anyone know what this bee/wasp thing is?

[hjr]

Hello all
I'm new to this site, so please bear with me! This afternoon a strange bee-like creature buzzed into my kitchen - it was very loud and looked threatening. I took a photo (not very clear I'm afraid). It was well over an inch long, with grey/blue and black striped markings and seemed like some sort of giant wasp or be - not a hornet as far as I could judge. Anyone know what this is?


Thanks for any info! Oh - this is in rural Somerset

Heather

[faz]

looks like a hover fly to me nothing to worry about

[JRsbugs]

I'd say a horsefly, family Tabanidae. If it's a female it will be after your blood!

[hjr]

Crikey! I've never seen a horse fly that big - not even in the south of France! It was buzzing in a very wasp-like manner and didn't have any of the horse fly characteristics that I'm familiar with. The thought of it having a chomp on my arm makes me think of Hancock's Blood Donor sketch
A hover fly makes more sense, although again, it's the biggest I've ever seen!
I wish I could have got a better photo - if i see it again I'll try to get one with more detail. Meanwhile I'll try to convince myself it was just a very fat hover fly!
Thanks for the replies

Heather

[JRsbugs]

I'm really struggling to think of a hoverfly which has "grey/blue and black striped markings". I'm also struggling to think of a hoverfly which is over and inch long! Are you sure it was that big?

The shape and description does speak of a horsefly.. take a look at some! Some are quite large..

Tabanidae - Google Search

[hjr]

It's possible - but yes, it really was that big! I had a friend with me who was also astounded by the size. But you're right about the shape of the abdomen being very horsefly-ish. The sound was that of a bumble bee, but it definitely wasn't one of those.

[JRsbugs]

I found Tabanus bovinus grows to 25-30mm!

Tabanus bovinus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There's a pic of one in the Gallery..

Horse fly - Tabanus bovinus - Wildlife Photography

And on diptera.info

[hjr]

Blimey! I think it's a possible - and very scary! Hope it was a male, and that it really did fly out the window!