The search for 100 Hoverflies 


For the past two years I have been dipping my toes into a new group of insects; the hoverflies.

Having begun to get a basic idea of how to find, identify and record them I have set myself a challenge for this year.

During 2026 I will attempt to see, and importantly, correctly identify, 100 different species in Great Britain.

I thought that a starter guide may be helpful for others wanting to learn about this colourful and vital group so will aim to blog regularly with hints, tips and reports from my efforts. I am starting in the depths of winter so this should give me time to set the scene, as it were, and carry on with preparations and research.

So far this year we have had cold weather and I have not as yet seen a live adult hoverfly but there is plenty of preparation to be done.

Over the next few weeks I will endeavour to cover the equipment, books and other resources that I have acquired over the last two years which have proved valuable.

First though a couple of pictures from last year. The one above is a Common Batman Fly also known as Batman Hoverfly: Myathropa florea. One of our commonest and certainly one of the easiest to identify because of the BAT symbol on its thorax. It's yellow and black colours are possibly what we most think of as meaning hoverfly !

Here's another common yellow and black one. This one is the Tiger Marsh Fly or Footballer: Helophilus pendulus.





So why three names for  each one  ?? I will cover that thorny issue in a later blog.

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