Volucella bombylans
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Volucella bombylans is a large species of hoverfly belonging to the family Syrphidae. This species is present in most of Europe, in the East Palearctic realm, in the Near East and in the Nearctic realm. These hoverflies can be found in forest edges and clearings, woodland margins, hedgerows, wet meadows, spruce forest edge and urban wasteland or gardens, usually sunning on leaves.
Volucella bombylans is larger than most hoverflies, reaching a body length of 11 to 17 mm. and a wingspan length of 8–14 mm. They look something like a bumblebee with a furry black, yellow and/or white body, but they are given away by their heads, plumed antennae, large eyes and the particular wing venation, which make them quite easy to identify as a true fly, like a blowfly.
The mesonotum bears black or yellow hairs on the sides, while the scutellum is brownish or yellowish. The wings are milky white with a dark cross-bands in the anterior half and a diffuse dark spot at the wing tip. The abdomen is yellow at the base and black in the middle, with long, dense hairs at the end. The legs are rather short and black.
This species occurs in several forms, each... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 2 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 5 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Tatra National Park | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 7 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 8 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 9 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Leeds | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Rotterdam [The Hague] | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 7 | Copenhagen | 🇩🇰 Denmark |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Bumble Bee Hover Fly sighting in Birmingham on a given day, based on 33 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 246th most-seen of the 811 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Bumble Bee Hover Fly in Birmingham on a given day, against under 5% in August to April, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bumble Bee Hover Fly sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 7 cities where we can rate Bumble Bee Hover Fly sightings, Birmingham has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Manchester (United Kingdom, about 10%) and London (United Kingdom, about 10%).
Same genus: Volucella
The closest relatives of the Bumble Bee Hover Fly that you can see in Birmingham (genus Volucella, Plumehorns) are Hornet Mimic Hover Fly (about 20%), Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (about 10%) and Pellucid Hover Fly (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bumble Bee Hover Fly is recorded against all the insects logged in Birmingham (33 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
