In Bulgaria for the #Ratio Science festival - this morning is all about interviews… ‘Why are flies great?’, ‘why do you like flies?’, ‘what got you into flies’ And…me dreaded question..’what is your favourite?’

Can't wait to visit @zoologymuseum.bsky.social & see the Fly collection, followed by a fab set of talks the next day. This meeting will also be hybrid (But please do sign up) @teamdiptera.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social @hau-entomology.bsky.social @unirdgento.bsky.social

I send my sister a cat photo..she replies with this.. I love her xx

Last night I gave a talk at the @sciencemuseum.org.uk #lates on all things flies. I wasn’t the only one there talking flies - Alex Bailey and team from @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social talking mosquitoes The wonderful @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social’s art is making an appearance 🤓😎

A FLYing visit to the Fynbos, Western Cape, South Africa A fabulous opportunity to film in an incredible habitat (thanks BBC)- in terms of flora its unique but maybe not the most pristine in terms of disturbance. That didn't seem to perturb the flies...SO MANY BEEFLIES @dipterists.bsky.social

To see these beeflies, Australoechus sp, flying around in the Fynbos, SA, has to be 1 of my life’s highlights Many were buzzing around Micrdon capitatus, the heady catstailbush - a rare endemic to this region. Rare because of habitat loss (land clearance) & invasive species. Brilliant #beeflies

Anyone wanna guess whose bums we are looking at? I’m in South Africa

The wonderful @yukihaba.bsky.social and I went beneath London to help solve the riddle of the Underground Mosquito... Debunking rather than spelunking ;) @marakat.bsky.social @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social

I HATE IT A pointless but utterly destructive decoration. Why do our human festivities have to result in fatalities in other biota? #hallowean

Soldierflies are much less well known than hoverflies but some species are highly colourful. Sargus bipunctatus ♀ today in Bengeo garden, large attractive woodland species & last soldierfly to appear during year. @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social #Stratiomyidae

Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews. #Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky #InsectBookClub @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

It’s #worldslothday Did you know that sloths themselves are fantastic ecosystems? A completely mobile ecosystem supporting beetles, flies, worms and a special species of Moth. Check out my kids book #ABugsWorld for more fun insect facts @hachette #books #insects

Look at it!!!! Smallest walnut grown from the garden tree (not my garden but next door so it’s finders keepers when it comes to walnuts)

Happy #Invertober day 8! Bee-killer robber fly (mallophora fautrix) #SciArt #Invertober2025

Today’s winning data label goes to this flea I’ve no idea who collected it but I’d love to met them, sounds like they are my sort of person 🤓 #collections @nhm-london.bsky.social #fleas #databasing

It’s the @amentsoc.bsky.social annual fair & I’m here with the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social Lots of great fly talk & some great exhibits including these from some of the younger members of the AmEntSoc - aren’t they great? #entomology

Our 3 latest titles are on PRE-PUBLICATION OFFER - come along to NatureBureau's stand at the AES Annual Exhibition tomorrow Sat 27 October at Kempton Park Racecourse and see our range of insect books @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @stevenfalk.bsky.social @bbowt.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Friday night is party night. So what is one to wear? How about some mites? the top fly - a Sphearoceridae is spotting a clustered arrangement of mites, whilst the Chloropids are going for a bold single statement piece of one large hitch-hiker #flies #phoresy #mites

Manaaki Whenua have appointed Siobhan Leachman as their Wikimedian in Residence! Supporting staff to share their expertise, @siobhanleachman.bsky.social will be assisting the group with contributing content from their nationally significant collections to openly accessible Wikimedia platforms.

Guess what’s in the package and it’s famous connection.. It’s at the @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social

An evening stroll at @kneppwildlandfdn.bsky.social is a beautiful thing… I love autumn

www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new... Mosquitoes that have been in the collection for nearly a hundred years are helping us in dealing with an even older but also current problem - malaria @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social

What I did in my lunch break.. I touched the beginnings of our solar system..and then proceeded to touch a piece of mars & our moon A fab new exhibit at the @nhm-london.bsky.social which is a reminder that this planet with all its life is rather special (& worth more care than we give it)

When the heart of London was dying of shame yesterday, we were there for a very different reason: I was very proud to be awarded Honorary Fellowship of the British Naturalists' Association. Thanks all!

