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Can anyone confirm that this little fly with a big head is a pipunculid, a new family to me, and is it possible to suggest a genus? Pipunculus?

9.5.11 c 3mm Wiltshire garden on Rose leaf.

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Yes, it's a pip ... David Gibbs should be able to give you a clue as to genus but do you have other angles, perhaps showing wing venation?

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Thanks Chris, hope David sees this. Sorry, I have no more angles and this is the only well focused shot I got; it didn't hang around and I haven't seen one since.

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They're surprisingly hard to spot but I usually find them along sheltered grassy margins where they have this funny habit of flying like tiny helicopters in between the grass stems - they have incredible control. :)

I'd recommend going back to the same spot because I usually find them time and time again in the exact same localities.

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Thanks for the tip, Chris, though I have been checking the Rose bush it was on since and am mostly seeing just aphids, predatory Harlequin ladybirds and and egg-laying syrphids on it since.

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I believe their hosts are cuckoo-spit bugs on grass and low-growing herbage so I would check anywhere around the bush with longish, whispy grass :)

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I just mowed the lawn.... but I have noticed some cuckoo spit on the roses recently, so that may have been the attraction. Will keep looking and will try to get some more shots if I see any more of these little guys. It's so windy now, though, that I can't focus on anything small 'til it calms down again.

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I know that feeling - yesterday I didn't even carry my net or boxes because the wind was so strong. Of course, then I saw lots of tachinids sheltering on low foliage! ;)

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looks like Eudorylas but would not like to do further

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Many thanks David. I will look out for more of these intriguing looking flies and will dig out my extension tubes for some closer views if possible. I may well have overlooked these little creatures before in search of bigger things...!