Flies, hoverflies and related insects
A lot of people see flies may be seen as a common pest but there are over 7000 species of different flies in the UK, many of whom carry out essential work in the ecosystem from the colourful hoverflies pollinating flowers to the dung flies that help to clean up after other animals. When looking at flies close up you start seeing the different colours and patterns across them, along with the different shapes and hair structures.
In this gallery
This gallery contains a collection of close up and macro images across a small number of a range of the different types of flies that are found in Great Britain including true flies, hoverflies, crane flies, alderflies, sawflies, mosquitos and mayflies amongst others. If you look closely you can see the detail in the wings of the damselbug or scorpionfly and the colourful antennae of sawflies. The hoverflies are bee mimics along the the bee flies
All of these have been taken of wild flies in their natural habitats showing their normal behaviours. If you check out the description of the photos many of these I have managed to identify to species level but unfortunately many are also difficult to identify accurately with dissecting the fly therefore details on these have been included to the best level possible.