Fly with me!

The Pyracantha in our garden is playing host to a plethora of flies and various creeping-crawling things. Among the more common are the Greenbottles (Lucilia caesar). The maggots of these little flies are especially keen on dead flesh and are used in the medical profession for cleaning-up wounds by eating the decaying flesh, while leaving the living flesh well alone.

Our Lavender plant is also being well used at the moment, by a few different types of Bee. There are Carder Bees, White-tailed Bumblebees, occasional Honey Bees and this little chap, a Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). Almost identical to it's White-tailed cousin, they are not easy to separate. I have spoken a lot about the various 'invasive species' which can cause such problems in this country, but the Buff-tailed Bumblebee is considered an invasive species in Japan and it has been the subject of legislation in Australia, to ban it's live import as it poses a threat to Australia's native bees. Still, nice in the right place - on our lavender plant!