Hoverflies are fascinating creatures. Perhaps like me you’ve watched them live up to their name by hovering in the air, hardly moving in any direction, sometimes rotating on the spot to face in another direction, then performing incredible zigzag manoeuvres and suddenly racing off at great speed.

Perhaps you’ve spotted them visiting flowers for a snack of nectar or pollen, or sunbathing on tree trunks or leaves.

Over 270 species of hoverfly have been recorded in Britain. The adult flies come in a range of shapes and sizes. Most have spots, bands or stripes of yellow or brown against a dark-coloured background, but some have white markings or even a metallic sheen. Some have names like batman, footballer and marmalade due to their distinctive markings.

Although many types mimic wasps and bees with yellow and brown bands, hoverflies are true flies, called diptera, with only one pair of wings, whereas wasps and bees have two pairs.

Hoverflies are important pollinators . They are also food for birds and even help break down organic matter in gardens.

Unfortunately, their distribution has declined by 44% since the 1980s, according to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), the only statutory nature adviser to all four countries of the UK. Therefore, Surrey Wildlife Trust and the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and are calling on gardeners to help save hoverflies by becoming “hoverfly heroes”.

Experts from the two charities have designed a series of projects for gardeners to help hoverflies in spaces large or small. These include:

Pollinator plant boxes: Ideal for small-space gardens or balconies, these can be jam-packed with flowering plants to suit the season – a giant buffet for visiting hoverflies.

Hoverfly lagoons: Pools of shallow water where fallen leaves create a perfect breeding ground for many of the hoverfly species which have aquatic larvae.

Larvae nurseries: Log piles and even shrubs can make perfect homes for hoverfly larvae.

Dan Banks, citizen science officer at Surrey Wildlife Trust said: “These magical helicopters of the insect world are easy to attract, fascinating to watch and can be a great gateway into the wonderful world of insects.

“If everybody does what they can to restore even a portion of their garden or outside space to nature, for example by planting native plants or even just leaving some unmown areas, our skies could be buzzing with these wonderful characters once again.”

Helen Bostock, senior wildlife specialist at the Royal Horticultural Society, added: “We’d like people to open their gardens to hoverflies. These incredible insects help pollinate plants, keep aphids in balance and break down rotting matter in the garden.

“Gardeners can attract them by planting open, easily accessible flowers. In spring, they’ll be drawn to aubretia. In summer, they’ll love blackberry flowers, oxeye daisy, marigolds, fennel, cow parsley and poppies. Come autumn, they can be seen on heather, aster, even common ivy.”

You can learn more about hoverflies and how to help them in a new booklet. It’s free to download from www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk. From their four-stage life cycle to migration and mimicry, there's so much to discover about these two-winged wonders.

The booklet also includes spotting sheets for different adult hoverflies species and their larvae, plus guides to making a pollinator planter and hoverfly lagoon.

If you have a garden, balcony or patio, why not give these fascinating and important insects a helping hand?