Not just any Greenbottle.........

..........but THE Tachinid Green bottle Gymnochaeta viridis!
I went for a quick mooch around the very local Warnham Nature reserve today as I had to take Mr U&L to the hospital this afternoon for his six monthly eye check.
I wandered through the reserve and into the wooded Walnut Tree Plantation, which was pleasantly warm and full of insects. I went with the intention of finding and photographing Large red damselflies which were in abundance in the woodland, but I will save blipping them for another day. I also found another ladybird, but that also can wait.
Instead I decided to blip this rather smart Tachinid fly Gymnochaeta viridis. First impressions would lead you to believe this was just any old green bottle fly, sitting on the tree trunk waiting for the next foul thing to land on, but on closer inspection you can see it isn't. It is a different shape to start with and the eyes are completely different, and not only that is is very bristly a characteristic common to all tachinid flies.
Tachinids are true flies, from the insect order Diptera, and reproduce by parasitising other insects, mainly Lepidoptera, although they can use beetles, beetle larvae, grasshoppers, sawflies and true bugs as hosts.
They are often dull and uninteresting, but this one is a super smart example.
It is interesting what is out there if you look closely!