Food and habits: Adults feed on nectar and pollen and are often seen on dandelion flowers. The fly March to August, but are most common in May, when the females bask on the withering leaves of daffodils and other bulbous plants. Eggs are laid on the leaf bases and the resulting grubs tunnel into the bulb. Even if the bulbs are not destroyed, their flowering capacity is greatly reduced.

Habitat and range: Woods, hedgerows, parks and gardens. Present throughout the UK.

Similar species: Eristalis intricarius has similar patterns, but its legs are partly pale. Volucella bombylans is also superficially similar, but has no U-shaped bend in the veins.