Cheilosia pagana, a small black hoverfly, is one of our earliest hoverflies to be seen, flying from March-October. The female is identified by its large orange antennae. #BestFlyBook bit.ly/4dqQI8Z @bbowt.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @gailashton.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Me being a beefly for @heligangardens.bsky.social - I’m one of the many messages from the wild you can listen to on your journey around the gardens www.messagesfromthewild.com/the-bee-fly/

The @nhm-london.bsky.social #GenerationHope program, in collaboration with youth climate/nature advocates from across the world, aimed at empowering people to become planetary advocates I LOVE this planet (esp the flies) & will be talking Flies, collections & Hope www.nhm.ac.uk/events/gener...

youtu.be/LC-xIryYhd0?... Strange things one does includes talking flies to @harryhillmovie.bsky.social & John Cooper Clark.

That is a bold statement to open a book with. But when it’s the catalogue of fleas housed in the @nhm-london.bsky.social then go ahead. I would disagree and argue that we are all still cranks 🤓🤘

A different bee-fly, not seen flying around today, but making a valuable contribution to science

Looks like the 🌞 brought out the bee-flies today (I even saw one myself, but not for long enough to photo) #BeeFlyWatch

If you're within reach of Northamptonshire on Sat 16 May there's a soldierfly identification workshop with the Wildlife Trust: learn how to identify soldierflies using keys, specimens & microscopes (suitable for beginners & more experienced) www.wildlifebcn.org/events/2026-...

Beefly Alley did NOT disappoint this lunchtime 13 Bombylius major (m & f) and it’s still early in the season! I LOVE SPRING @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Beeflies This time the Dune Villa, Villa modesta, which we collected on a @dipteristsforum.bsky.social fieldtrip in Cornwall for the #DarwinTreeofLife genome sequencing project @nhm-london.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social Genome assembled 👊 wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/11-...

Waiting for my morning train into work It’s very noisy on my platform!! #birdsong

Hmmmmm I think I’m finally getting it. Turns out my brain and I did not agree on how to learn leg bristles…but hopefully a breakthrough has now occurred… @ukmuscidae.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Get better soon Chris, see you next year, picture of Falky and @entmikeashworth.bsky.social at work, just for you 👍 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #muscidae workshop 2026. Working through the fab new key, tapping into the incredible experience of the diptera big guns #diptera @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Well that’s an interesting ruler….

My first Bee-fly of the year just now in the back garden. A Dotted Bee-fly (Bombylius discolor) resting on a hessian sack of dead leaves. 😍 @kitenet.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social #UKWildlife #Inverts #nature #photography #iRecorded #SignsOfSpring

‘Sweeping…it’s like playing an instrument. Anyone can pick up a violin but it takes still to make music’ Steve Falks giving hints and tips about collecting Muscids @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

It’s an excellent feeling to identify flies Muscidae aren’t my group so the @ukmuscidae.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social workshop is brilliant for me Using both @entmikeashworth.bsky.social and James McGills new keys, this is Polietes hirticus - a northern spp (this one from Cumbria)

Although out of date before it even published, the uK provisional assessment of Calypterate flies is worrying Almost half the Muscids are of concern. As @entmikeashworth.bsky.social highlights that’s why the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social courses are essential to provide training for correct id’s

Shout out by @entmikeashworth.bsky.social for Bristol Museums collection that he has been rooting through and imaging It’s this Muscids anniversary, collected by local man Fonseca - a phenomenal dipterist @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

How many times have I said this during my fly lectures much to the dismay of the students Some flies are difficult to identify but they are so worth it!! @entmikeashworth.bsky.social introducing us to Muscidae on the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social workshop

‘I don’t know why I’m here’ @entmikeashworth.bsky.social starts his lecture on the Introduction to Muscidae’ He’s here because he’s amazing & has done a fab job of producing a genera guide to UK Muscids. Also he has a great sense of humour @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

The Darwin room @fieldstudiesc.bsky.social #PrestonMontford ready for the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social workshop. #jamesmcgill #mikeashworth and #stephenfalks presenting on all things #muscidae. #newkey & more available to members via dipterists.org.uk Membership from £8 per year #bargain #resources

Oh do I love this!!! Bombylius discolor maybe? @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social

‘A significant amount of the British Muscids like dung…’ And so we are off! It’s the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social annual Workshop - this times it’s on Muscidae (houseflies) Course tutors are Steve Falks, James McGill & the wonderful @entmikeashworth.bsky.social

And we are off! The wonderful Steve Falk opens proceedings at our #dipteristforum #diptera workshop on #muscidae. It's going to be a very productive weekend with a lot of great info shared... plus the new key! @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @davebriceflies.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social

Scathophaga stercoraria or Yellow Dungfly. ‘Yellow’ just doesn’t do it justice. It’s a glorious, fabulous gold and if it was a small mammal everyone would want one as a pet. They’re so fluffy! iPhone photo, so not the sharpest but still a little beauty! #diptera #entomology

Tachina lurida (Dingy Tachina), one of our earliest Parasite Flies to emerge in March & found in woodland features in our new #FliesofBritainandIreland bit.ly/4dqQI8Z this one spotted in Bernwood Forest on the Bucks/Oxon border @bbowt.bsky.social @tverc1.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Look who is giving a Royal Institute Lecture 😉...on flies..can you believe it.... Very excited to be giving a talk about the Life Cycles of Flies - the vast and splendid adaptations undertaken by these little marvels.. www.rigb.org/whats-on/met...

