2023
TQ2081 : Green bottle fly on Rudbeckia with pollen
taken 1 year ago, near to Acton, Ealing, England

Green bottle fly on Rudbeckia with pollen
This Rudbeckia is a perennial black-eyed Susan, this one is 1.8 metres tall. Labelled in a collection as "Little Henry" but probably the "Prairie Gold" also in the collection. University of Maryland Home and Garden Information Center has a good account of their pollen Link
"Black-eyed Susans are easy to grow and will attract many pollinators to your garden. The dark centre or eye of the flower head holds 250 to 500 individual flowers, and to pollinators, each one of these is a shallow nectar cup. These are shallow enough that even small wasps and flies can drink from them, and many small wasps and flies are predators or parasitoids of pest insects. These tiny, dark flowers bloom from the outer rim of the eye and progress inwards with time. It’s a buffet that attracts a wide variety of small to medium-sized pollinators, including many species of insects beneficial for pest control."
In this photo a green bottle fly (Lucilia sericata) is eating the bright yellow pollen. Each yellow dot in a ring is the pollen of an individual dark flower.

In this photo a green bottle fly (Lucilia sericata) is eating the bright yellow pollen. Each yellow dot in a ring is the pollen of an individual dark flower.