Anja Murray: We have flies to thank for a lot of things — including chocolate

'Like taxes, flies are necessary for the healthy functioning of society, though that doesn’t necessarily mean we always appreciate or celebrate them'

A Hoverfly on a pink Achillea. Hoverflies are a family of flies that are especially associated with flowers and are thus crucial pollinators in almost every type of habitat.

Most of us don’t tend to think of flies as being in any way noteworthy. Houseflies can certainly be an annoyance at this time of year. Because flies have taste buds on their feet, it is by walking all over our precious slice of cheesecake that they can decipher whether it is edible, hence the habit of trampling all over our food. In response we swat them, electrocute them, poison and curse them. But houseflies are far from the only flies, in fact there are over 3,300 different species of fly in Ireland alone. Here, as across the globe, flies collectively contribute a great deal to the healthy functioning of ecosystems, which in turn, are what sustain all of us.

Flies are differentiated from other flying insects by having two wings, hence the scientific name ‘Diptera’ (two-winged). For a fly to stay airborne and move forward, this single pair of wings beat around 200 times per second. The Diptera family is incredibly diverse, with over 240,000 known species. Aside from houseflies, there are crane flies, caddis flies, stoneflies, fruit flies, sand flies, dung flies, stiletto flies, fireflies, and many more. Relative to the human population, it is estimated that there are 17 million flies each person on earth. Impressive.