Rory Dimond

The Holy Flyble is being released into the wild! Thank you to everyone who preordered and great to see reviews already coming in. Can't guarantee it will be delivered by robberfly though!

🐝 Pollinating, hunting, feeding, courting, nesting... Some of the most memorable insect photos capture behaviour in action. If you've photographed an insect doing something remarkable, it's a perfect time to enter the RES #InsectWeek Photography Competition. ⏰ Deadline: 31 October buff.ly/rdahCIp

🦟 The Great Nest Heist 🐝 Some hoverflies wear a chemical cloak to sneak inside a wasp’s nest. #Hoverflies #Flies #Insects #Nature #Knowledge #Biology #Wildlife #Science #BuzzClub #NaturalHistory #Larva #Wasps #Volucella hoverflyspotter.blogspot.com/2026/08/grea...

Footage of this newly discovered UK bee species. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDI4... #wildlife #entomology #NaturePhotography #nature #naturephotographer #bees #insects #invertefest #ukwildlife #bugsky #London #naturalscience #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer #Londonwildlife #Hymenoptera

Grapefruit skins & the search for the larvae of one of the rarest flies in the UK - the Barred Green Colonel. Larvae live in wet moss in a rare habitat - a calcareous (lime-rich) alkaline spring-fen in just one site. Great work by the SRT! @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social

Broke out up my colour pencils for the last day of #Invertefest to illustrate some of the lovely green #shieldbugs of Britain. Highlights of children's bug hunts and very pleasing to the eye with their geometric forms and symmetrical markings. Spot the sneaky tachinid egg..

A special find this week; a tiny Ladybird balloon-belly fly (Gymnosoma rotundatum)! I've never seen this in our garden before; historically rare, but it is now expanding its range! 📷 🌿 🪰 Happy Friday everyone 🕊️👋 #FlyDay #InverteFest #Nature #Insects #Invert #Scape #ECK #MacroPhotography #BugSky

Here's the full story of what we believe to be the start of the colonisation of yet another new orthopteran to the British Isles.

The Sea Snout cranefly Geranomyia unicolor does high speed push-ups when it feels threatened in an attempt to make itself almost invisible to potential predators such as the local Rock Pipits. East Prawle, Devon

Fantastic to have another glowing review of the Flyble from such a big name in ecology and conservation. Thank you @markavery.bsky.social ! Yes I wish I'd had our book for my lockdown 'backyard bioblitz' too!

Struggling to sleep in this heat but I've spotted one of my home's nocturnal residents - a Spitting Spider (Scytodes thoracica). Have seen at least 3 in the house this weekend.

"Whose Larva Is This?" A quick guide to figure out what you're looking at when you find something that resembles a worm or a Zerg unit crawling around. #insect #bug #education #SciArt

Is it just me who's really enjoying the British weather lately? I like proper heavy rain to give everything a good soak and make everything glisten, with sunny spells to warm up and draw the insects back out. Maybe I am secretly an amphibian..

All right cockers? I got home for Cockchafer o'clock tonight! Great to see these big, bumbling beetles around. Likely emerging from the neighbour's lawns. You can see where they've been munching the young ash leaves too.

Rather enamored with the big Banded Damoiselle nymphs that kids caught on our river dips in the Stort today for #HertsRiversWeek Also gratifying to find shedloads of Blue-winged olive mayfly nymphs and several caddis and Bullheads, showing that the water here is still of decent quality.

My sincerest thanks and condolences to all the staff and volunteers who cleared up Britain's greenspaces today after the heatwave bank holiday madness! Fighting the real, physical, shameless blight on the country. This pic was far from the worst - at least the culprits bothered to find a bin.

The Green Forest Fly Caliprobola sp;eciosa, a large & rare hoverfly - one of the gems of the New Forest where it can be seen around the base of old trees & stumps. Get into the world of flies with our 'flyble' bit.ly/4dqQI8Z @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @bbowt.bsky.social @tverc1.bsky.social

“Calm down, Edna. … Yes, it’s some giant, hideous insect … but it could be some giant, hideous insect in need of help.”

Messing about by the river today helping to build up a brash berm in the Stort with the Friends of Castle Park. These features create a more dynamic flow, reduce soil erosion, vegetate into bankside habitat and offer refuge for fish and aquatic invertebrates. All with entirely natural materials.

Recently gave a talk to BTO Youth on starting out with identifying insects in Britain and Ireland. Pleased to see how keen young ornithologists are to engage with the world of insects! I'd be happy to give this again if any natural history groups are interested- it was a lot to put together!

Petition: gardenorganic.org.uk/glyphosate-campaign

Lovely to find my first nest of the shell-nesting Red-tailed Mason Bee (Osmia bicolor) on a Herts Invertebrate Project outing to Sheethanger Common yesterday. One of a few nice finds on this former golf course near Hemel Hempstead, now owned and managed for nature by the Boxmoor Trust.

EDIT: Mottled Shieldbug. A first for me! Thanks @sjbknott.bsky.social for the ID.

