Causing grief to the bleeding eyes

After my previous frustrating attempt to key a couple of flies, I decided to take the tried and tested route of tackling some of the easy ones first.

Out in the garden net in hand I've been honing my catching technique. I'm still pretty pants at it if I'm honest. But I have managed to catch a few flies and more importantly even managed to identify them too. Well some of them 😆

First up was this one. I knew it was a hoverfly, so that was a good start. Using the great guide by Ball and Morris I got this to the genus Eupeodes.

As this was a female (there's a gap between the eyes) the marking on the frons (bit between the eyes) is important. There was an obvious upside down Y-mark which make this E. luniger.

Next up was another hover than I found bouncing around the living room window behind the net curtain. This one had a long face and thorax stripes. 

That combination makes this one Anasimyia lineata. Another one I've not knowingly seen or recorded before. 

I then netted this small fly from some long grass thinking it was another hover.

But it didn't look right. I quickly realised that in fact I had a soldierfly. I then remembered that sitting on one of my bookshelves was a copy of Stubbs and Drake's British Soldierflies and their allies, which I hadn't really looked at since picking a copy up at the Birdfair a few years back.

Turned out I''d found an easy one and the combination of shape and colour put this in the genus Microchrysa. The bright metallic green thorax and the slightly darker black-green abdomen plus the all black antennae mean this M. polita. 

Those black antennae give this the English name Black-horned Gem.

Hopefully 3 from 3, I was starting to get cocky. 

So I started potting a few more things. No idea what these next two are but I'm going to have a go at putting a family name to them at the very least.

They are pretty amazing to look at under the microscope. All those bristles and hairs.

For now I think I'll concentrate on find a few more hovers and the odd soldier and I may be alright.

Post title inspiration comes courtesy of Baxter Dury (son of Ian).