The further south you live in Britain, the more likely you are to see one. There are 250 British species and several of them are very common in gardens. They are found from April to October, hovering in the sun and darting from place to place. One way of telling the difference between a bee and a harmless hoverfly is that the hover-fly has short antennae and bees and wasps have much longer antennae. They are cockchafers, or may bugs.
Cockchafers have interesting fan-like antennae.
They can open the fan or they can close them up into a club shape. Cockchafer larvae live underground for a few years, feeding on the roots of plants. The adult beetle feeds on the leaves of trees and can be quite destructive. The vibrations of their wings make a buzzing sound when they fly. The blue tit is one of the most common garden visitors, but they are also very common in deciduous woodland, hedgerows and parks.