This makes me soooooo happy I believe it is true - all love him

Mistress Malaise was well overdue a make-over. A battering over the last three weeks resulted in a fatal injury…. But now, with a new net, invertebrate sampling can recommence. Long term studies over the seasons give amazing insights into our fauna

Fieldwork with the @nhm-london.bsky.social entomologists. It’s very cold and so we are all just huddled around the moth trap

This probably needs an age rating. Female batman hoverfly - Myathropa florea - ovipositing into the base of an oak sapling I was *just about to re-pot*... @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Need more fly stuff in your life? Great, we now have an Instagram page too - drop over and say hello! www.instagram.com/p/DX4OiZdDNcI/ A beautiful Empis femorata, smothered in pollen for attention #fliesarepollinatorstoo @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @davebriceflies.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social

My Uni buys a book in honor of each Academic Achievement Award winner. One award winner from our department had taken #entomology with me because she was afraid of insects; mastered her fear and the class. They got the perfect book in her honor: A Secret Life of Flies by @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Sadly the folks at @lstmnews.bsky.social wouldn’t let me have this! A stunning collection of insect vector species in resin - featuring many different parts of the life cycle including a copulating couple of Tsetse This historic teaching resource is gorgeous

I’ve just had the pleasure of visiting @lstmnews.bsky.social & it was great! Excellent folks The stainglass window features the original logo - installed in 1915 but recently renovated. Tickled to find out no one is totally sure what the artist was thinking… www.lstmed.ac.uk/news-events/...

it's a rare confluence of delights to watch @johncooperclarke.bsky.social and the brilliant @flygirlnhm.bsky.social together on the Harry Hill Podscarf.. it's cultural and educational youtu.be/LC-xIryYhd0

#WorldRobberFlyDay Afrotropical Leptogastrinae: male Euscelidia procula (Walker, 1849) (Leptogastrinae, USNMENT00876442) from Mozambique - more info at n2t.net/ark:/65665/3... #asiloidflies

#WorldRobberFlyDay On this special day, I will be posting assassin / robber fly species from every continent/zoogeographical region in #USNMDiptera collection at Smithsonian NMNH (with a few exceptions) for Asilidae + Leptogastrinae Gonioscelis sp from Namibia

Almost didn't realise it was #WorldRobberflyDay, but luckily @ashwhiffin.bsky.social reminded me. Here's one of Britain's coolest insects to celebrate, the magnificent Laphria flava

For #WorldRobberFlyDay a fly who lives up to the name on the package: Bee-like Robber Fly #inverts #becurious

Happy #WorldRobberflyDay ! Here is a Proctacanthus brevipennis (one of the “marauders”) with a stink bug it has caught and some freeloader flies (family Milichidae). Love the way it uses some legs to wrap the bug and others to hold onto its perch. Sandhills WMA, Georgia. #bugsky #diptera #insects

Three lovely predators for #worldrobberflyday from South Africa. Dasophrys sp (probably) 30+ spp recognised Damalis sp is in a bigger genus (100+) but the smallest fly Neolophonotus - 280 species, just found in Southern Africa! Thanks @tdikow.bsky.social for ids @dipterists.bsky.social

At the @nhm-london.bsky.social we have an impressive collection of Asilidae & are continually asked for digital loans i.e. images of our specimens This one amused me. It so lived up to its name, Asilis contortus, its abdomen is separated - a proper magicians assistant! #WorldRobberflyDay

GO BIG, GO BOLD Its #WorldRobberflyDay - a celebration of the most attractive predators on this planet (no bias) Here is the aptly named Heligmonevra forcipata (Meijere, 1916) - an impressive terminalia club with formidable 'pincers' Mostly an Oriental & afrotropical genus (69 spp)

Beguiling artwork about beeflies

A great day learning more on Phorid ID with Mark Welch, another layer to add to my knowledge base. Adds more depth to survey results too. Megaselia wigtownensis for show. www.dipteraid.co.uk Sub-contract ID services still available for 2026 @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

It’s with a heavy heart that I tell you that on Thursday 23 April 2026 Peter Chandler, one of the most eminent Dipterists & all round amazing person, died after a fall at his home Peter’s passing will be a huge loss to the Diptera community. Such an intelligent, witty & kind man. A huge loss

The Logjammer Hoverfly Chalcosyrphus eunotus is a rare beast. Lays its eggs in partially submerged timber in log jams on small dingle-like streams. Looked for and found it today - chuffed as it is a lifer too!

