Eristalis intricaria
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Eristalis intricaria, sometimes called the furry dronefly, is a European species of hoverfly. It is a furry bee mimic, superficially resembling Merodon, though Merodon have all black leg tibiae, as opposed to partly yellow. E. intricaria is somewhat variable in colour pattern, and some attempts at naming varieties have been tentatively made. Flight time of adults in the UK are from March to September. It is generally widespread, but is seldom seen in large numbers. Habitat is woodland or marshland.
External images For terms see Morphology of Diptera Wing length 8·25–12 mm. Antennomere 3 brownish-black. Arista plumose on basal half. Squamulae greyish-black. Thorax and abdomen covered with long densely placed hairs, varying in colour from tawny (typical form) to black (var. furvus Verrall). Typical form dimorphic (male abdomen brownish-haired, female abdomen with blackish hairs, last tergite with white hairs).
The male genitalia are figured by Hippa et al. (2001) The larva is figured by Hartley (1961) Palaearctic Fennoscandia, Iceland and the Faroes South to central Spain, montane in the southern limit of its range and absent from most of South... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amsterdam | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 2 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 3 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Warsaw | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 6 | Hamburg | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Leeds | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 8 | Copenhagen | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 9 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 10 | Rotterdam [The Hague] | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Furry Dronefly sighting in Wadden Sea National Park on a given day, based on 41 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 142nd most-seen of the 818 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 to September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Furry Dronefly in Wadden Sea National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to May, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Furry Dronefly sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Furry Dronefly sightings, Wadden Sea National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Cairngorms National Park (United Kingdom, about 10%).
Same genus: Eristalis
The closest relatives of the Furry Dronefly that you can see in Wadden Sea National Park (genus Eristalis, Drone Flies) are Common Drone Fly (about 20%) and Tapered Drone Fly (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Furry Dronefly is recorded against all the insects logged in Wadden Sea National Park (41 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
