I'm currently updating and making corrections to the Ephydridae key prepared for the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social workshop. Please let me know if you've noticed any errors or anything that might need updating. Comments, DM or email to sjthomasbotanyATgmail.com please. #Diptera #entomology

@linbrice.bsky.social just updated the Website, it's been a busy 18 months dipteraid.co.uk/projects/ looking ahead to next year already. Anyone ecologists needing help with diptera backlog from this year? Or planning lots of diptera work next year, please contact me if I can help. Please share, ta!

It's that time of year again, Dipterists Forum 'Dipterists Day & AGM' 🪰 Nov 14th 2025- a day in the Museum of Zoology, Cambridge Diptera collections Nov 15th 2025 - Dipterists Day and AGM For more details please go to dipterists.org.uk/events/dipte...

Looking forward to my first visit to @dipteristsforum.bsky.social Dipterist Day in Cambridge. Great group of people and non members welcome: dipterists.org.uk/events/dipte...

A wasp-mimic Drone fly (Monoceromyia trinotata) for #insectthursday. Kalagarh Tiger Reserve, Aug 2025. #macroPhotography #macrohour #ThePhotoHour #natgeoyourshot #Himalayas #nature #entomology #biodiversity #Nikon #insectencounter #niffeature2025 @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

We will be there! Come and say hi and see our fantastic flies!

An amazing observation and photo by Bryony Chapman of the Hornet Robberfly tucking into a spicy meal of Nicrophorus carrion beetle @carrionbeetlesuk.bsky.social - these robberflies really are the boss of insect predators 🦁 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

The absolutely fabulous Stomorhina lunata! This is a female, seen at Brankley Pastures, #Staffs, 29/07/25 #Calliphoridae @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #Diptera

I've no idea who this small stripy fly is seen in a Mayweed flower, can anyone help please? Brankley Pastures, #Staffs, 29/07/25 @suillia.bsky.social @geoffwilkinson.bsky.social @graemelyons.bsky.social @lancefly.bsky.social @andymus.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #Diptera

Hmm, definitely should have took a specimen. 28/05/25, Brankley Pastures, #Staffs. Blaesoxipha erythrura (which shouldn't occur here), Ravinia pernix, or another #Sarcophagidae? Thanks @suillia.bsky.social @lancefly.bsky.social @andymus.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Cheilosia illustrata in the Canal Meadow at #RSPBMiddletonLakes, 25/07/25 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #Syrphidae

Very unexpected & rare: Anticheta obliviosa female #Sciomyzidae from saltmarsh on Hayling Island, Hampshire. Previously known in the UK from fens around Huntingdon and singles from Cheshire and Yorkshire - all inland. Nice find for a quick evening sweep #ento #diptera @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Picture-winged Flies pages are now laid out for our NEW #FliesofBritainandIreland due Autumn 2025 - pre-order now at bit.ly/4dqQI8Z & save £££s on published price @gailashton.bsky.social @bbowt.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Pedicia rivosa...simply one of my favourite true flies and a good indicator of species-rich, boggy woodland up on the North York Moors. Fen Bog today. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #pediciidae #hairyeyes

Amazing clip of courtship behaviour in dance flies (Empis subgenus Xanthempis) - this seems to be a male on the left and female on the right?

Very happy to find a visitor in my kitchen yesterday, the first record of Clusia flava on iRecord in 2025. Favours rotting wood and damp woodland - chuffed that it likes my garden in Leeds enough to come in and tell me! Thanks @suillia.bsky.social for confirming ID @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

My after work strolls along the country lanes of West Sussex are glorious Check out Rhingia campestrus aka the Heineken fly aka the common snout - names because of its retractable snout (mouthparts) - getting into parts other insects can’t reach @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #insects #hoverflies

Anasimyia lineata, a Duckfly! Seen at #RSPBMiddletonLakes 14/05/25 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #Syrphidae #fly #hoverfly #Diptera

Enjoyable day with @dipteristsforum.bsky.social in Derbyshire looking for flies - we found one or two 😃 these are dance flies (Empididae) doing their thing 🕺 💃

Dysmachus trigonus ♀ (Fan-bristled Robberfly) sparkling in the afternoon sun at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve (and doing well to avoid the deep Salix 'snow' which was carpeting everything to an extent not seen for years). @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

A lovely bronze coloured Gymnocheta viridis fly seen at Hopwas Quarry, #Staffs 04/05/25 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #Tachinidae #fly #Diptera

We're now up to ten species of soldierflies & allies recorded as adults in 2025 😀 As well as the 2 bee-flies we have Spring Heath Robberfly; Downlooker Snipefly; Murky-legged Black Legionnaire; Black-horned Gem; Black Colonel; Yellow-legged Black; Coastal Silver-stiletto; Common Awl-fly

Houdini is out... There were at least 5 male Osmia bicornis around the bee hotel today so it was no surprise to find the 'Houdini Fly' Cacoxenus indagator hanging around.

