@davebriceflies
Fascinated by insects, especially flies, studies Sphaeroceridae. Diptera identification services, morphological illustrations, and high-quality imaging. Bespoke identification training is also available.
It’s an excellent feeling to identify flies
Muscidae aren’t my group so the @ukmuscidae.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social workshop is brilliant for me
Using both @entmikeashworth.bsky.social and James McGills new keys, this is Polietes hirticus - a northern spp (this one from Cumbria)
The Darwin room @fieldstudiesc.bsky.social #PrestonMontford ready for the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social workshop. #jamesmcgill #mikeashworth and #stephenfalks presenting on all things #muscidae. #newkey & more available to members via dipterists.org.uk Membership from £8 per year #bargain #resources
‘A significant amount of the British Muscids like dung…’
And so we are off! It’s the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social annual Workshop - this times it’s on Muscidae (houseflies)
Course tutors are Steve Falks, James McGill & the wonderful @entmikeashworth.bsky.social
And we are off! The wonderful Steve Falk opens proceedings at our #dipteristforum #diptera workshop on #muscidae. It's going to be a very productive weekend with a lot of great info shared... plus the new key! @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @davebriceflies.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social
If any of our followers are based in Yorkshire…
A mini 'beast' of the leaf litter the pseudoscorpion Chthonius ischnocheles. This tiny arachnid is just a few millimetres long. It uses its venomous 'pincer palps' to immobilise prey such as mites then covers them with digestive fluid and injests the liquefied remains. They are harmless to humans!
Today we’re making a dead hedge using wood from pruned fruit trees and a downed elder.
Dead wood habitats are extremely important for a whole host of species. We never burn wood or brash or take it off site; it gets turned into dead hedges or log piles.
Look who is giving a Royal Institute Lecture 😉...on flies..can you believe it....
Very excited to be giving a talk about the Life Cycles of Flies - the vast and splendid adaptations undertaken by these little marvels..
www.rigb.org/whats-on/met...
An excellent morning with the Devon Fly Group at their indoor meeting. Topics ranging from potential flies of Atlantic Rain Forest in UK to key entomologists in the history of Dolichopodidae. Great group who get so much done! #localgroups @guyshrubsole.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social
The Large Scabious Mining Bee Andrena hattorfiana needs our help...plant more scabious everywhere there is suitable soil for the bee to nest in
Work to help my Flora Guardian plant Creeping Marshwort in Norfolk. Needs all the help it can get, Endangered status.
Let's hear it for the Sphagnum mosses, sundews and butterworts! Go peat free.
Nice! Never seen one either.
That would be great, and really interesting!
Limnellia surturi...a rather smart, rather little shore fly (Ephydridae) on sand outside a rabbit burrow at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve yesterday. Looks to be a new VC record. #Ephydridae #shoreflies @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @ynuorg.bsky.social
Wheatfen reserve needs a new warden! Details of the job and how to apply can be found here: wheatfen.org/about-us/car...
One week left to apply for this year's Fly School, happening in July in Costa Rica! Fly School happens every other year, so the next opportunity won't be until 2028.
Application and more info at dipterists.org/fly_school.h...
I’ve been a supporter of @wwf.org.uk for over 40 years & I think it’s the first time I’ve seen flies in their magazine!
Hoverflies (& 100000s more spp) are not just excellent pollinators as adults, as the larvae are either recyclers of organic waste or predators of your garden pests 🤓🪰
Things significantly improving in the insect world...Melinopterus prodromus, Oecothea fenestralis, Piezodorus lituratus (looking rather like some weird sheep?!) and Scathophaga furcata at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @ynuorg.bsky.social
The deadline for the BEST COURSE is coming up - please do apply and join us in the jungle
This course is amazing - flies, Costa Rica, more flies, excellent tutors, yet more flies, great experience and EVEN MORE FLIES
While I can be of no help, but what a spectacular metasoma! Wasps are so often so unnecessarily beautiful! #hymenoptera #wasps #wasplove
Two men standing behind a desk in a marquee. On the desk is a range of skulls, including some with large deer antlers. The banner behind the desk shows the NNNS logo.
NNNS will have a stand at the Norwich Science Festival 2026 on Saturday 21st Feb, which is a nature themed day. There will be plenty of free activites from a range of nature themed groups and suitable for children and families as part of the explorium. For more info see norwichsciencefestival.co.uk
Roger Morris and I are picking out Muscidae from the British collection ahead of the upcoming @dipteristsforum.bsky.social field course for a photo shoot!
Trying to get those awkward features imaged to aid the keys and (hopefully) identifications
So far, we found 16 insects with #Laboulbeniales ectoparasitic microfungi, out of 361 screened ones — marking a prevalence of 4.4%. Not bad at all! Go #TeamLaboul! @taxonexpeditions.bsky.social
Definitely scammy, just instant blocking, a pain though. Hopefully, they've stopped now.
Is anyone else getting hammered by friend requests from America, all pushing UK Driving licences and some sort of card? I've had to block around 20 in the past hour.
I am working with #citizenscientists this weekend in the @taxonexpeditions.bsky.social entomological collection, to screen insects for the presence of ectoparasitic microfungi. This project is supported by @msafungi.bsky.social. #TeamLaboul #Laboulbeniales
No time like the present!😁
🙂I'll have to write a book, maybe.....🤔
