Yesterday evening I noticed that a hive of bees was being attacked by flies. The flies were darting in and trying to settle on the abdomen of the bee, and the bees were defending themselves. But every now and then a fly manages to cling to the abdomen of the bee for some time. This behaviour seems very typical of parasitic flies laying eggs on the bees - but I cannot find any description of parasitic flies like this in the UK.
What are these flies? Are they common? Are attacks like these common?
I recorded several minutes of video, and also extracted some frames from the video
The video and the extracted video frames are on the page linked below
https://peter-thomson.com/bees/index.html
![Image](https://peter-thomson.com/images/2020-06-25/1920/untitled-f013126.jpg)
What are these flies? Are they common? Are attacks like these common?
I recorded several minutes of video, and also extracted some frames from the video
The video and the extracted video frames are on the page linked below
https://peter-thomson.com/bees/index.html
![Image](https://peter-thomson.com/images/2020-06-25/1920/untitled-f013126.jpg)
Keeps Bees in South Devon
[url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqbRJTh ... e=youtu.be] Runs an electric car [/url]
[url = https://peter-thomson.com/process_octopus.py ]Uses green electricity and saves money[/url]
[url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqbRJTh ... e=youtu.be] Runs an electric car [/url]
[url = https://peter-thomson.com/process_octopus.py ]Uses green electricity and saves money[/url]