Decided to take a trip to some North London gardens on my day off. Wasn't expecting many insects in the overcast conditions, so the specialist Large Scissor Bee (Chelostoma florisomne) at Myddelton House and my 1st adult Bronze Shieldbug at Culpeper Community Gardens were nice surprises!

Happy #WorldRobberflyDay Everyone! Hers the video I made about my obsession with the Hornet Robberfly! (I was going to post it today but ended up posting it when I finished editing instead as I wanted to share!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gHN...

The Hornet Robberfly (Asilus crabroniformis) Its World Robberfly day in Fly Week today So to celebrate my fav Robberfly had to be the pic. An amazingly large Robberfly, one of the largest flies in the UK #worldrobberflyday #flyweek #robberfly #asilidae

Two males of the scarce Hornet Grabber (Conops vesicularis) in Gamlingay Wood LNR, S. Cambridgeshire this morning. A sexually dimorphic fly, I've included a photo of a female photographed in my garden earlier this month to illustrate the difference. #Diptera #Flies

A hoverfly (Chalcosyrphus nemorum) doing a poo

Is this the world's worst photo of a Wasp-banded Combhorn Cranefly (Ctenophora flaveolata)? Quite possibly. Am I dead chuffed to have spotted it way up in a standing dead oak? Absolutely! My first encounter with this striking, scarce species on our Herts Invertebrate Project outing to Hudnall Park.

I am absolutely made up about this 'Flyble' review in British Wildlife by none other than Brett Westwood! A publication and a naturalist I've had a huge amount of respect for since my uni days. It's really gratifying to see the reception of this book after so much hard work.

Drifts of Ramsons in woodland is unmistakable but look closer & you might spot a male Ramsons Hoverfly Portevinia maculata (top right) basking on a leaf the female (bottom) is often hidden amongst the plants where she lays her eggs @worcswt.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social bit.ly/4dqOI8Z

A mindful birding moment with the parents yesterday. There's always time to stop and watch a Little Egret on the river (and to appreciate Mum's homemade jumper!).

Thrilled to find a gathering of these Mammoth Wasps (Megascolia maculata) in Spain, busily nectaring with males pursuing the massive females. Their bold colours, violet wings and jack o'lantern faces look fantastic! They're Europe's largest wasps, with larvae parasitising chafer grubs.

An impressive African Giant Mantis (Sphodromantis viridis) near Almeria, Spain. Identifiable by her whitevwing spots. Non-native to Europe but still exciting to see. She'd found a very productive ambush perch amongst Giant Fennel flowers.

Staying with a good friend in Almeria and of course enjoying the local insect life. Spanish Festoon and the shell-nesting bee Rhodanthidium sticticum have been highlights.

The Jackdaws are fighting over the chimney pots along my road. Too engrossed to notice the human on the ground floor hanging up their washing.

This is an excellent book. I have the previous version and would say if you buy just one guide to wildlife gardening, it should be this one. It's very practically laid out and gives good rep to insects beyond bees and butterflies. Pleased to see it getting a reprint with endorsement from the RHS.

Someone updated this copy of Thomas Moffet’s ‘Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum’ (1634) with the Linnæan name for the Dark-edged bee-fly, Bombylius major (Linnæus, 1758) and other insects. 🪰💚 Rare books #BeeFlyWatch, M.14.42 @theul.bsky.social. #Diptera

Fly Research & Conservation Virtual Symposium 2026 Tue 23 Jun 2026 | Online | £30 or pay what you can Explore the latest fly ecology, conservation science & practical case studies. Live Q&A, expert talks & all resources available after the event 🌍 🧪 Book here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1981718540...

One of the great things about authoring a photographic guide is that it can be enjoyed by all ages. My friend sent me these of her friend's daughter pouring #BestFlyBook in the back of the car (like me with bird books on family holidays). Would be lovely if it inspires more young entomologists!

Nice to read a review of the 'Flyble' by a dipterist. Encouraging people to look beyond hoverflies was precisely one of the aims of the project. Will be very interested to read more reviews as spring gets under way and people use the book. That's the real mark of an ID guide. Please tag us in.

Cheilosia pagana, a small black hoverfly, is one of our earliest hoverflies to be seen, flying from March-October. The female is identified by its large orange antennae. #BestFlyBook bit.ly/4dqQI8Z @bbowt.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @gailashton.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Fantastic news, should be incredibly useful

A few solitary bees out in the sunshine yesterday including this stylopised male Andrena (2 female stylops are visible poking out of the penultimate abdominal segment). Parasitized bees like this can exhibit features of both male & female bee (called intersex) which makes identification tricky. 🧵

Gonia picea (Dark Broadface) is one of the first Tachinid flies to appear in spring - this one spotted in March on the Malvern Hills. Our new guide to #FliesofBritainandIreland features over 1200 species bit.ly/4dqQI8Z @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @georgemcgavin.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Female Common Earwigs Forficula auricularia are very good mothers. After spending the winter guarding her batch of eggs she cares for the nymphs for several weeks and regurgitates food for them. The nymphs will disperse when they are large enough to fend for themselves. Dartmoor, Devon

Have had a very cluttered mind lately. Stopping to appreciate this helped. Hopefully so will a proper day out tomorrow.