The first is a Flesh Fly: (Sarcophaga bercaea)
Easily recognised by the large red eyes, the stripes on the thorax and the checked abdomen. They do not lay eggs but carry them until they hatch. The larvae then burrow into food material.
The second appears to be a Root-Maggot Fly . (Anthomyiidae)
Both photos are somewhat reduced in sharpness as they were processed twice. First using the Redynamix plugin in PaintShop Pro. Then they were transferred to the iPad to convert to greyscale and colour pop the flies using the ColorSplash app.
Why colour pop? This is a small crop from the photo as taken. I feel that the bright colour of the plastic barrel detracts from the subject.
Goldfinches:
Now the breeding season is over the Goldfinches are back to moving around in flocks. Yesterday teatime the Birdy Bistro was invaded by upwards of forty all trying to feed at the same time. One noticeable fact is the number of youngsters. I would estimate that at least half were this years juveniles which is great and should help to improve their numbers in the area.
A pair of beautiful flies. It is always a problem saving JPEG files multiple times. Will the app accept Tiff? if you have a magic wand type selection tool set to a tolerance of about thirty it would select the blue barrel. A one click job and then another click to convert to B&W. A quick sharpen and the job is done. Probably as quick as using the app.Goldfinch have done well this year but Robins seem scarce.
ReplyDeleteThat certainly makes flies look interesting John. I like the finished results.
ReplyDeleteGoldfinches here, and most other birds, seem to have had a good breeding year.
Adrian. The photos were taken with the Lumix - jpg only. Not sure whether the iPad recognises tiff. The app is lightning fast and I don't have to think!
ReplyDeleteIt does seem to have been a good year for Goldies. Not seen a Robin in the garden for months.
Keith: There are times when it helps just to have colour on the subject of a photo.
ReplyDeleteAt last I have seen a few young Greenfinches and Dunnocks along with scores of Goldies and Sparrers. As I wrote to Adrian, I haven't seen a Robin anywhere in the village for ages. There were lots about in the Spring.