Calliphora vicina

Having acquired the new RES Handbook to blow flies (Sivell 2021) I thought I better start trying to identfiy some of these. Unsurprisingly, the first ones I found were apparently our commonest bluebottle.Having acquired the new RES Handbook to blow flies (Sivell 2021) I thought I better start trying to identfiy some of these. Unsurprisingly, the first ones I found is apparently our commonest bluebottle.

This individual was photographed in the field but then potted up for closer examination in order to identify it.

Calliphora vicina, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows (Norfolk, UK), 5th November 2021

Calliphora vicina, St Mary's churchyard, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 15th December 2021

A second individual, noticeably larger than the one above:

Calliphora vicina, St Mary's churchyard, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 15th December 2021

In this photo (technically a flight photo, although it was constrained in a glass pot) you can see the dark upper surface to the lower calypter - also shown in the close up in the next photo - which helps narrow down the options within the genus Calliphora.

Calliphora vicina, St Mary's churchyard, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 15th December 2021 (same individual as above)

In the next two photos you can see the orange anterior thoracic spiracle and (if you squint) the pale basicosta, which are characteristic of vicina.

Calliphora vicina, St Mary's churchyard, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 15th December 2021 (same individual as above)