If one were to judge all flies by the few baddies, such as the house fly and mosquito, we would miss out on the delightful ones in the yard and woods. Many folks take pleasure in watching the many species of hover flies go about their rounds. Indeed, in the U.K. there are hover fly watchers, just as there are bird watchers.
This posting is not about a hover fly, but another rather friendly group: the Long–legged Fly (Condylostylus sp.), generally also known as the Condylostylid Fly. It is tiny usually being less than 5 millimetres long; it has long legs; it is the gardner’s friend as it goes about devouring aphids and silverfish; it is fairly easy to approach; but most of all, it is amazingly colourful with metalic green, blue, and gold. There seems to be more the one species around here as I have seen them with both red eyes and green eyes.
Below are two pictures, one with greenish eyes taken this summer, and one with reddish eyes taken two years ago. The Condylostylid Fly will visit flowers for nectar, but I usually see it on leaves, where I assume it is hunting.
