I went out walking the other day and spotted this character. It was cold and it was feeling sluggish so I managed to photograph it quite easily. Clearly the hair isn't there to keep it warm, that only applies to mammals.
It looks like it may be a woolly bee fly of some kind and while the adult flies feed on flowers and are important pollinators, The larvae are predatory and feed on other insect larvae. There are other creatures that fulfil the same role as bees, but not in a way that is beneficial to man so we tend to discount them.
