Can't make the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social Dipterist Day 2025 in Cambridge this Saturday 15th November - fear not! Sign up through the link in the page below and we'll send you the recordings. The wonders of Modern technology... dipterists.org.uk/events/dipte... Please share the love ❤️

Lots of Earwig activity at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today, with individuals burrowing into the sandy turf, leaving just the formidable pincers exposed. Common enough, but actually rather extraordinary things. @ynuorg.bsky.social #ukwildlife

My first Snow Flea (Boreus hyemalis) of the winter at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today. Nice of her to pose out in the open on a fallen leaf, so didn't need to spend hours waiting for one to emerge from the Polytrichum moss! @ynuorg.bsky.social #Mecoptera #Boreidae #ukwildlife

Not too many birds at Bempton Cliffs this morning, so had a look at flies on the fence atop the cliffs. Nice variety, with muscids, calliphorids, anisopodids, heleomyzids, anthomyiids, coelopids and more. IDs on the photos. @rspbengland.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @ynuorg.bsky.social

As good as it gets...

Gymnomus caesius (Heleomyzidae)...stunning orange and grey, spiny-winged fly of woodland, with males often holding territory on logs. All records gratefully received on iRecord. 🙂 Allerthorpe Common, East Yorkshire today. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #heleomyzidae dipterists.org.uk/heleomyzid-s...

Thaumatomyia notata, the Yellow Swarming Fly doing exactly that at Allerthorpe Common in East Yorkshire....10,000s of them on pine trunks, and particularly interested in this Hairy Shieldbug. @yorkswildlife.bsky.social @ynuorg.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Gonatherus planiceps female #Scathophagidae. A uncommonly collected, spring-flying, species of upland flushes and other wet habitats in the mountains. This one from Beinn Ghlas in the Ben Lawers NNR this May. #Diptera #Entomology @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

A few fungi-loving autumn flies from three different families at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve yesterday. Names on ALT. @ynuorg.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Finally some fungi appearing locally in East Yorkshire, and with those come the fungus-breeding, spiny-winged heleomyzid flies, like this gorgeous Suillia notata at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve. #heleomyzidae @ynuorg.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Locust Blowfly, Stomorhina lunata, Fen Bog, N Yorkshire 24Sept @ynuorg.bsky.social @suillia.bsky.social

Locust Blowflies (Stomorhina lunata) continue to arrive...third of the summer at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today. It's been a bumper year for grasshoppers and crickets locally, so surely some must be breeding in those...or are they all migrants? 🤔 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Sallow Kitten on Sallow (!) at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today. What a stunning caterpillar. 🙂

The Copper Peacock (Elaphrus cupreus) running around on mud at pond edge on Allerthorpe Common @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve this morning. #carabidae #ukwildlife

Athalia rosae (Turnip Sawfly) generally seems to be having an incredible year...huge numbers everywhere. This one not quite so much...any ID possible on the spider? Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve yesterday. #yorkshiresawflies @britishspiders.bsky.social

This super-fast thing kept running back and forth in front of me as I was photographing satellite flies at Allerthorpe Common today..I fully expect to be told not to be ridiculous, but any chance of an ID? 😉 @britishspiders.bsky.social @ecology-digest.bsky.social

Anyone able to confirm (or otherwise) this assassin bug as Coranus woodroffei? From Allerthorpe Common @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today. #heteroptera #ukwildlife #reduviidae

Cimbex luteus (Willow Clubhorn) on Salix in the Howardian Hills today...there can't be many better looking sawfly larvae in the UK! #yorkshiresawflies #sawflies #symphyta #ukwildlife

Interesting to see this White-line Dart emerge from sand outside a rabbit burrow at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today. Took about an hour for the wings to expand before it flew off. #yorkshiremoths @doublekidney.bsky.social @bcyorkshire.bsky.social

Macronychia polyodon (Sarcophagidae). True fly (Diptera) species #773 for Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve and not one I was expecting. Newly emerged out on the open, sandy grass heath. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

The tachinid Gastrolepta anthracina (Lagria Parasite Fly) finally makes it to my East Yorkshire garden...on a sunflower leaf. The most northerly UK record maybe (?), but spreading north quickly, so not for long! @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @lisawilliams30.bsky.social

The uncommon soldierfly Hill Soldier (Oxycera pardalina) ovipositing into the head of a Common Cotton-grass plant on the North York Moors recently. @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Hundreds of Adonis' Ladybirds at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve yesterday...on Ragwort, Yarrow, grasses and more besides. See a few there regularly, but never seen numbers like this! @ukladybirds.bsky.social

Much of the last couple of weeks spent monitoring soldierflies...can't complain. 🙂 @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

A new generation of the Dark Giant Horsefly (Tabanus sudeticus) in the making up on the @northyorkmoors.org.uk on Monday...they were loving the heat over the rushy meadows! @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

A little bar of chocolate in the form of Nigrotipula nigra, (Chocolate Tipula)...a common cranefly throughout the meadows of the @ldvnnr.bsky.social . This one on the footpath through Town Ings, Melbourne yesterday. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #craneflies

