Marmalade fly

Marmalade hoverfly © Nick Upton/2020VISION

Marmalade hoverfly © Nick Upton/2020VISION

Marmalade hoverfly © Chris Lawrence

Marmalade hoverfly © Chris Lawrence

Marmalade Fly

Marmalade Fly ©Sam Hockaday

Marmalade fly

Our most common hoverfly, the marmalade fly is orange with black bands across its body. It feeds on flowers like tansy, ragwort and cow parsley in gardens, hedgerows, parks and woodlands.

Enw gwyddonol

Episyrphus balteatus

Pryd i'w gweld

January to December

Species information

Ynghylch

The marmalade fly is a very common hoverfly that can be seen in gardens, parks and sunny woodlands. Adults are on the wing right through the year, although appear in large numbers in the summer. They feed on nectar, gathering together on flowers like tansy, ragwort and cow parsley. The larvae are predators of aphids. As well as being a common breeding fly, in some years, huge numbers migrate here from the continent when they can be seen busily feeding on flowers near the coast.

Sut i'w hadnabod

The marmalade fly is our most common and familiar hoverfly, identified by its orange body with thick and thin black bands across it.

Dosbarthiad

Widespread.

Roeddech chi yn gwybod?

The marmalade fly gets its name from its orange colour, and the different sized black bands across its body: 'thin cut', 'thick cut', just like marmalade!