Habitat: wetlands and alluvial forest, pond margins and fen, wet pasture, along wet ditches, around farmyards, canal banks, suburban gardens, rubbish dumps and parks. Flowers visited include white umbellifers, Achillea millefolium, Allium ursinum, Caltha, Chelidonium, Convolvulus, Crataegus, Euphorbia, Leontodon, Menyanthes, Plantago,Potentilla erecta, Ranunculus, Salix repens, Senecio jacobaea, Taraxacum. The flight period is April to October. The larvae are sub-aquatic, occurring in cow-dung, slurry and dung-enriched mud.