Male Portevinia maculata, the Ramsons hoverfly, look for it around the flowers of Wild Garlic. Seen at #RSPBMiddletonLakes 20/04/25 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #Syrphidae @rspb.bsky.social #Diptera #fly #hoverfly

I think this large fly is a Conops vesicularis (Hornet Grabber). If someone could confirm, I’ll pop on iRecord. Thanks. #conopidae #EastHampshire @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Finally found a Criorhina ranunculi which was willing to sit still for some half-decent photos today. A really impressive bumblebee mimic which is widespread across the UK. Also available in a red-tailed form. #Hoverfly #Insects

Rhamphomyia maculipennis, a costal #Empididae with two dark marks on the wing in females, from Hayling Island today. #diptera #ento @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Good news for bee-flies! They have been reported much more frequently this year, and in mid-April we have already had more 2025 records than we did for the whole of 2024, for both Dark-edged and Dotted Bee-flies. This is likely to be due to the much sunnier weather this year. #BeeFlyWatch 1/4

Great to see RHS and @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social sharing hoverfly enthusiasm - some good ideas for making gardens hoverfly-friendly

Marvellous mother Dark-edged Bee-fly collecting soil to add ballast to her eggs before firing them with well-aimed butt-flicks at Yellow-legged Mining Bee nest holes. #parentingstyles #happymothersday #bombyliusmajor #andrenaflavipes #bugsky @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Love these spectacular craneflies 😍

A brief thread of bee-flies and an example of an urban niche. 🧵 1/3 My 2nd sighting of the dark winged bee-fly (Bombylius major) this year. They are always a welcome harbinger of spring. Prey next post👇 #beefly #diptera #BeeFlyWatch @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social

BATMAN! Myathropa florea hoverfly! 09/04/25 my #Staffs garden! @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #Syrphidae #hoverfly #fly #Diptera

A gorgeous male Gymnocheta viridis fly, seen 13/04/25 Hopwas Quarry, #Staffs @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #Tachinidae #fly #Diptera

It was a gloomy Tuesday but found my 1st Dasysyrphus albostriatus of the year in my #Staffs garden, 15/04/25 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #hoverfly #fly #Syrphidae #Diptera

Is it really time for St. Mark's flies to be out? 😀 Love these flies. #flies @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Amazing to see the adult emerging! Looks like one of the midges in family Cecidomyiidae

Some impressive raptorial armature on this dung fly Norellisoma spinimanum...a common fly around Dock plants, where the larvae mine the stems. Cali Heath reserve this am. @yorkswildlife.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #diptera #ento

Lots of fantastic #fly species now in the wing - see recent posts from @sjbknott.bsky.social for some excellent #hoverfly tips #Diptera #ento

A nice suprise seen on a fencepost at Blickling Great Wood, a female Phasia hemiptera, a tachinid that parasitises shieldbugs.

Happy Good FlyDay! 🪰 One of the best #SignsOfSpring has to be the arrival of the Bee-flies!! Here’s an encounter I had recently with a Bombylius major…

The earliest ever record of Odontomyia tigrina (the previous record holder was also by @wildernfriends.bsky.social on 25 April in 2020)

Check your local daffodils for the spectacularly spiny fly 🪰 It's a member of the dung-fly family but isn't linked to dung, instead it has larvae that develop as leaf-miners in daffodils www.flickr.com/photos/63075...

IT’S THE BEST Season! Beefly season is upon us folks #BeeflyWatch Yesterday they were spotted at @kneppwilding.bsky.social Tomorrow, my garden 🤓 Please go spotting these little beauties & add your records to either dipterists.org.uk/bee-fly-watch or #IRecord @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

A gorgeous fluffy male Scathophaga stercoraria fly, sorry about the dog poo! Seen Tamworth, #Staffs 19/03/25 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #Scathophagidae

Always a highlight of early spring finding the first grizzly Tachina ursina each year. This one at Allerthorpe Common in East Yorkshire this morning. 🐻 #tachinidae #diptera #ento @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

I FINALLY FOUND A CHEILOSIA GROSSA 🎆🎆🎆 #hoverfly #pollinator #nature #ukwildlife @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Great to see some bee-flies appearing, and hoping for more as things warm up over the next few days 🌞 Please don't forget to add your record details to iRecord for #BeeFlyWatch & thanks to all who have already done so 🙏👍 dipterists.org.uk/bee-fly-watch

🔔 Reminder! The RES Insect Welfare Survey is live! 🦗 If you work with insects in the UK, share your views on ethics and welfare. www.royensoc.co.uk/news/res-wel... Deadline: April 1st⏳ #InsectResearch #EthicsInScience #InsectEthics @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social