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Many thanks Stephen. Of course, the wing veins are all wrong for Syrphidae but i naively just went on the general look, which said Merodon to my untrained eyes.

Ugh..... so it's a botfly.... Should have known by the menacing buzzing sound it made. My wife said to keep away from the nasty flies! I've suffered from the human botfly in Cenrtral America before now, and had to have a large grub removed from my scalp 3 weeks later in the UK after telling the 3rd doctor I saw that I want imagining it, I really could hear something munching up there.... There was and was drilling for my brain as these charming creatures do when in the scalp.. Others had assured me it was an infected mosquito bite/ sebaceous cyst etc... The surgeon didn't believe it either til she found the grub, and asked me to come back if I ever had anything good for her to dig for.. Diptera, don't you just love them... Still gives me the shivers 20 years on..

Now I know what to check for maybe this is Cephenemyia stimulator whose grubs munch the throats of roe deer, poor things. And this hill-topping behaviour was noted in this species earlier this year. http://www.diptera.info/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=31698

As for that post, here is the view at the very spot where I found the fly (several were about), sunning on limestone rocks. Not quite as high as I estimated (though it felt like it...). c 1850 meters on the ridge leading to the Vogel peak above Lake Bohinj, Slovenia. Stunning spot!