Very humbled today to receive the Peter Scott Memorial Award from the #BritishNaturalistsAssociation for having made an ‘outstanding contribution to our understanding of natural history and conservation’ I don’t feel worthy but do feel very honoured #TeamFlies @nhm-london.bsky.social

I love Ivy and I’m not alone. Check out this glorious European hornet feasting on the nectar and pollen from the flowers of this late flowering plant This particular bush was alive with insects especially hoverflies

The Giant Polypore - Meripilus giganteus - is just that 🤓 This lot were sprouting up near the base of a decomposing Beech Collected a few teeny weenie flies of these bad boys

This mornings office #entomology

A bunch of entomologists all working together and moaning about certain couplets in various keys The Hymenopterist is winning with this one…

Whilst collecting flies, you can’t help but to admire the fungi - some small, some big and some just huge! #fieldwork #fungi #autumn

It’s Team #Entomology off on fieldwork for a couple of days. Weather looks good - bring on the bugs (and flies, wasps @gavinbroad.bsky.social, beetles & moths) @nhm-london.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social

This is infuriating. What is the point of a Marine Protected Area if trawlers are allowed to keep ploughing it? Yet again, the government has succumbed to commercial lobbying. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Walking along, minding my own business when I was viciously attacked by a plant Urtica did hurt’eca. My poor impaled hand…

Just finished laying out the House Flies pages for #FliesofBritainandIreland bit.ly/4dqQI8Z - our smallest, the rare Musca osiris, is known from a few localities on the south coast of England & Wales @tverc1.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @gailashton.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Today’s amazing specimen (heavily dribbled with sarcasm) Check out the locality of this flea from?

Been a while but well done @nytimes.com for todays #taxonomicfail (and @bfly52.bsky.social for pointing this out) Do love a Spelling Syrphid Forum..

I am reassociating mosquito heads with bodies this afternoon and I got sidetracked by this BEAUTY Aedes (mucidus) grahamii - this little lady was from Entebbe, Uganda and was collected in 1961. And STILL looking fabulous @nhm-london.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social @mosquitolab.bsky.social

BIRD FOLKS - 20th Sept @nhm-london.bsky.social - Frontline Stories from Global Leaders in Bird Research, Conservation and Wildlife Broadcasting featuring Beccy Speight @rspb.bsky.social, @thelabandfield.bsky.social (😘) & Giles Badger (producer) to name a few speakers www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...

Just when I had thought I had seen every way you could pin a specimen - I come across this cheeseboard of mosquitoes God knows what is going on!!! @natsca.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social #specimens #collection #curation

Dark-edged Bee-fly by @paulleyland http://ow.ly/7vyH50z2Xg0 @flygirlNHM

These are the heads of mosquitoes removed for a morphology study in 2002! I’m now data basing them & pairing them up with their bodies in the @nhm-london.bsky.social collection Very satisfying. I’m also loving the fact we can look up a donation 100yrs ago & see which flies were part of it!

We are a bit snobby when it comes to pollinators, we all love bees, but flies... Equally important pollinators, these are my chard flowers, it's covered in flies at the mo. & if it wasn't for midges, Theobroma cacao wouldn't produce seeds. Love Flies! @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @nicwilson.bsky.social

Villa modesta - dune beefly #Bombyliidae (Yes, I had a fab time in the sand dunes of Braughton Burrows) These beeflies love a coastal dune and are often seen on umbellifers..Ta-dah @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @amentsoc.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Philonicus albiceps, the dune robberfly consuming a hover fly These mighty fine assassins are frequent on the sand dunes & I spotted loads on the Braughton Burrows, North Devon this weekend #asilidae @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social @amentsoc.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social

Took the afternoon off to hang out at on the Wiston Estate with Penny and Kat - girls day out looking for hornet robberflies Was not disappointed - a beast of a fly feasting on a dung beetle 😎👊 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

I am preparing/curating (& will be for 5 years) the world Asilidae at the @nhm-london.bsky.social Today I came across labels that made me think more about taxonomists rather than the taxa MJS - Malcolm Smart - a great Asilid expert who I worked with a lot but has sadly died. His work lives on

Dune Villa 'twerking' as @flygirlnhm.bsky.social describes it! - possibly filmed for the 1st time? Took me over an hour to film this much footage because the ruddy thing just keep fly and flying and flying, fast and low and stop for about a second before flying and flying.... #bugsky #ukwildlife

I’ve been lucky to see some of this in advance and it’s looking good!! @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

We're now laying out the Tachinids for #FliesofBritainandIreland bit.ly/4dqQI8Z to be published this Autumn TOP Cistogaster globosa & Gymnocheta viridis; BOTTOM Phasia hemiptera & Tachina grossa @gailashton.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @georgemcgavin.bsky.social