Do Insects Get Drunk?

On my walk yesterday evening, I came across this greenbottle fly feeding on a decaying blackberry.  It seemed to be completely engrossed in what it was doing, so much so, that it didn't fly off when I turned the branch so I could photograph it from different angles. It did move a little, but it kept its head down and continued feeding.

Then, a little further on I came across this ladybird with its head inside a decaying blackberry.  Like the greenbottle fly, the ladybird seemed to be ignoring everything else and just concentrating on feeding.

After having spent most of the walk carefully creeping up on insects only to have them take fright and fly off just as I got within macro photo range, the behaviour of these two insects seemed very odd.  I can only assume that they had been made careless by alcohol fermented in these decaying berries.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-08-31.