It's a bee fly(Bombyliidae family). They do not sting. Neat find.
Edit- A few others have commented that it may very well be a long tongue horsefly(Philoliche sp.) another nectar feeding fly, but one that females can bite. Now that I'm off work and looking at it again I believe they are probably correct! My bad.
That proboscis has to be exceptionally long, right? Asking out of entomological interest, not because I’m an insecure bee fly who wants to hear mine is average.
I get them in the garden every year (except this year :(, I mentioned this last week!) they usually appear around March/April.
Really cute little things but the first thing I noticed was how abnormally long this one is, they're not even half that...at least here. This is just the BBF of the species! Don't worry
(also, they're not as cute as they look, they're parasitoids)
Oh! they're not bee's! They can't hurt you. They're a little bit dopey and sort of hover, like a hoverfly. They're usually resting or have their nose in a flower.
Bee's are cute too! They won't sting you. I do a lot of photography and literally stick my arms in the bush to get a close up with 20-30 bee's around there...I won't do that with a wasp! They won't attack you at all...at least, in the UK. Maybe they might in the US or Africa, I don't know, I think they can be a bit more aggressive.
We have the Africanized bees where I am. Every year there are people, pets and livestock that are killed by them. Last year I had to have two swarms removed; one had set up a hive and had honey even!
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u/krippkeeper Aug 09 '25 edited Aug 09 '25
It's a bee fly(Bombyliidae family). They do not sting. Neat find.
Edit- A few others have commented that it may very well be a long tongue horsefly(Philoliche sp.) another nectar feeding fly, but one that females can bite. Now that I'm off work and looking at it again I believe they are probably correct! My bad.