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Northumberland insect & arrachnid ID (1 Viewer)

No photo of the next one, but hoping for some pointers. At the weekend, I was at Haltwhistle outdoor swimming pool with my family, and an enormous "bumble bee" of some kind landed on an inflatable in the pool. It was around 50% bigger than any other bee I've seen, leading me to think that it wasn't actually a bee! It was mostly black, hairy, with some orange on the thorax, and a very large, distinct abdomen (i.e. with a visible "waist") that was more pointed than in bumble bees, and tipped white.

Cannot find anything like this at all in my guide. The shape and size suggest to me it wasn't actually a bumble bee, so any pointers as to what it could have been would be very welcome!
 
Thanks Andy.... interesting site. If only I had more time! It takes me an hour to identify one species, so catching multiple species would mean I never actually do any work! It doesn't seem that this species is all that common locally (compared to my usual observations), and it's not in my guide, so I feel slightly better that I couldn't ID it!
 
Another confusing species (well, for me, anyway). I thought this would be some kind of mosquito when I saw it, but the large "beak" and opaque wings are confusing me.... any thoughts? (It was quite big, possibly 10-15mm, as can be seen by comparison with the oxeye daisy it's settled on).
 

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lazza said:
Another confusing species (well, for me, anyway). I thought this would be some kind of mosquito when I saw it, but the large "beak" and opaque wings are confusing me.... any thoughts? (It was quite big, possibly 10-15mm, as can be seen by comparison with the oxeye daisy it's settled on).
Click to expand...

Looks like one of the Robber Flies.
Andy
 
I'll possibly post this in the moth ID forum, but thought I would start here...

Is it possible to identify the species of this caterpillar munching its way through my apple tree?! It seems to be quite like a peppered moth, Biston petularia, but there seem to be a number of similar larvae
 

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Next up! A hover fly from the coast this weekend.

I think this is Syrphus ribesii, as the wing venation seems to match, but I am not sure if the number of abdominal stripes is important, as my guide (and photos on-line) seem to show one fewer yellow stripe!

And, out of interest, can anyone give me a pointer on the tiny black fly? These seem a pretty common species - I see them (or something similar) a lot on my courgette flowers and sunflowers - but have no idea what family of insect they are, never mind what species.
 

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lazza said:
No photo of the next one, but hoping for some pointers. At the weekend, I was at Haltwhistle outdoor swimming pool with my family, and an enormous "bumble bee" of some kind landed on an inflatable in the pool. It was around 50% bigger than any other bee I've seen, leading me to think that it wasn't actually a bee! It was mostly black, hairy, with some orange on the thorax, and a very large, distinct abdomen (i.e. with a visible "waist") that was more pointed than in bumble bees, and tipped white.

Cannot find anything like this at all in my guide. The shape and size suggest to me it wasn't actually a bumble bee, so any pointers as to what it could have been would be very welcome!
Click to expand...

Tree Bumblebee??
 
Is it possible to identify this crane fly, from the garden, yesterday?

From the wing markings, and the fact the wings are folded down, it looks most like Tipula confusa but I think there are probably other similar species. Thanks!
 

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Anyone any ideas on the above crane fly?

And a new puzzle - this time a bumble bee species. Is this just a particularly pale Carder Bumblebee (Bombus pascuorum) or something else, a cuckoo bee, maybe?
 

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OK, next up, a gall. Is it possible to identify the perpetrator? There were several of these, about 10-12mm across, containing a tiny (2-3mm) cream-coloured larva
 

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