Yesterday we launched Bee-fly Watch for 2017, and today the first two bee-flies for the year were reported! One from the Isle of Wight and one from Dorset. Where will be next?
The National Biodiversity Network (NBN) is a partnership of many organisations involved in biological recording, and one of its main functions is to enable records to be shared via the NBN Gateway website.
A Soldierflies and Allies Checklist is now available (Excel spreadsheet, 26kb). It includes a list of all species covered by the recording scheme, giving a brief summary of distribution and habitats.
Data from the Soldierflies and Allies Recording Scheme has now been supplied to Buglife to help inform the "Important Invertebrate Areas" project. Buglife say "Important Invertebrate Areas are nationally and internationally significant places for the conservation of invertebrates and the habitats upon which they rely.
Malcolm Smart has kindly provided a copy of his 2005 paper (PDF download, 7MB) on the identification of three confusingly similar robberflies: Kite-tailed Robberfly Machimus atricapillus, Brown Heath Robberfly M. cingulatus and Irish Robberfly M.
New to this website: illustrated guide to distinguishing the two 'downlooker' flies, Rhagio scolopaceus and Rhagio strigosus. These are the only two species in genus Rhagio that have wings with mottled dark markings, but they are very similar to each other - check the antennae to tell them apart!