The Dipterists Forum is a good start for those interested in finding out more about our British flies. This handsome individual is the Hornet Robberfly, Asilus crabroniformis.

The other really great thing about The Bulletin (and the Dipterists Forum) is the value for money. The annual membership fee is £15 and includes two publications (twice yearly bulletins and the journal, “Dipterists Digest“). The Dipterists Forum website is also particularly useful and you do not have to be a member to use it, although additional material is available to members (test keys, unpublished material, PDFs of past Bulletins and distribution maps). As previously mentioned, Diptera are not the order that I work with, but such good value means I can happily subscribe anyway.

In the latest issue alone there were six articles that I want to comment on and discuss. Some other entomological societies should take note and try to offer similar online services and good content (e.g. PDF back issues and extras).

Eristalis tenax female © Tim Ransom

This week the Spring issue of the Bulletin of the Dipterists Forum arrived in the post and contained lots of fly-based goodness. It included the newsletters for many of the (mostly) family specific study groups and recording schemes. Of these, it was the Hoverfly Newsletter which caught my interest the most because I am more familiar with the British hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) than I am with any other dipteran family.

Helophilus pendulus (female) - Photographed at the London Wetland Centre

The Dipterists Forum are currently involved in the production of provisional hoverfly atlas.

The Hoverfly Recording Scheme has been in existance since 1976 but Stuart Ball, one of the organisers of the scheme, is hoping to get long-term volunteers to monitor an area over the main hoverfly season, late April to mid-July. Having a long-term monitoring program for “constant effort sites” can provide more information than single recordings made on a site.

Currently the butterflies are the only group of insects which have well organised long-term monitoring programs in the British Isles.