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Thank you Andre! There seems to be many Cheilosia! And not many pics of them, lol.

There is a pic of C. proxima in the Gallery, but that looks very hairy. No pic of cynocephala. I found a list which has C. cynocephala but not C. proxima, which is for lowland grassland habitats but also calcareous, where my soil is more acidic but I do have other species which are supposed to be in calcareous grasslands.

http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:v7HiZXDBJV4J:www.buglife.org.uk/OneStopCMS/Core/CrawlerResourceServer.aspx%3Fresource%3D8FDF9BBD-86B9-4D00-9013-8CB1E7D3AFB8%26mode%3Dlink%26guid%3D52da30a48db54a28b9f133ea5cc0715f+cheilosia+cynocephala&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=uk&ie=UTF-8

I found that C. cynocephala larvae feed in Musk Thistle, Carduus nutans. It is also a species of special conservation concern. Actually I found 3 food plants, Carduus crispus and Cirsium palustre also.

http://www.brc.ac.uk/DBIF/invertebratesresults.aspx?insectid=1937

This site says it was recorded in 2006 in Shropshire, the first record since 1947! But that is not my area.

http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:BrTUCc9efc4J:www.insectpix.net/files%2520for%2520downloading/SIG%25202006%2520Annual%2520Report.rtf+cheilosia+cynocephala&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=uk&ie=UTF-8

It is also recorded in Cambridgeshire at Dogsthorpe Star Pit but I would need to download a pdf to get the full write up. I found that is next to Peterborough, which is not very far south from me.

http://pbc.codehog.co.uk/site_reports/dogsthorpe_star_pit_map.htm

I found a pic of C. proxima male, and it certainly looks a possibility, but the pic is worse than mine!

http://syrphidae.com/specie.php?genus=Cheilosia&specie=proxima&continent=Europe

The habitat for C. proxima does seem to be closer to mine, although the food plants mentioned were much the same as C. cynocephala for the larvae.

"Woodland edges and rides, scrub and hedgerows. White umbels such as Heracleum, and flowering bushes such as Crataegus & Prunus spinosa"

http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:8XqFe83Ih14J:www.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk/downloads/Table5TerrestrialInvertebrates.xls+cheilosia+proxima&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=uk&ie=UTF-8

C. pagana and C. proxima are the only Cheilosia mentioned on that site, but it is Staffordshire which is a litte more south and to the west. I also had C. pagana though, maybe this would swing it to C. proxima? As C. cynocephala is not far to the south of me I couldn't rule it out though!

The species name cynocephala makes me wonder if it is to do with the colour cyanea, and my fly does have a bluish tinge. C. proxima looks just plain brown.

cyanea.... From greek cyanos, "blue",

Andre, what is your gut instinct? If you would rather not say I don't mind! :)

Janet