Drifts of Ramsons in woodland is unmistakable but look closer & you might spot a male Ramsons Hoverfly Portevinia maculata (top right) basking on a leaf the female (bottom) is often hidden amongst the plants where she lays her eggs
@worcswt.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social bit.ly/4dqOI8Z

Thank you I'll pass it in. It is in fact crocheted
It was made using wool that someone left out on their gardens wall to take!

Who says this? I've never seen them marketed as such, just as garden ornaments.

A couple standing on a bridge (left), watching a white bird on a river ( just below middle right), with trees and fresh greenery in the background.

A mindful birding moment with the parents yesterday. There's always time to stop and watch a Little Egret on the river (and to appreciate Mum's homemade jumper!).

A hoverfly sits on an open flower with its face covered in pollen.

#WhatsTheUseOfFlies?

No.3 - #pollination!

You like flowers? You like eating food? Then you need #flies!

Bees are OK, but a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to pollination is actually done by flies.

Look at this #hoverfly with its face covered.

#diptera
#flies
#insects

Fantastic!🤗 🐝

Thrilled to find a gathering of these Mammoth Wasps (Megascolia maculata) in Spain, busily nectaring with males pursuing the massive females. Their bold colours, violet wings and jack o'lantern faces look fantastic! They're Europe's largest wasps, with larvae parasitising chafer grubs.

An impressive African Giant Mantis (Sphodromantis viridis) near Almeria, Spain. Identifiable by her whitevwing spots. Non-native to Europe but still exciting to see. She'd found a very productive ambush perch amongst Giant Fennel flowers.

A Spanish Festoon butterfly resting in vegetation. Its wings have a tesselated black and yellow pattern with red spots. It's body is brownish and hairy.

The bee Rhodanthidium sticticum resting on a white snail shell. It has orange legs and orange spots along the side of the abdomen.

Staying with a good friend in Almeria and of course enjoying the local insect life. Spanish Festoon and the shell-nesting bee Rhodanthidium sticticum have been highlights.

The Jackdaws are fighting over the chimney pots along my road. Too engrossed to notice the human on the ground floor hanging up their washing.

This is an excellent book. I have the previous version and would say if you buy just one guide to wildlife gardening, it should be this one. It's very practically laid out and gives good rep to insects beyond bees and butterflies. Pleased to see it getting a reprint with endorsement from the RHS.

This is great! I've never seen bumblebees visit Magnolia in the UK. Conventional wisdom is that they're pollinated by chafers in their native range.

Detail from a book showing an illustration of a Dark-edged bee-fly, annotated by hand as ‘Bombylius Major. L:’

Someone updated this copy of Thomas Moffet’s ‘Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum’ (1634) with the Linnæan name for the Dark-edged bee-fly, Bombylius major (Linnæus, 1758) and other insects. 🪰💚

Rare books #BeeFlyWatch, M.14.42 @theul.bsky.social. #Diptera

Fly Research & Conservation Virtual Symposium 2026
Tue 23 Jun 2026 | Online | £30 or pay what you can

Explore the latest fly ecology, conservation science & practical case studies. Live Q&A, expert talks & all resources available after the event 🌍 🧪

Book here:
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A message thread with photos of a child reading 'A Photographic Guide Flies of Britain and Ireland' in the back seat of a car. The key parts of the messages read: We are learning about flies...she's been naming random flies for about 10mins so far...daggerflies yay! "

One of the great things about authoring a photographic guide is that it can be enjoyed by all ages. My friend sent me these of her friend's daughter pouring #BestFlyBook in the back of the car (like me with bird books on family holidays). Would be lovely if it inspires more young entomologists!

I'm pretty sure it is you. It's odd that you're not in the photo credits. Very sorry that it seems to have slipped through the cracks. I'll flag it in case there are other print runs.
One of the painful aspects of writing a book is noticing typos etc after it's printed 😬

Thanks Chris. The acknowledgements are on page vi.

Also, I drafted the introductory text (except for the habitats which were written by Steven), so I hope people do read it. Pleased you like the gardening section.

Thanks for the review Mark. Glad it's made a good first impression! Hope it serves you well and opens up the world of non-syrphid flies. That said, hoverflies were easily the family we spent the most time on. There was some back and forth behind the scenes on common names and taxonomic changes.

Nice to read a review of the 'Flyble' by a dipterist. Encouraging people to look beyond hoverflies was precisely one of the aims of the project. Will be very interested to read more reviews as spring gets under way and people use the book. That's the real mark of an ID guide. Please tag us in.

Hi Mark. Thanks so much for the review! Pleased to know the book's made a positive first impression. I hope it serves you well. There was some debate on hoverfly common names and taxonomic changes in light of the European guide. They were easily the family we spent the most time on.

Lovely photo. They like Euphorbia pollen so worth looking for them on the flowers where they stand out really well. They have emerged from overwintering as adults. There are absolutely loads of them out down south since they had a good season last year.

I'm willing to bet people will be reporting muntjacs as the capybara.
I'm sure I've read about feral capybara encounters before. One being on the Wye..

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

Fantastic news, should be incredibly useful

Incredible sighting Simon! What were they doing together?

Very nice. My heart sung to hear a Greenfinch from my garden today.
Note the party has had a rebrand though: now the Chloris chloris party. Doubly green.

A solitary mining bee sitting on a green leaf. Towards the end of the bee's dark abdomen there are two pale brown objects poking out from between the segments, these are female stylops, internal parasites of the bee.

A few solitary bees out in the sunshine yesterday including this stylopised male Andrena (2 female stylops are visible poking out of the penultimate abdominal segment). Parasitized bees like this can exhibit features of both male & female bee (called intersex) which makes identification tricky. 🧵

Gonia picea (Dark Broadface) is one of the first Tachinid flies to appear in spring - this one spotted in March on the Malvern Hills. Our new guide to #FliesofBritainandIreland features over 1200 species bit.ly/4dqQI8Z @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @georgemcgavin.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Female Common Earwigs Forficula auricularia are very good mothers. After spending the winter guarding her batch of eggs she cares for the nymphs for several weeks and regurgitates food for them. The nymphs will disperse when they are large enough to fend for themselves. Dartmoor, Devon