A challenge for those lucky enough to be part of the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social Summer Field Meeting in Glen Affric...find us a proper record of the spiny-winged fly Suillia oxyphora with its pimple at the tip of the scutellum. Lochinver 1911 probably the last genuine record. 🙂

Before you know it, many adult sawflies are on the wane and it's all about their larvae... Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today. (Names on ALT) #yorkshiresawflies #symphyta #ukwildlife

It's nice when your daughter turns up with a sawfly larva she found in her moth trap. 😀 Abia aenea (Cryptic Clubhorn) ...perhaps the more common of the Honeysuckle feeders in Yorkshire (and elsewhere). #yorkshiresawflies #symphyta #ukwildlife

Came upon a dead sheep today where several flies held incredible mite infestations. Protophormia terraenovae was badly affected...several had deep layers on both eyes, so that their head looked white. See mites a lot on heleomyzids, but nothing like this! @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #mites

It's a good time for finding the fancy male Dolis with their modified leg armature, like this Dolichopus popularis at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve yesterday. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #long-leggedflies #dolis

Ditropis pteridis...Bracken Planthopper at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve...very common on Bracken and looking rather like you could slot a penny in the top, grab the handlebars and hang on for the ride! #ukwildlife

It's been a poor year so far for robberflies on lowland heath in East Yorkshire (not seen any Lasiopogon at all), so nice to find a few Common Red-legged Robberfly (Dioctria rufipes) today at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve . @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Fen Snout soldierflies ♂ and ♀ (Nemotelus pantherinus) on buttercups at Thornton in the @ldvnnr.bsky.social‬ Lower Derwent Valley in East Yorkshire today. Huge numbers of them! @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social #soldierflies @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Roesel's Bush Cricket...this is the first year I've noticed numbers of these turning up in the sweep net in East Yorkshire. Had a few recently around the @ldvnnr.bsky.social. #orthoptera #ukwildlife @yorkswildlife.bsky.social

Third time in a week I've seen Harlequin Ladybird larvae preying upon sawfly larvae (Euura poecilonota here). We've had so many aphids in E. Yorkshire this spring that Harlequins are in huge numbers and after whatever they can find apparently. @ukladybirds.bsky.social #yorkshiresawflies #symphyta

A few more flies from Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve yesterday. Bit of a windy day for photography, so all species which dwell right low down in amongst the base of the grasses. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #diptera

Black-fringed Moss Snipefly (Ptiolina obscura) in a reliable spot for the species on a moss-covered oak branch at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve this am. Males gather on damp, drizzly days and just sit and look at each other! @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social

Two Meadowsweet-associated sawflies on Hogweed on banks of the R. Derwent in E. Yorkshire last week...Phylloecus xanthostoma (Meadowsweet Stem-sawfly) and Arge ciliaris (Meadowsweet Fusehorn). A good time to get out and find these beauties! #symphyta #yorkshiresawflies @yorkswildlife.bsky.social

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

Say what you like about their predilection for probing our upper parts, deer flies like this ♀ Chrysops caecutiens are fine looking beasts. This one attempted several landings on my head today at Allerthorpe Common, E. Yorkshire! #tabanidae @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

The dance fly Empis digramma in copula atop a fence post at Millington Pastures in East Yorkshire today. Just one pair out of so, so many at the site...hawthorns especially are crawling with these at the moment. #empididae #diptera #dipteristsforum

Cephalosphaera furcata...one of the big-headed pipunculids, and a very smart one at that. From oak at Allerthorpe Common in East Yorkshire this morning. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #pipunculidae #bigheaded

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

The hoverfly Criorhina asilica (Pale-banded Bearfly) and the scarce sawfly Harpiphorus lepidus (Elegant Oakcutter)...2nd Yorkshire record...at Allerthorpe Common, East Yorkshire this pm. Chilly compared to recent weeks, but worth a quick trip out. 🙂 #hoverflies #yorkshiresawflies #ukwildlife

Stunning Spotted Regal-sawfly (Nematus septentrionalis) on Silver Birch in my daughter's garden this morning. Looking forward to the beautiful, spotty larvae in a few weeks time. 🙂 #yorkshiresawflies #symphyta #ento #ukwildlife #fatfeet

Following the weekend of @inaturalist.bsky.social #CityNatureChallenge, on behalf of all those who give up their time to provide IDs on their area of expertise, I'd just like to say...Aaaaaagh!!! 😱

Dull today and so quite hard work recording flies and sawflies, but the light was good for photographing Green Tiger Beetles at @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve of Allerthorpe Common. #ento #tigers #coleoptera

Those who listened to this episode of This Natural Life, broadcast on Thursday 29th March, www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... may remember me singing the name of a plant bug to the tune of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Well, here is the very wee beastie - Dryophilocoris flavoquadrimaculatus.

Spotted some wasp-banded comb horns this morning in the orchard 💛🖤 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social