Flies

Specialists	Andrew Godfrey John Flynn JPFlynn100@hotmail.com Phil Porterphilporterento@outlook.com
Submit records at	via email
Recommended identification works	A Comprehensive Guide to Insects of Britain & Ireland (2014) Brock, P. A very extensive (although, inevitably, not comprehensive) pictorial guide to insects that is popular with insect photographers. Britain’s Hoverflies (2015) Ball, S. & Morris, R. Packed with pictures of living insects to use with the identification key which is designed with beginners and photographers in mind and so does not deal with complex issues. Rarities not included. A Dipterists Handbook (2010) Chandler, P. Fairly expensive, but this book provides all you need to know if you want to study flies in some depth. An excellent reference book. British Hoverflies, An Illustrated Identification Guide (2002) Stubbs, A. E. & Falk, S.J. The standard identification key for hoverflies, the recommended family for newcomers to flies. Provides keys to all of the British hoverflies, but these assume that a specimen is available and may not work too well for identifying photographs. British Soldierflies and their Allies (2001) Stubbs A. & Drake M. The keys deal with the adults, pupae and larvae of this range of related flies including Soldierflies, Beeflies, Horseflies and Robberflies. They form a diverse group which makes the ideal step up from hoverflies and can be found in a wide variety of mostly more specialised habitats. Soldierflies, particularly, are most attractively patterned. Dipterists Forum is affiliated to the British Entomological and Natural History Society and provides all the information required to study British flies including image identification, workshops, field-meetings and recording schemes for many families across the range of British flies, including the hoverfly recording scheme which provides a link to a private Facebook site, UK Hoverflies, with regular posts from over 5,000 members. The twice-yearly publications, Dipterists Digest and the Bulletin of Dipterists Forum are extremely useful but optional depending on the subscription paid. Diptera Info provides a forum for the identification of your posted images of problem diptera (no prior experience needed!) by highly experienced professional and amateur dipterists from all over Europe and, occasionally, the world, and is conducted in English. Will also deal with other insects under the appropriate forum topic.
National checklist	https://www.dipterists.org.uk/checklist
National recording schemes	https://www.dipterists.org.uk/schemes