Hi, i have put it on iRec as this record 13375945, Alpine Meadow is on the Ashridge Estate in Herts, though managed by the HMWT. It is an area of relict chalk grassland on a south facing slope.

Half the site was scraped to remove the grass that was becoming rank. It was in this area where there is still some open ground that I found the fly. 

There is also some shade to this area from adjacent shrubs.

Let me know it you need any more info. i am in touch with the warden who is keen to improve the species records.

Sue

Hi Colin, I'm not sure what you mean here - as far as I can tell it is possible to view replies when you are not logged in. But I'm not sure which thread you were trying to view, I can't find one from Nigel that is headed "Test message"?

The second, darker one with the approximated eyes is a male Fannia.

Thanks, Sue.

Have a look at the most recent post in answer to my similar question recently, Chris.  Click on the picture to open it and you will see Michael Ackland's comparison of the thoraces of the 3 similar Anthomyia spp.  Yours looks like his picture of imbrida.  https://www.dipterists.org.uk/learn-about-flies/anthomyia-sp-id

Thanks for that, it certainly does look like imbrida. 

The genitalia photos aren't clear enough to confirm but if you want to send it to me let me know (via the contact form on the CRS page) and I'll look at it and send it back.

Cheers Pete

Anthony - have another look at the abdominal markings and overall shape - this looks to me much more like Xanthogramma citrofasciatum!

You may be right Tony - what caught my attention were the extremely strong chocolate markings on the wings, far stronger than those in the Xanthogramma illustrations in Stubbs and Falk - their remark on X. citrofasciatum is 'wings clearer.'   However I've since found new photos of X. citrofasciatum showing very dark wing markings and scutellar, thoracic and abdominal markings identical to mine.  So X. citrofasciatum it is.  This record will find its way onto the Wiltshire database and to iRecord in due course.

I was so struck with this attractive creature that having cooled it down to photograph it I let it go.

I think it must be Lasiomma seminitidum Zett. because of the hairy eyes and the simple processes (lobes) of the fifth sternite. The surstyli in profile don't look quite right, but I think that this is because of the angle the photo is taken. The long setae on the cercal plate are also similar to those in seminitidum. I will have another look at the hairy eyes of some specimens of seminitidum to check the length as I don't recall them as being that long, but it is some time since I looked at one.

Thanks Michael.

The fly doing the carrying is an empid - the last picture clearly shows the typical long proboscis. Empids are predatory, and the males of many species are known to capture prey and present it to a female as inducement to mating. This could be what's happending here, or the fly might just have been hungry!

Hi Martin

Nigel's 'Test message' preceded his 'Uploading image files' but lacked the screenshots.  Seems to have been deleted - not sure how to do that?

Once I have posted this reply I will try to replicate the issue I reported and let you know what happens.

Many thanks Howard... the nuptial gifts angle has opened up a lot more information.

I got the impression from their shape/size and movements as a group they were similar individuals actively keeping together – perhaps a group display of gifts?

Kevin

These are Hydrellia (Ephydridae)

... and I was just about to tell the world that I'd realised my error in determination - so thank you Tony for confirming it.  Under closer examination I had seen that the sc was much clearer than I'd thought, so I moved to couplet 94 which pointed me directly to the Ephydridae.  The habitat - my pond - said the same thing.  The eyes being slightly hairy and mouthparts less evident told me we were in Hydrellia country.  I now need  a key to the family to enable me to go further - can you point me to it?

One lives and learns.

The first fly is a stratiomyid - try Odontomyia ornata. You're very lucky to have a garden with flies like this in it. The second looks to me like a female of the common dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria. However, unlike you I don't do identification from photgraphs, so please don't take these suggestions as determinations.

Hi Howard,

Thank you so much, very restrained of you to be patient with someone who can't identify a fly with the word 'common' in its name.

Thank you also for your comment on the garden. It feels like a small but incredibly welcome vindication of 10 years of trying to negotiate a path between nettle monoculture and overmanagement, whilst also avoiding divorce, my husband would defintely rather have an acre of daisy-sprinkled lawn than a wet wilderness which occasionally stings or claws him (just the plants). When I look up your ID 'suggestions' I'll be particulalry interested in finding out about the relevant life-histories, I'm slowly building a picture of the pairings of certain insects with certain plants, and it's very rewarding to find what specific species I'm supporting by sparing or encouraging specific plants or habitats.

Anthony - can you let me have your e-mail address (mine is dr.tony.irwin[squiggle]gmail.com )? I can send you a set of keys which will help.

Found a great photo-based ID pdf on the soldierflies and allies recording scheme site, and of course, ID of ornate brigadier seems spot on, so I went ahead and submitted to irecord (with a note that I had had ID help on the forum). Also realised that it is quite an exciting fly to have found... so needed to share my excitement about today, when I was out photographing beside the same pond and so far as I can tell, I photographed a female of the same species, sitting on floating vegetation on the pond.

Thank you again so much for your help!