Many general books about insects show illustrations or photographs of a few hoverfly species, and are definitely worth studying. However, a more specialised book is really needed if more than a few species are to be identified correctly, and the diversity of their lives properly understood. Here are the most significant of these books.

• British Hoverflies: an illustrated identification guide by Alan Stubbs and Steven Falk, published by the British Entomological and Natural History Society, November 2002.
  
  This substantial hardback volume is the bible of British hoverfly enthusiasts, with an authoritative and readable text, and beautiful, mostly very helpful, colour illustrations of a great many species. The keys are clear, and with practice by no means difficult to use. (An earlier edition of this book may be found, but note that many changes in, for instance, species' names, took place between editions, and it is far preferable to have the 2002 version).
  
  
• Britain's Hoverflies. A Field Guide by Stuart Ball and Roger Morris.
  
  This softback WildGuides volume was first published in 2013, and proved deservedly popular. A second edition, produced in 2015, corrects some errors in the first edition, and includes new material, so this is the edition to have. Full of information, and with superb photographic illustrations, it will answer the questions of both beginners and seasoned veterans. An essential reference, great value for money, and the perfect companion to Stubbs & Falk.
  
  
• Hoverflies by Francis Gilbert published by the Cambridge University Press and number 5 in their Naturalists' Handbooks series.
  
  This is a slim, paperback volume, with a lot of interesting information, but with much less detail than Stubbs and Falk. It borrows some of the illustrations from the larger volume, and has its own key to a reduced number of species. A valuable reference, with some unique features, but if identification is your main aim, you will soon find it inadequate.
  
  
• Hoverflies of Northwest Europe Identification keys to the European Diptera: Syrphidae by M.P. van Veen, in English, and published in Utrecht by KNNV Publishing in 2004, 2009, 2014.
  
  This is an attractive hardback, mostly in the form of a detailed key, with fine black and white illustrations and a few colour photographs. For the observer based in Britain, perhaps its main advantage is to provide a useful cross-check (particularly using its illustrations) on any specimens still in doubt after working through the keys in Stubbs and Falk. For anyone looking seriously at hoverflies anywhere from northern France and Germany to Fennoscandia, this is the indispensable reference.
  
  
• Veldgids Zweefvliegen by Sander Bot and Frank van de Meutter, in Dutch, and published in Zeist by KNNV Uitgeverij in 2019.
  
  This hardback Fieldguide to Hoverflies is another fine publication from the Netherlands. Although it’s in Dutch, the inclusion of scientific names will allow enthusiasts to use the excellent and comprehensive illustrations easily enough. Once a few Dutch words are learnt (or even, with care using machine-translation), the key and text should be helpful, too, and especially for species which are potentially new to Britain, or on our list but little known here.
  
  
• Colour guide to hoverfly larvae by Graham Rotheray, published by Derek Whiteley, Sheffield, 1993.
  
  Hoverfly larvae are not as readily found as those of, for instance, butterflies and moths. For people with a general interest, this book is by no means essential, but it is the definitive reference for those who study these often colourful and sometimes bizarre creatures.
  
  
• The Report of the Recorder (N. F. Janes) in Bedfordshire Naturalist No. 38, pages 61-64, published in 1985, contains a very interesting and useful list of the county's hoverflies in that era. Annual hoverfly reports continue to be published in the same journal, extending from the year 2005 to the present.

The World Wide Web is always worth checking for hoverfly sites. Things change swiftly, but a longstanding and authoritative site is that of the British Hoverfly Recording Scheme which contains information on each species, up-to-date maps of distribution, colour photographs and much else besides.

Photographs of hoverflies aplenty can be found on the web, but beware the many misidentifications. The fine photographs on the Flickr pages of Steven Falk are highly reliable and useful. For Facebook users there is a well-subscribed and useful public group known as UK Hoverflies.

Not everybody is happy with using scientific names. They can be hard to remember, and even experts differ markedly on how they are to be pronounced. However, except in the case of the very few species with recognised English names (most of which are listed below) there is no other realistic way of referring to our hoverflies. When getting to know them, there is of course nothing to stop an observer from inventing his or her own informal names for individual species or similar-looking groups of flies, such as ‘furry orange’ or ‘thin yellow and black’. In this way, our own first impressions will help us to remember features, note them down, and gradually make sense of the different families. The scientific names can then steadily be learnt. One day there may be accepted English names; indeed, there seems at present to be a growing tendency to coin them. However, to devise clear and unambiguous names is a significant challenge. In addition, of course, we would still need to know the scientific names in order to communicate with the many experts working outside the UK, and to use reference materials in other languages. 

Some English names in general use include:

• Drone-fly for Eristalis tenax - because of its resemblance to a male (drone) honeybee;
• Large or Greater Bulb-fly for Merodon equestris because its larva is a pest of bulbs in horticulture;
• Lesser Bulb-fly for one or more species of Eumerus for the same reason, and these species being significantly smaller;

These few well-established examples of English names actually illustrate the naming problem rather well. The Drone-fly is one member of an extensive family, many of which look like honeybees; if the others in the family are to have English names it would make sense to call them all drone-flies, and we would then have to devise suitable qualifiers (in a similar way that we do, for example, for Song and Mistle Thrushes). The Greater and Lesser bulb-flies mentioned above are not actually closely related to each other, and should logically have rather different names to reflect this. From these few examples, it can be seen what a challenge it would be to arrive at a meaningful and logical set of English names.

One English name that is catching on is for the common and widespread species Episyrphus balteatus. This is now often called the Marmalade Hoverfly, presumably for the strand-like bars showing against its orange abdomen. Well, what the name lacks in gravitas it certainly makes up for in originality and popular ap-peel!