This is a post I’ve just finished for the natural history collection on r/ForestofBowland, it’s all too easy to just write about birds of prey, deer etc, so I occasionally try to remember the insects too, hoverflies are also fascinating creatures!
The Common Drone hoverfly, Eristalis tenax, is one of the most common and ubiquitous hoverflies to be found in the British isles, and usually the first to emerge, as adults that have hibernated all winter begin to sense the warmer days outside and venture forth to feed before other flying insects do.
At about 1cm long it’s one of the larger species you might spot and an abundant species on sunny days in flower-filled gardens, where it might easily be mistaken for a bee due to its clever camouflage. Its orange and brown colour banding mimics that of honey bee drones, hence its name, and is intended to persuade birds and other would-be predators to stay away for fear of getting stung. Hoverflies cannot sting though and they are completely harmless.
The idea that a harmless insect can gain an advantage by mimicking a harmful one was first proposed by the nineteenth-century English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, so the phenomenon is known as 'Batesian mimicry'.
As its name states, a hoverfly is a fly that can hover, it does so like a hummingbird in front of flowers as it sucks nectar from them. The drone hoverfly is a very adept hoverer and even mimics the flight patterns of bees, and other hoverflies will mimic the flight of the species they are trying to look like. This insect is also remarkable for the fact that it has such huge compound eyes that they press against each other and occupy most of the creature's head, with the males usually having much bigger and prominent eyes than the females.
Hoverflies are true flies in that they appear to have only two wings, but in fact they have four wings, it’s just that the hind pair are reduced to two small structures that look like tiny table tennis bats, called ‘halteres’, they use these for stabilisation during flight. This is one way of telling the drone hoverfly apart from bees, which have four wings, another difference is that bees don’t have a narrow waist, something else that gives away any hoverfly
... keep reading on reddit ➡I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.
Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.
Do your worst!
They were cooked in Greece.
I'm surprised it hasn't decade.
Don't you know a good pun is its own reword?
Two muffins are in an oven, one muffin looks at the other and says "is it just me, or is it hot in here?"
Then the other muffin says "AHH, TALKING MUFFIN!!!"
For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.
I said "hey look, an escaPEA"
No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!
Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂
It really does, I swear!
Because she wanted to see the task manager.
But that’s comparing apples to oranges
And boy are my arms legs.
Heard they've been doing some shady business.
but then I remembered it was ground this morning.
Edit: Thank you guys for the awards, they're much nicer than the cardboard sleeve I've been using and reassures me that my jokes aren't stale
Edit 2: I have already been made aware that Men In Black 3 has told a version of this joke before. If the joke is not new to you, please enjoy any of the single origin puns in the comments
They’re on standbi
A play on words.
My daughter, Chewbecca, not so much.
Pilot on me!!
Nothing, he was gladiator.
And now I’m cannelloni
Or would that be too forward thinking?
I just posted this for the natural history collection on r/ForestofBowland and thought I’d post it here too as they are fascinating insects and will be emerging in our gardens soon, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy watching their antics!
The Common Drone hoverfly, Eristalis tenax, is one of the most common and ubiquitous hoverflies to be found in the British isles, and usually the first to emerge, as adults that have hibernated all winter begin to sense the warmer days outside and venture forth to feed before other flying insects do.
At about 1cm long it’s one of the larger species you might spot and an abundant species on sunny days in flower-filled gardens, where it might easily be mistaken for a bee due to its clever camouflage. Its orange and brown colour banding mimics that of honey bee drones, hence its name, and is intended to persuade birds and other would-be predators to stay away for fear of getting stung. Hoverflies cannot sting though and they are completely harmless.
The idea that a harmless insect can gain an advantage by mimicking a harmful one was first proposed by the nineteenth-century English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, so the phenomenon is known as 'Batesian mimicry'.
As its name states, a hoverfly is a fly that can hover, it does so like a hummingbird in front of flowers as it sucks nectar from them. The drone hoverfly is a very adept hoverer and even mimics the flight patterns of bees, and other hoverflies will mimic the flight of the species they are trying to look like. This insect is also remarkable for the fact that it has such huge compound eyes that they press against each other and occupy most of the creature's head, with the males usually having much bigger and prominent eyes than the females.