An excellent morning with the Devon Fly Group at their indoor meeting. Topics ranging from potential flies of Atlantic Rain Forest in UK to key entomologists in the history of Dolichopodidae. Great group who get so much done! #localgroups @guyshrubsole.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social

For added excitement while looking for bee-flies, check your local daffodil patches for the Daffodil Dung-fly, a spiny-legged fly that is in the dung-fly family but has nothing to do with 💩

The rather amazing Prof Stanislav Gorb is giving the #Verrall2026 lecture -I’ve been obsessed with his work for years Structures help taxonomists name spp/understand relationships BUT the shapes/structures help the animal stick/breath/swim etc, & there is a huge diversity @royentsoc.bsky.social

Sorry I am a daily Quiz question in the @thetimes.com - not a crossword but even still, tres excited!!

I’m a @thetimes.com crossword clue! Now you must all buy the book and learn about these amazing insects 🪰😎🤓 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Ohhh how am I going to sleep now!!!

Several more bee-flies seen today - hurray 😍 So far we have records for Surrey, Beds, Bucks, Kent, Herts, Middlesex and Guernsey. Where will they appear next? Please enjoy looking out for them and send in your sightings for #BeeFlyWatch - 📸 of the Herts bee-fly by @allanburrows.bsky.social

New family of flies for me - Megamerinidae This is Megamerina dolium - the sole species found in the British isles from this family 😎 From the @opwallscience.bsky.social @kneppwilding.bsky.social malaise samples I think only a few records from Sussex so I’m happy - check out their leg spines

Aesops Fables and why we have fables…

APPLY NOW folks. An amazing experience to learn more about the taxonomy of flies, undertake fieldwork in a tropical forest, and chat ecologies with experts in the evenings. #perfect forms.gle/ggaCi1my5zqj...

Todays marvellous specimens...FLEAS FROM THE FUTURE! Although collected over 50 years ago, it appears that they were identified in 2060! (the perils of a comma in a slightly odd place..) @nhm-london.bsky.social

Quite a treat to encounter some cute little Diptera in vials inadvertently included amongst my Newfoundland and Labrador mayfly vials: these are Nymphomyiids and blepharicerids.

HOLY SMOKES. Tagging @flygirlnhm.bsky.social, because HOLY SMOKES.

One week left to apply for this year's Fly School, happening in July in Costa Rica! Fly School happens every other year, so the next opportunity won't be until 2028. Application and more info at dipterists.org/fly_school.h...

The deadline for the BEST COURSE is coming up - please do apply and join us in the jungle This course is amazing - flies, Costa Rica, more flies, excellent tutors, yet more flies, great experience and EVEN MORE FLIES

I’ve been a supporter of @wwf.org.uk for over 40 years & I think it’s the first time I’ve seen flies in their magazine! Hoverflies (& 100000s more spp) are not just excellent pollinators as adults, as the larvae are either recyclers of organic waste or predators of your garden pests 🤓🪰

Had the pleasure of listening to Prof Baroness Kathy Willis, CBE @ox.ac.uk at @kneppwilding.bsky.social last night talking #GoodNature - nature & health NATURE is GREAT for health (but we all know that 😎🥰) & Kathy cited many studies to provide evidence for this @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social

My flea-Vs (or flea volunteers) are incorporating accession material that have been hidden in boxes, waiting to be processed. Look how happy they are! Especially as this is type material that is both new to science (well it was in 1995) & new to our collection. (Why so long? Only one Erica..)

awesome fly art @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Roger Morris and I are picking out Muscidae from the British collection ahead of the upcoming @dipteristsforum.bsky.social field course for a photo shoot! Trying to get those awkward features imaged to aid the keys and (hopefully) identifications

Just participated in an @opwall.bsky.social @opwallscience.bsky.social careers panel What do you need for a career in entomology? Passion, hard work and a smidgeon of absurdity. You will be working with natures most diverse & varied creatures after all..

It’s an excellent book too. My wife used it in the classroom, both for the bug content and also to show the girls that scientists aren’t just men with beards. Recommended for teachers and small people alike! #entobooks #books