Looking like the Melanostoma Mellinum hoverfly, this one has shimmering dark-veined wings, rather than the transparent wings of the former, which clearly show its stripes. Platycheirus granditarsus, also known as Pyrophaena granditarsus, has a red head, bronzy thorax, and stripey legs. It lives in watermeadows and the margins of ponds and ditches. Here it is on some pendulous sedge.
A Year in the Valley
Discovering the flora and fauna in a small square of Portmellon Valley