A reminder that this special week of blog posts concerning the Mayfly starts today...

The mayfly has become an iconic fixture in popular, literary and angling culture due to its curious, ephemeral lifecycle, prehistoric heritage and the stunning sight of clouds of the insects appearing during a hatch. This week, to coincide with mayfly hatches across northern Europe, between 16th and 20th May, the BioFresh blog (The BioFresh blog) will feature a special series of articles, photos and videos celebrating the biological and cultural importance of this fascinating insect.

Oxford University’s Dr George McGavin (star of BBC’s “Lost Land of the Tiger”) contributed his support for BioFresh’s mayfly week, stating:

“Mayflies are a vital food source for freshwater fish and other species. Their aquatic lifecycle typically culminates in a mass emergence when all the mayflies in a population mature over one or two days. The advantage of this synchronised 'hatch' is that local predators feeding on the emerging adults with be quickly satiated. The adults, whose only purpose is to mate and lay eggs, do not feed and live for only a matter of hours.”

It is this fleeting, fascinating lifecycle which has captured the imagination of many writers, artists, fishermen throughout history, and that we will be celebrating in this special week of articles, in order to raise awareness of the need for freshwater ecosystem conservation – a key aim of the EU-funded BioFresh project.

Contributors to the week (16th-20th May) will include Malcolm Greenhalgh (author "The mayfly and the trout", prominent fishermen) on the importance of the mayfly to fisherman; Gaylord Schanil (woodcut and letterpress artist, author of "Mayflies of the Driftless Region") on the role of the mayfly in art and culture; Dr Michael Monaghan (IGB Berlin) on Madagascan mayfly hyper-diversity; Paul Gaskell (Wild Trout partnership) on the “Mayfly in the classroom” education and citizen science project; BioFresh scientist Dr Daniel Hering on the Palingenia longicauda – the curious case of the largest European mayfly, cutting edge research from the BioFresh project on the insect, and more still to be confirmed.

The special series of posts will be of great interest to fly fishermen, natural historians, environmental artists and writers, and anyone with an interest in curious freshwater ecosystems. Press enquiries and suggestions for collaborative features and interviews are welcomed.