Invasion of the Soldier Flies

These hot days I get up about 6am and open the doors and windows to let the coolish fresh air into the house for a couple of hours. This morning a lot of small soldier flies came in and clustered about the kitchen windows. The one above was on my kitchen workbench. I’m having trouble identifying them. They look exactly like the native green soldier fly, Beris lacuans, but they are 4mm shorter. Sadly, with the automatic fly spray in operation, they became collateral damage.

Today was (still is) a scorcher. All the baubles in the Galileo thermometer sank to the bottom. And it was marvellous for washing. I did three loads. First sheets and bedspread I hadn’t used since last autumn to freshen them for use. Then most of my son’s summer shirt collection to be drip dried. And finally the sheets and bedspread I’d been using. I kept the washing machine going continuously. Each load was dry enough to bring in before the next was ready to hang out. My son helped me with the line work, otherwise I think I might have melted away.