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This comical, furry Bee-mimic fly makes me laugh. It looks like a tiny bumblebee and behaves in a similar way, hovering and darting from flower to flower. You often hear its high pitched whiny buzz before you see it. In flight, those long legs flung out at the back make it look as if it's skipping through the air! Click on photos for larger image.

Red-striped Oil beetle - also known as the Blister Beetle. Adults are up to 6cm long and they are fast runners. Although they don't look intimidating, the black and red/orange colouring gives fair warning. If threatened, they release a smelly, oily liquid. Skin that comes into contact with it can blister.
Shield Bugs
Below: Swallowtail (click photos for larger image)
And this is the scarce swallowtail (which isn't scarce at all in this region)
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Thick-headed fly (Sicus ferrugineus). At a distance, it looked attractive. Less so close up, when I saw its abdomen curled forward underneath. That's not a deformity - they're all like that. Its behaviour is even less appealing: Females lay single eggs on bumblebees. After hatching, a larva burrows into the bee's abdomen - feeding on and later pupating inside its host.
Ladybirds and similar bugs
(click photos for larger image)
(click photos for larger image)
Click photos for larger image.