Take part in Bee-fly Watch
BREAKING NEWS – firsts for 2026:
Dark-edged Bee-fly
- The first record was from Surrey on 25 February
- The first in Scotland was on 3 March, the earliest date ever recorded for Scotland
- The first in Wales was on 4 March
Dotted Bee-fly
- The first record was from Kent on 11 March, which is the earliest ever record for Dotted Bee-fly (previous earliest was 15 March, in 2017)
Have you seen a bee-fly? If so, please add your sighting to Bee-fly Watch!
The main aim of Bee-fly Watch is to encourage you to enjoy seeing and finding out about these fluffy flies, and if you can send in your sighting details you can help us track when and where they are flying.
To send in your sighting, our preferred route is via the iRecord app or website (or use the form further down this page), or you can use iNaturalist.
Bee-flies are the furry, hovering flies with a very long 'snout' (proboscis) that can be seen hovering over flowers. There are two species that fly early in the spring: Dark-edged Bee-fly (common and widespread), and Dotted Bee-fly (less common and mostly found in southern parts of England and Wales). These two spring bee-flies usually start appearing in late February or early March, and they continue flying into early June.
In 2025 we had a good year: thanks to sunny weather in March and April last year, bee-flies were seen in much higher numbers than they were in 2024. For more details and maps see the latest results page.
There are two other related species that fly in the summer: Western Bee-fly (Wales and south-west England) and the very rare Heath Bee-fly (Dorset and the Isle of Man).
Identifying bee-flies
See the bee-fly identification page for more on how to recognise bee-flies. If you are new to bee-flies, or are not certain whcih one you've seen, please add a photo of it with your record if you possibly can.
You may also be able to get help with identifications via the recording scheme on Bluesky or on our Soldierflies Facebook group, or via the forum pages on this website (DF members only). The tag for all our social media is #BeeFlyWatch.
Add your bee-fly sighting!
You can add records via the iRecord website or app, or by using the form below. If you have an iRecord account it is best to log in before adding a record. If you don't have an iRecord account you can still use the form below, but if you want to be able to review your records on iRecord and (optionally) to receive notifications about your records, please register with iRecord first. If you are new to bee-fly recording please add a photo to your record if you can.
For lots more information about bee-flies (including why we ask you to record them) go to More about bee-flies. Bee-fly Watch is part of the Soldierflies and Allies Recording Scheme.