Giant tachinid fly

Went down to the nearest beach again with the boys - this time armed with some spades from the holiday house. Had great fun pretending we were all ten again and made some huge sandcastles which we then watched being destroyed by the fast incoming tide. We dammed some of the rock pools and generally had fun mucking around on the beach.

We had a more concerted fossil hunt and found lots of devil's toenails (a kind of bivalve) and some pieces of ammonites. Fun to do this kind of beachcombing again.

On the way back up to the cliff top, I spotted this enormous fly on some hemp agrimony. I've never seen anything like this before. When I got home, I Googled it and I think it is Tachina grossa. It sounds like it has a fairly unpleasant life cycle! (Tachina grossa ).