Huge hairy fly!

[gardener 0]

I thought this was a big bumble bee from a distance, but when I got close enough for a photo I realised it was a fly ......any clues on id?

 

[Ricky-N.p.p 0]

might still be some kind of bee mate, there are mant types of bee !

[skycat 6,174]

I'm sure it's a fly: look at the eyes and the rear end: just off to try and identify it!

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

It's a Fly alright ~ only don't expect me to tell ye what the hell sort it is!

 

I've come to realise that there's more flys out there than people realise. Simple as that. Most people will do alright to name ye half a dozen types. Even many pro' Pest Controllers (myself included) start to struggle long before reaching a dozen.

 

Why? Because, unless they're getting in our faces or on our food, we barely give them a second glance. And that one's a nectar feeder. It'll spend most of its innocent life on flowering plant heads. We'll just see it, almost peripherally, as " A Fly " and give it no further consideration.

 

This point was brought home to me last year when I fished something dead out of some water. A fly alighted on it and I saw it and managed to grab a shot. When I examined the photo on my screen I was completely blown away. Totally beyond my experiance. Millet came to my assistance. He pointed out it was a " Midday Fly ". Yeah; A What?!

 

Guy was bang on the money. I googled it and learned more about flys. It too is a nectar feeder and had likely just landed on that bloated corpse for a rest. Then it shot off back to the Meadowsweet and Angelica which had attracted it to that spot in the first place.

 

Looked so much like that one though ..... apart from the eye placement and the hairs I wonder if Midday Flys are a group? Could that be the opposite gender to my one? A close relative? Is that a clue?

[Guest SHOT]

Tachinid fly aka (tachina grossa) every body knows that

i looked it up, nearest i could find to it.

[zek 0]

Hope I'm not hijacking this thread - what about the flat greyish coloured fly (bit bigger than a house fly), that is found between the feathers of a bird. A couple of times I've picked up a roadkill Owl or Jackdaw, and the next thing, one of these flys is on my arm. I've slapped them, sqeezed them, swipped them, to no avail, I just can't kill them. They really give me the creeps - Anyone got a name for them?

 

Zek.

[Guest Magwitch]

its one of them Spanish fly thingys.

[gardener 0]

Tachinid fly aka (tachina grossa) every body knows that

 

I didn't!

Thanks for the id - googled it and it turns out its parasitic on certain butterflies - the grubs hatch and wait for a passing caterpillar....

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Spot on, Gardener! I visited a Moth forum last night and happened upon shots of the self same fly. Seems I was a bit off base in my own bland assumption that they were completely 'benighn', eh? Buggers do it to moths too, apparrently!

 

What a way to go! :sick:

[Groverdog 0]

Hope I'm not hijacking this thread - what about the flat greyish coloured fly (bit bigger than a house fly), that is found between the feathers of a bird. A couple of times I've picked up a roadkill Owl or Jackdaw, and the next thing, one of these flys is on my arm. I've slapped them, sqeezed them, swipped them, to no avail, I just can't kill them. They really give me the creeps - Anyone got a name for them?

 

Zek.

 

 

we just call them flat flies here not sure what the real name is but yep there are a bit creepy take it they are blood suckers. I ve seen them on Deer too.

[martin 332]

Hope I'm not hijacking this thread - what about the flat greyish coloured fly (bit bigger than a house fly), that is found between the feathers of a bird. A couple of times I've picked up a roadkill Owl or Jackdaw, and the next thing, one of these flys is on my arm. I've slapped them, sqeezed them, swipped them, to no avail, I just can't kill them. They really give me the creeps - Anyone got a name for them?

 

Zek.

 

Cleg flies