What a gorgeous male (the females are rather different) - Eristalis intricaria - the fluffiest of the genus. Saw this hover on Gat the Le Grand Pré Nature Reserve, Guernsey, on monday whilst bumbling along with @thegsyscientist.bsky.social & Andy Smith

And then Sunday you can enjoy a double dose of me (plus other more exciting people like @flygirlnhm.bsky.social) talking about their UK’s amazing wildlife (11am), and how we’re using collections to investigate global change (2pm free tickets: www.nhm.ac.uk/events/pinne...). Plus more! 3/3

All cows are curious idiots. Just trying to take a nice video of a dung pat but these cows scared all of the flies away!! Oh Guernsey

Formica pratensis, the black-backed meadow ant on Guernsey- mega-industrious ladies! They were in the UK but disappeared in the 80’s These colonies have been flagged to ensure that they are not strimmed by council workers & this also helps to show the public where these charismatic ants live

Today I was scanned. Just like we have done with the flies, I too have been scanned but not for making large models - NO, I’m to be miniaturised #3DPrinting

Picture the scene. Painting the lounge/dining room, so no chairs anywhere. I’m sat on the kitchen floor, pint of cider in hand. Listening to @curataceae.bsky.social & @flygirlnhm.bsky.social in #NatureTable with Sue Perkins. My back aches but laughed so much! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Ohhhh tomorrow you can listen to Lee Davies and myself talking flies and fungi with Sue Perkins & Sara Pascoe Nature Table - Tuesday April 14th - 6.30pm on BBC Radio 4 🪰🍄 Much fun was had recording this 😎 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Is it a particularly good year for bluebells or have I just found the motherwood…. Some beauty to counter the bleakness…

This gorse and the ground around it has been building in insect intensity for a couple of years. Positively fizzing in the weak sunlight today. Andrena cineraria, nomada lathburiana, various bumbles, hoverflies, bee flies, a sight to behold. @ianbeavis.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

I finally get to see/meet the rather amazing @graemelyons.bsky.social in action. Spotted here with @kneppwildlandfdn.bsky.social’s own Charlie Harpur in the walled garden doing an impressively fast species inventory.. And the visitors loved his knowledge 🤓

A male of the spring bumble-bee mimic hoverfly Criorhina ranunculi (Large Bearfly) Found hovering around a rot hole in the base of a tree in an ancient bluebell wood. Mimic of Black-bodied red-tail Bumble bee. #Diptera @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Additional 3D-printer files and products for adult male Drosophila, and for some of the famous homeotic mutations, eg, Antp & Ubx/bx34e (the famous four-winged fly), please. Also third-instar and pupae. Thank you. #Drosophila

Who does not want an AMAZING 3D printed fly???? This Drosophila was printed for me today as a prop for a talk at the @rigb.org It caused a minor commotion on the tube on my way home. And I LOVE IT - @bittelmethis.bsky.social 🤓🪰🤘

I’m about to give a talk at the Royal Institute @rigb.org - Metamorphosis - eggs to excellence Talking maggots at the Royal Institution!! @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social @amentsoc.bsky.social

Many of us have to say a massive thank you to Doug Allan, a pioneering cameraman (& fab speaker/person) who died today 'There was a polar bear at the window' www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scot... Here is an earlier piece interviewing him and his enthusiasm that is palpable

Bluebells for the morning We need more. I love spring

A beautiful lunch break full of bee flies and bluebells

One of the coolest things I’ve seen this week - a Tawny owl with a mouse, spotted at @kneppwildlandfdn.bsky.social today. Rather special to see this bird during the day and after a successful hunt.

On the 4th of June - @juleshoward.bsky.social & I will be discussing insects & just how important they are 👊🪰 (and they are) at the #CheltSciFest (2 - 7 June 2026) @cheltfestivals The full line-up is out now & tickets go on sale 22 April, 10am www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/whats-on

I’m ready about Ptychoidy and the fantastic world of mites - pulling you legs & mouthparts back into your body to escape danger! Checkout out Macromites blog on these amazing creatures macromite.wordpress.com/tag/ptychoidy/ (Image from his blog)

Source: Science News share.google/eGNc4HzUHRLd... Phantom crane flies and flight.

I love this. So pleased to see so many graveyards allowing plants and animals to flourish

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