If you live in the North Pennines or Highland Scotland you might be familiar with this pretty monstrous fly! Then again, you may have mistaken it for a bumble bee, as its size, shape and colour all make it look as much like a bumble bee as a fly. As far as I am aware it doesn't have a common name, but my studies have revealed it to be the Tachina Grossa. I first saw specimens on top of Padon Hill in Northumberland in 1991, where they were cruising about rather loudly and menacingly - as far as I know they are totally harmless to humans, but that said I wouldn't fancy having one land on me! Then I saw some again in a little placed called Laide, in Wester Ross, Scotland, in 1996. I managed to take this picture, which isn't one of my best but I'm including it as it is an interesting specimen. Notice how its creamy yellow head is in striking contrast to the rest of its black hairy body.
This is one for me to try to get a better digital picture of. The picture here was taken on a Minolta Dynax 500i using Fujichrome 100 film.
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