · Flies and true bugs
Marmalade hoverfly
Episyrphus balteatus
A small orange fly with black bands, some thick and some thin. It looks a little like a wasp but is completely harmless.
- Size
- About 1cm long
- Look for it
- March to November
- Where
- Gardens, hedges and woodland edges everywhere
My spotter's list
Darts after you and hangs dead still in the air. Move your pointer and see.
Good to know
Six things about the hoverfly
DisguiseA wasp in name only
The stripes fool birds into thinking it stings. It has no sting at all.
TellHow to tell it from a wasp
A hoverfly has one pair of wings, short stubby antennae and huge eyes. A wasp has two pairs and long antennae.
FlightA master of hovering
It can hang in one spot, slip sideways and even fly backwards.
YoungIts grubs eat greenfly
The legless larva crawls about on plants and eats aphids, hundreds of them, before it turns into a fly.
TravelIt crosses the sea
In some summers great numbers arrive on the south coast from mainland Europe.
StripesThick and thin
It is the only common hoverfly with a pair of bands, one broad and one hair-thin, on each segment. That is how it got its marmalade name.
The real thing
Photos of the hoverfly
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
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Out and aboutHow to spot one
Look for a small insect hanging motionless in a sunbeam, then zipping away. On flat, open flowers like fennel they sit still to feed.
Lend a handHow to help
Grow flat-topped flowers such as fennel, yarrow and ivy. Hoverflies have short tongues and cannot reach into deep blooms.
Following youLadybird
Who should follow you?
The garden
Meadow and hedgerow
Pond and stream bugs live on their own page: choosing one takes you there.
Pond and stream
The log pile
After dark
Bugs from other parts of the world live on their own pages: choose another.
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