A miniature drama unfurled in my garden this morning, little streaks of orange and black sparkling in the sun as they chose places to land and sun themselves. They seemed to be newly-emerged, as they immediately stretched out their wings on landing: and if you look closely, you can see that the wings are not fully deployed, but are still soft and need to be puffed out quickly before they harden. If so, it’s remarkable that these little flies can take to the air in that condition.

La Belle Noiseuse, the beautiful nuisance, roughly. Not the female sculptor in Jacques Rivette‘s 1991 film, starring Emmanuelle Béart, but a small sawfly. It’s a glorious little insect, shining in the sunlight, its deep orange-ochre abdomen contrasting with its black thorax and head, its legs elegantly banded black on orange, giving it a slightly waspish look in flight. (Indeed, it is presumably a Batesian mimic of wasps, benefiting by looking as if it might sting.)

But its nuisance value does not lie in stinging, but in its caterpillar-like larvae, which devour the leaves of gooseberries and can defoliate whole bushes.

Still, it’s a splendid sight.