On the afternoon of 29th May 2026, I was photographing insects on flowering Hemlock Water-dropwort (Oenanthe crocata) at Sands Lake, Ainsdale, when I spotted a large fly that I didn’t recognise (Figure 1). Reference to the new fly book by Falk et al. (2026) soon pinned it down to one of the bigger soldierflies, a male Odontomyia ornata (Ornate Brigadier). This species is mapped as occurring only in the south and southeast of England, there being no records for the Northwest. It appeared during the infamous May heatwave which produced record high temperatures for the month and persistent southerly winds. This period also provided sightings of several other southern species, especially Odonata (dragonflies), including two species new to the Sefton Coast, Aeshna isosceles (Norfolk Hawker) and Brachytron pratense (Hairy Hawker).
