I have never seen one of these, it is quite large. It flew straight into the flower and each time tilted it's tail upwards.
Closest in shape I can find is a Soldierfly, but the eyes on mine look more bee-like.
http://www.david.element.ukgateway.net/flies11soldierflies1.htm
The under side of the abdomen is orange and hairy, the top looks solid but sort of quilted, more like the hard casing of a bumble bee. It didn't stay still at all, in and out in a hurry.
Any clues?
Side view
One thing I have noticed also is the anthers, they are bee like. Flies normally have small antennae sticking out from the front of the head.
I think in the first picture I can see two wings on the right side, not certain but there is a curve there. Flies have one set of wings, so could this be a type of bee?
I found something similar on David Elements site, Mining bee Andrena species. A google for that brought up another page of his site with insects of the Chalk Downland, Leaf-Cutter Bee 'Megachile willughbiella' is the same except for the underneath colour, perhaps a sex diference?
http://www.david.element.ukgateway.net/chalkdownlandinsects.htm
Searching now for those!
Found it!
On the RHS site, a female leaf-cutting bee, 'Megachile willughbiella'
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Learning/publications/pubs/garden0403/bees.asp
To be on the safe side I have looked at google images and found another similar, Megachile centuncularis which has lighter stripes across the back, mine doesn't.
http://www.atlashymenoptera.net/galerie/photo.aspx?id=709
http://wildebijen.nl/tuinbladsnijder.html
http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/aol/image?invocationType=topsearchbox.image&query=Megachile+centuncularis+
I agree it is a leaf-cutting bee (Megachile willughbiella). This image is a useful match to yours: http://www.david.element.ukgateway.net/chalkdownlandinsects.htm
Ken
Thanks for the confirmation kennedyh, it's just as well as I have added it to BF!
I did wonder why the David Element site hadn't got it in the section with other bees, perhaps it is expected to be only present on the Chalk Downland, not overly helpful if it isn't!
I have had leaf-cutting bees for a few years but have never seen one before. They usually cut the leaves of the Snowberry which has always run through from the neighbour. I had seen some cutting on some roses but very little, I don't begrude them a few pieces of leaf!
I have the male too, he was there the first time but I wasn't sure if it belonged with her. He was somewhere near but not feeding.
Today he kept going to the blue lupin and sat in the same place. When she arrived he buzzed up to her, several times, I thought they were going to be mating but there was another male around. It would seem he was making sure another male didn't mate with her!
He's a lot smaller than her. This was his perching leaf, a purplish aquilegia leaf, he used the same leaf and another one the same colour.
