Hoverfly help please

[Jason Green]

Excellent - very useful. Yes, Syrphus, but without a view of the whole femora it's awkward to guage the shading. As I was saying - I had a funny feeling about suggestions of torvus - they are supposed to appear bigger than the other two. Still, with no view of the eyes at a definition sufficient to say anything either way it's only speculation.

Any bigger photographs of the head?

Best to say Syrphus sp.

[JRsbugs]

It's impossible for the first two photos to be the same fly, the second one is a male.

If the hind femora were all yellow, with just black at the base, then it's likely to be S. ribesii but there is another now which is also said to have all yellow hind femora in the female, that is S. rectus but it seems a relatively newcomer on the scene and I really don't know anything about it.

Syrphus

Adding that size is very variable, depending on how well the larva was fed.

[Jason Green]

...there is some doubt on S. rectus despite the inclusion on the British list - I don't consider it with these.