Hoverflies are true flies in that they appear to have only two wings, but in fact they have four wings, it’s just that the hind pair are reduced to two small structures that look like tiny table tennis bats, called ‘halteres’, they use these for stabilisation during flight. This is one way of telling the drone hoverfly apart from bees, which have four wings, another difference is that bees don’t have a narrow waist, something else that gives away any hoverfly.
... keep reading on reddit ➡The Common Drone hoverfly, Eristalis tenax, is one of the most common and ubiquitous hoverflies to be found in the British isles, and usually the first to emerge, as adults that have hibernated all winter begin to sense the warmer days outside and venture forth to feed.
At about 1cm long it’s one of the larger species you might spot and an abundant species on sunny days in flower-filled gardens where it might easily be mistaken for a bee due to its clever camouflage. It’s orange and brown colour banding mimics that of honey bee drones, hence its name, and is intended to persuade birds and other would-be predators to stay away for fear of getting stung. Hoverflies cannot sting though and they are completely harmless.
The idea that a harmless insect can gain an advantage by mimicking a harmful one was first proposed by the nineteenth-century English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, so the phenomenon is known as 'Batesian mimicry'.
As its name states, a hoverfly is a fly that can hover, it does so like a hummingbird in front of flowers as it sucks nectar from them. The drone hoverfly is a very adept hoverer and even mimics the flight patterns of bees, and other hoverflies will mimic the flight of the species they are trying to look like. This insect is also remarkable for the fact that it has such huge compound eyes that they press against each other and occupy most of the creature's head, with the males usually having much bigger and prominent eyes than the females.
Hoverflies are true flies in that they appear to have only two wings but in fact they have four wings, it’s just that the hind pair are reduced to two small structures that look like tiny table tennis bats, called ‘halteres’, they use these for stabilisation during flight. This is one way of telling the drone hoverfly apart from bees, which have four wings, another difference is that bees don’t have a narrow waist, something else that gives away any hoverfly.
The larvae of the Drone hoverfly are saprotrophs, like many hoverfly larvae are, which means they eat decaying plant and animal matter in the soil or in ponds and streams. Drone hoverfly larvae have the horrible sounding, but descriptive nickname ‘[rat-tailed maggots](https:/
... keep reading on reddit ➡The Common Drone hoverfly, Eristalis tenax, is one of the most common and ubiquitous hoverflies to be found in the British isles, and usually the first to emerge, as adults that have hibernated all winter begin to sense the warmer days outside and venture forth to feed before other flying insects do.
At about 1cm long it’s one of the larger species you might spot and an abundant species on sunny days in flower-filled gardens, where it might easily be mistaken for a bee due to its clever camouflage. Its orange and brown colour banding mimics that of honey bee drones, hence its name, and is intended to persuade birds and other would-be predators to stay away for fear of getting stung. Hoverflies cannot sting though and they are completely harmless.
Batesian mimicry
The idea that a harmless insect can gain an advantage by mimicking a harmful one was first proposed by the nineteenth-century English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, so the phenomenon is known as 'Batesian mimicry'.
As its name states, a hoverfly is a fly that can hover, it does so like a hummingbird in front of flowers as it sucks nectar from them. The drone hoverfly is a very adept hoverer and even mimics the flight patterns of bees, and other hoverflies will mimic the flight of the species they are trying to look like. This insect is also remarkable for the fact that it has such huge compound eyes that they press against each other and occupy most of the creature's head, with the males usually having much bigger and prominent eyes than the females.
Halteres
Hoverflies are true flies in that they appear to have only two wings, but in fact they have four wings, it’s just that the hind pair are reduced to two small structures that look like tiny table tennis bats, called ‘halteres’, they use these for stabilisation during flight. This is one way of telling the drone hoverfly apart from bees, which have four wings, another difference is that bees don’t have a narrow waist, something else that gives away any hoverfly.
The larvae of the Drone hoverfly are saprotrophs, like many hoverfly larvae are, which means they eat decaying plant and animal matter in the soil or in ponds and streams. Drone hoverfly larvae have the horrib
... keep reading on reddit ➡
