The United Kingdom is a net exporter of hoverflies, along with whisky, yachts, and rubbish television. Hoverflies, unlike bees, are also voracious consumers of pests. Their larvae consume some ten trillion aphids annually in the United Kingdom. A landowner or gardener who fussily “sprays off” any hogweed or yarrow, thinking it’s a weed, makes things harder for themselves, lessens or destroys the hoverfly population locally, and will reduce vital pollination services in any nearby orchards as well.

Few insects are quite as beneficial.