The Bluebottle is a large buzzing fly
with shiny, metallic blue body, 6-12mm long.
One Bluebottle can lay up to 600 eggs, which
in warm weather will hatch in under 48 hours
and produce maggots which can become fully
developed in a week. These maggots burrow
into meat or carrion as they feed on it,
and then pupate, often in loose soil, for
about ten days before emerging as adult
flies from the brown pupal case. Bluebottles,
like other flies, are often found around
refuse tips, rotting animal matter dirt
and dustbins. They commute from filth to
food, and carry bacteria on their legs,
feet and bodies.
