Earliest bee-fly ever

Update: after this record was reported for 24 Feb 2019, two earlier records came in, both on 17 Feb 2019, from Brian Hopper in East Sussex, and Wes Attridge in Surrey.

Today, 24 February 2019, Ian Beavis recorded and photographed a Dark-edged Bee-fly, Bombylius major, in Kent, Tunbridge Wells Common. The recording scheme has only ever received three previous records that are earlier in the year than this, and none of those are confirmed (they are very early, and could well be data entry errors). There is a record from 28 February, in 2009, and also from Kent (Orpington). 

So Ian's record this year is the earliest ever confirmed sighting of a bee-fly in the UK!

You can see the flight-period patterns from previous years on our new Bee-fly Watch results page.