At this time of year, after the long winter months, we are all looking for signs of Spring. One thing that entomologists look forward to is the first sightings of bee-flies. These very cute, furry flies start to emerge in late February and early March.
Bombylius major, the dark-edged bee-fly, is one of Erica McAlister’s favourite British insects and she tells us why in this video.
Find out more about Bee-flies
To find out more about bee-flies, check out this page on the Dipterists Forum. There is also an excellent guide to bee-fly identification which you can find here.
In addition, the Dipterists Forum run an annual Bee-fly Watch which gathers together records of sightings. This is really important for monitoring changes in distribution and flight period. You can contribute to this important science project by adding your sightings here:
Bee-fly Watch | Soldierflies and Allies Recording Scheme (brc.ac.uk)
Have you seen any bee-flies yet this Spring? Let us know, too, by telling us below or by using the Contact Us page.
Crunchy on the outside 
May be of interest to you, enjoy your week 🤗
https://dcnanature.org/beetles-dutch-caribbean/
On Mon, 28 Feb 2022, 04:05 Crunchy on the outside, wrote:
> Kate posted: ” At this time of year, after the long winter months, we are > all looking for signs of Spring. One thing that entomologists look > forward to is the first sightings of bee-flies. These very cute, furry > flies start to emerge in late Feb” >
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I saw one in my school forest yesterday and one on Monday when Roger and Kate came to my school.
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I saw one when you and Roger came to my school on Monday
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Brilliant! They are one of my favourite insects, Maisie. It was great to come to your school and discover lots of cool insects!
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[…] Who did Kate interview for this post in March? They told us about their favourite insect, the Bee-fly. […]
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