The Society for the study of flies (Diptera)

Recently the Government launched the Pollinator Initiative – 10 million pounds of money into researching pollination.  Six of the nine projects are clearly about wild pollination (the other three are about honeybees).  The decline in wild pollinators is well known as is  the importance of putting wildflowers back. 

See   http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/media/releases/2 … ators.aspx 


The charity Buglife is heavily involved.  They say action - not research - is needed to save our pollinators. 
The UK has lost more than 3m hectares of wildflower-rich habitat since the second world war, but farming wildlife schemes have only recreated 6,500 hectares. They are calling on government to tackle the issue head-on and create a network of wildflower meadows now. Its "B-lines" would be rivers of flowers in every county, one going east west and the other north-south. The scheme would depend on a new "conservation credits" scheme that would require developers – and others who provide economic benefits but whose sector degrades wildlife – to purchase credits that would secure wildflower habitats.
See full article:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/c … ollinators

Everyone thinks first of bees (honey- bumble- and solitary- ) as important pollinators, but FLIES are also important pollinators.

I would really like to know from all you fly watchers out there which flowers you see flies feeding on (and what sort of flies like which sorts of flowers)!  So get watching and writing in.  I hope to write something on this for the next Dipterists Bulletin.  Flies often have very short mouthparts and cannot feed on flowers with long corolla tubes favoured by longer-tongued bees.  Actually, more accurately, flies may not be able to reach down to the nectary at the bottom of the tube for the high sugar energy source, but they might be able to feed on the protein rich pollen in the anthers which might be higher up or exposed. Of course there are exceptions, one thinks straight away of Rhingia sp hoverflies, which have a great long proboscis for probing flowers, but there are very many flies with a short proboscis ending in a sucking 'pad'.  Also they are all totally unable to prise open the petals of any of the clover, pea or bean family flowers, these need the strong arm tactics bees can do.  Such flowers are specifically bee-adapted.   Conservation margins on arable fields which are full of red clover do not help flies.

Flies like open, flat flowers,which are good landing platforms, with exposed and easily accessible nectar and pollen.  Yes flowery meadows have gone, but I am particularly concerned about other plants with lovely flat platform flowers such as Hogweed and other members of the Umbelliferae (now Apiaceae) which are critical for flies.  I think these are declining in the countryside hedgerows and verges, but I really want to know YOUR views on this.

Now I know that flies are scarce this year because it has been very dry, perhaps try to think back a few years - check your notebooks!  A bit of rain forecast soon, so perhaps fly numbers will improve following the showers. 

So, which flies like which flowers?....

Judy