Hi Arron, I've only just seen this thread so I'm not sure if you will see my very late reply! I'd be really interested in whether you are finding any larvae from the soldierflies group, the possibility you suggest for getting high quality photos would be fantastic. I've made a small start in gathering some information on the recording scheme page, but as yet I haven't got far with the aquatic species. Please do get in touch if this is of interest.

Oh! Just taken another look and it may be an Anthomyiidae - the anal vein reaches the wing edge. It doesn't have the usual small bristle on its hind metatarsus though, or at least it is not evident.

I think this is in genus Scaeva. It's a very dark individual and I can't see the abdomen markings clearly enough to be certain of a species, but I'd lean towards Scaeva pyrastri as a guess.

I'm not an expert in Empididae, but this looks like a good match for E. tumida. Are the palps more or less yellow? (The similar E. scotica has dark palps, and is more northern in distribution.) There are a couple of records on iRecord for May and June, although most are later in the year - see: https://irecord.org.uk/species-details?taxa_taxon_list_id=170357 

I've only ever seen this species once, and it does seem to be uncommon.

Here is the photo that didn't attach initially.

Very nice photos! I'd agree with Clusiodes, and I suspect that you are probably correct with albimanus (which is the one I see most often), but as far as I'm aware these are best confirmed by dissection of the males, and I'm not sure how reliable the orbital bristle character is.

I'd agree with Anthomyiidae - the combination of pale hairs under the scutellum and the anal vein reaching wing margin is pretty diagnostic.

Hi, I've been trying to find out about the status of this key, but with no luck so far. If I can get further information I'll let you know.

There is a key by Stuart Ball available on the old Dipterists' Forum website at http://www.dipteristsforum.org.uk/documents/Family%20Sciomyzidae%20v2.pdf . You may need to sign on as a member of the Dipterists Forum to access this. 

Thank you very much, Tony.

I am a new member ;-)

Thanks Martin.

Looks to me like Phaonia turguriorum female

Tony, does seem to fit with keys and features, many thanks for ID.  John

I'd say not lancifer, which has much darker legs. Either Hydrophoria or Hylemya. In Hydrophoria, the lower squama exceeds the upper in length, in Hylemya, it is the same or narrower. I can't quite judge which from your photos, but you should be able to tell. I am assuming you have a copy of Mike Ackland's keys to Anthomyiidae - this is not a family to identify from on-line images!

Sorry you've had trouble with this. We're not aware of a problem with the website, so if you follow the steps given on the Help page under "Recommended method for adding images" it should work. Once the file has uploaded you need to scroll down and click the "Save" button. Could you try again and let me know exactly how far you get, and if possible take a screenshot if something goes wrong?

I hope you been able to access Stuart's key via the link the Tony provided, but if not the same key is now available from our members' page.

Yes, I did access the key via Tony's link. Now I also have the other resources - just what I needed. Thank you!

I agree with Martin's identification. The only other British contender is rufibarbis whose face is the same brown or slightly golden colour all over, but albiceps has a few short but obvious setae on the mid and hind femora (almost absent in rufibarbis). You cannot see another good character, which is the rather undistinguished ventral hairs on all the femora in this species, but which in rufibarbis are clearly longer (up to half the femora depth) and more upright and often pale. And, as Fonseca says, the front coxa hairs are black, at least on the outer face (not 'entirely' as he incorrectly says), compared to all yellow and much longer in rufibarbis.

All my albiceps (and rufibarbis) females have rich dark brown dusted frons, not a hint of silver.

H.albiceps is mainly found in Scotland (but we have it on Dartmoor) so Islay is spot on.

Thanks Martin, a new species for me, and one that was great fun to watch skimming over the dark peaty water in the company of whirligig beetles and pond skaters.

I've got a related question as I'm a zoology graduate quite new to Diptera and so I'm not sure where to start.

I recently caught a Phyto discrepans which had emerged seemingly out of no where from one of my tarantula enclosures (I'm a spider guy), a woodlouse must have found it's way in. This inspired new interest in flies but I have no idea whether Rhinophoridae fits into one of the recording schemes, and if so where? Any general advice on getting started appreciated.