Date First Recorded in the Garden: 15/08/2023
Family Tachinidae: The Tachinid Flies
A large family of flies, with over 8000 species named worldwide. According to online sources there are over 270 species in the British Isles. They are nearly all parasitoids, which mean they kill their host. In this case this is normally by growing and feeding on other invertebrates, usually the larval stages of other insects, mostly lepidoptera.
Tachina fera
This species is reasonably easy to identify, with its black striped yellow abdomen, dark bristly hairs, red eyes set in a yellow head, along with yellow legs.
The adults as shown above, feed on pollen and nectar and its the larva that are parasitoids, usually on moth species.
The species is bivoltine (there are two generations every year). The record above is likely from the second generation being recorded so late in the summer.
In the Garden
This is apparently a very common species, but we either haven’t been paying close enough attention and mistaken it for other fly species, or its just not that common in our location. It is a bit of a generalist in terms of the larval food chosen and with the adults feeding on pollen and nectar it is possible, if not likely, that this species has been completing its life cycle in the garden.
Wildlife Garden 