This weekend the Man was busily working in the garden again and, of course, my help was of very little use completely invaluable despite the fact that there were lots of things needing to be photographed.
Not its best angle.
Late in the day I took yet another a break and wandered up the Hill to have a poke around, literally stumbling upon this fly with brilliant green eyes when I was looking for a good spray of flowers to photograph.
Australian flies are quite well know for being extremely annoying. As soon as the weather fines up the flies come out and it seems that there is nothing you can do to be rid of them.
Before I started photographing them I never realized we had such a surprising diversity of flies. Every time I go out to take photos I see different ones and that makes me suspect that they aren’t all bad, it is just those horrible little black buggers and the big fat blowies that give all the others a bad name!
I have also included the pic of the same fly from behind for your amusement. The butt end is not the angle I usually aim for but couldn’t resist taking the shot when given the chance 😉
Look into my eyes……
Buried words and Bushwa. 
That is some amazing detail on the wings, not to mention the eyes. For all the annoyance insects can bring us, I never cease to be amazed at the beauty of a specimen when I see one close up.
The eyes were amazing and I never get tired of looking at wings, the patterns are always amazing.
Nature’s beauty never fails to leave me in awe. Whenever my girls and I come across an animal, whether we catch a bass or a snake or whatever, I tell them to look at the creatures intricate pattern and coloring.
I can’t imagine how difficult it would be, were I an artist, to even replicate something as simple as an insect’s wings.
Agreed. No matter how strange a critter is there is something wonderful to be seen about it if you just look. 🙂
Indeed. I’ve on occasion been able to catch a live bird and while holding it and admiring its beauty wondered how someone could believe there is no higher power.
The body reminds me of a bee with all the fur behind the head. It’s such a pretty one I hope it doesn’t prove to be annoying.
I think these ones are the kind that stay away from people, the ones we get hanging around are nowhere near as pretty. You’re right, it does look quite like a bee though.
Blowies are the best, they’re the easiest to have fun with…flicking them around and watching them bounce off the walls after you’ve knocked them out.
I don’t know if you have them in Tassie but we have March Flies here. They are just starting to come out now and are awful. They are about as big as blowies and just as slow but what they love are people and when they get on you they bite and it REALLY hurts. They are so slow they are easy to squash but it seems that killing one just brings in two of their friends…. Aaarrrggghhh!!!
They are here too. Not so much where we are, but I’ve seen them around Hastings caves and those southern areas. Thankfully. They are horrible, and their bites nasty.
You are lucky not to have them to badly. One of the places we like to go camping is totally infested with them, it is enough to make us stay away when they are at their worst.
Lovely shots! (I even like the rear view – quite a unique angle!)
They are unexpectedly thin top to bottom, aren’t they? I expect flies to all be like blowies, fat all round!
lol – you won’t find me singing the praises of flies… but this little guy is kind of cute. 🙂
Those wonderful eyes and that furry body, if something that looked this good was hanging around our barbies on the weekend we probably wouldn’t be so annoyed about it!
Meh… depends if it bites! There’s something I’ve noticed around here – it sounds like a blowie, bites and is the size of a wasp. 😦 Not a welcome visitor that one.
Not March flies are they? Greyish and slow and totally horrible and their bite feels like a blunt needle jabbed into your ankle….
Yes! Is that what they are? Talk about a misnamed critter. I’ve only noticed them since last summer. I wonder if they’re attracted to the alpaca poop…. 😦
I’m sorry you have them now, they will only get worse as the weather heats up 😦
They might like the alpaca poo, I’m not sure what they like the most, apart from biting….
Actually, wearing light colours is a way of keeping them away, they love dark colours. And ankles of course 😉
Good tip about the colour Metan – thanks. I usually wear dark colours so I might dig out my summer whites sooner rather than later!
I had heard it worked but didn’t really believe it until we were camping years ago when number 2 was still in Bond’s jumpsuits. We were all wearing our customary dark colours and were bitten all weekend. He was wearing a lightweight cotton suit that had even horizontal white and dark blue stripes.
The entire time he had Marchies hovering around him but not a single one landed. It was as if they couldn’t work out which bit to land on.
Of course even though I know this I am incapable of wearing light coloured t-shirts so I will continue to sacrifice myself to the evil flies 😉
lmao – yes, I know, giving up the darks is like becoming a whole new person! I will, however, sacrifice myself in the interests of science… and because their bites really do itch. 😦
I look forward to hearing if you are successful!
If I’m not then I’ll be buying out all the calamine lotion in greater melbourne!
🙂
Your green eye fly looks like a bit of a super hero of the fly world. I think the litle guy’s perch on the flower lends him quite a bit of appeal. In the country on the weekend, we came to the conclusion it’s going to be a hot fly-ey summer with a big serve of mozzies – must stock up on the Psoff 🙂
You are right, a fly on a nice spray of flowers is far more appealing than the standard perch of poo… ick.
I am not happy to hear your prediction of a hot and fly-ey summer. I was hoping for cool and low on annoyance! Definitely time to stock up on the killer.
How was your house and garden? Overgrown and dusty/mouldy or quietly waiting?
House & garden both ok. No dead plants in the garden – you can see where it’s been dry but the recent rain saved it . We didn’t do overly much – we had hot days & thunderstorms so too humid/damp to seal slate & scrub old bathroom walls. The Christmas tree is up though 🙂 The G.O. cleared the rampant wisteria & ferns so he could hang cane blinds over the west side windows and got bites all over him despite being sensibly attired. My plan to do a risk analysis prior to any of his endeavours has already failed 😦
I don’t think there is ever good weather for scrubbing bathroom walls 😦
Glad to hear your xmas tree is up, I have been sadly neglectful of this so far, the loungeroom is too small for me to be happy about filling it up with a plastic tree so I am leaving it ’til the kids complain. Then I only have to deal with it for the minimum time.
Poor G.O. getting bitten. Perhaps if you had delayed him to do the risk analysis any outdoor work might have come to a grinding halt though. I find it is best just to leave the Man to it and do any necessary patching up/bandaging up later! 😉
Your fly is WAY cuter than mine!
🙂 thanks. This guy looks like he is impersonating a bee, your tough-looking fly looked like its day job was with some sort of security force! 😉
Ha ha! True! It’s like the bouncer at the fly biker bar!