However, this entry finds me slightly outside of my stated geographical patch.
I was in the Lake District, on Keldas at the southern end of Ullswater. There's a small rocky 'turret' there with vegetation on top, and I found a good number of Sericomyia lappona buzzing about. There must have been a few dozen individuals present on an area of raised ground just a few yards across.
This is actually the first time I've (knowingly) encountered this species of hoverfly, so I began happily taking photographs, but soon became aware of a high pitched whining noise, somewhat like a mosquito. I soon realised that this was being made by the flies. When landing on the rocks and vegetation they were in an 'open winged' position, but upon closing the wings, they began emitting the high pitched sound.
The flies were very active, rarely landing for more than 30 seconds, but several times I witnessed the stationary 'singing' ones being approached by others flying. They would then embark on a brief paired flight, before separating.
The whole scene was fascinating. The flies had gathered in a very small area (I saw none at all anywhere else, even just a few feet further down the slope), and assume it was connected with courtship activity.
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