Soldier fly

Identification - Hermetia illucens - black soldier fly.

For a long time, I was convinced this was a wasp, because of the abdomen/thorax separation. But, it is in fact a harmless fly.

It’s distinguishing feature is the mackerel pattern on its eyes. Difficult to photograph as the fly is a bit skittish when I move in for an eye macro. I did get a good eye macro a year ago yesterday, but I did not blip it, an autumn leaf butterfly winning the day.

Conditions were difficult after a lot of rain in the night. I spent most of the time staring at my feet, hoping to anticipate which way I was likely to fall. With the path running along the edge of the stream gully, I have to be super cautious.

Bugs are very thin on the ground, but reviewing the same day last year, I guess about the same. Today I collected images of ants, a fly, soldier fly, jumping spider and the bats, so I shouldn’t grumble, considering the conditions you are facing back in Europe and the states.

Finally managed to fix the spell checker. The annoying thing is that I don’t know how I fixed it, damn thing just started working. Connection is still bad. Lots of software that I need and cannot download.

Dave