Green Bottle Fly

The metallic green of a Green Bottle Fly is really quite amazing and it's a fascinating creature seen close up. There are two species which are almost identical, Phaenicia sericata and Lucilia sericata. Living as I do, on a farm, this is most likely to be the latter.

Their other common name is the Sheep Blowfly and it's not a good sign to see them on the back of a sheep as they lays their eggs in the wool...I'll spare you the rest. There are excellent insecticide applications now that have made a farmers life easier.

The larvae are well studied and used in medicine to remove dead tissues in wound, their secretions to prevent bacterial infections in wounds and to lower levels of bacteria in the blood of people who have MRSA.

As someone who has kept sheep, I'll never be enthralled by them but, their role in medicine cancels out a few negative feelings. For most people, they are just horrible flies!