Bee-flies and Toothwort in the Long Plantation, Surrey

Toothwort is flowering again at the base of Hazel trees in the Long Plantation.

See also http://sussexrambler.blogspot.com/2009/04/toothwort-in-surrey-wood.html from 2009.

Bee-flies were everywhere.

Here it is Bombylius major.  A sweet little fly, whose larvae attack grubs of solitary bees and wasps in their underground nests.

 Here is one in flight in a domestic garden.