Our first ‘face to face’ talk at Cutgate Baptist Church for what seems like a lifetime was a fascinating insight into the frequently overlooked, but incredibly important, world of Flies.
The speaker was Alan Bedford, a retired biology lecturer with a long standing interest in natural history. Alan spent 32 years teaching, the last 21 years of which were at Edge Hill University. During this time he taught and studied across a wide range of ecological areas, including reconstructing past environmental change using insect remains from lake sediments.
Whilst working and since retiring Alan has been involved with a range of bird surveys, mammal surveys and runs workshops on owl pellet analysis and invertebrate identification (much of this with his wife Hilary who previously gave a talk Rochdale Field Naturalists).
Retirement has allowed Alan to focus on the identification and ecology of the Diptera (true flies).