---

When they are new to you it is hard to determine the genus and ID the fly...The way the genitalia are built plays an important part. Often you will need a female to establish the genus and a male to establish the species. Strictly speaking it is impossible to ID such flies from a picture. However, the number of genera (and species) is relatively low in this part of Europe. If your picture had been taken in southern Spain i wouldn't be so sure it was a Machimus sp. : )))) With some experience you will be able to eliminate most species and are left (in this case) with a Machimus sp. Than you can look at some details like the shape of the genitalia, colour of legs and bristles etc. This way i end up with cf rusticus. Why not Didysmachus? Because that genus has only one species (picipes) with a very tipicical shaped hypopygium. DC wil run along the entire length of the mesonotum, there are more differences........enjoy your study : )