Bluebottle – Calliphora erythrocephala
13/6/13 -Bluebottle on a dock leaf. Garden Rhos-on-Sea.
Length: 11mm
Familiar, large house-invading fly that makes a loud buzzing sound in flight. Female is attracted to meat upon which eggs are laid and the larvae feed.
Adult has a shiny blue body and reddish eyes & jowls.
Seen in most months but most common in summer
Status: Widespread and common.
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Greenbottle – Lucilia caesar
Length: 9mm
8/9/12-Greenbottle-Rhos-on-Sea garden
A colourful fly that is attracted to flowers, but also to dung and carrion.
Adult has a metallic shine to its body that may be green or bronze-green. The eyes are red.
The larvae live and feed in rotting carcasses. Their presence in a human corpse is an indicator to pathologists of the time of a person’s death.
Status: widespread & common
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Flesh-fly – Sarcophoga carnaria
Flesh-fly-Sarcophoga carnaria
Length: 15mm
This fly is seldom seen indoors. It is attracted to carrion and carcasses, but is most often seen ‘sunbathing’ on paths or small rocks.
Adult has a greyish coloured body but with chequered markings on the abdomen and has red eyes and proportionately large feet.
Larva is live-born (so no eggs are laid) on decaying flesh
Status : Widespread and common
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everyday nature trails 