Beautiful Creatures

I don't know what these insects are. They don't seem to be flies because they don't have big eyes. Their antennae appear to be out on stalks. See the male's (black) shadow. Any suggestions?

Edit: Thanks to mollyblobs, who identified the family, I have found that they are indeed flies, known here as Marchflies, which must be a Northern Hemisphere name. These ones are Dilophus nigrostigma, which are endemic to New Zealand. As mollyblobs says, members of the family are known as St.Mark's flies in the UK, but they are also called lovebugs because of what the adults do mostly. They can remain attached like this even in flight. As I suspected the female is the red one.


One year ago: one of my favourite blips- a lovely poppy and my first bumblebee on the wing.