Flying Crane

Not really. Putting the words in the correct order: Crane fly. Most Craneflies rest with their single pair of wings spread but a few of the UK varieties rest with the wings over the body. This one was on the outside of the kitchen window giving the opportunity to observe it from underneath:



The wings give the insect lift and in place of a second pair are a pair of halteres (balancers). One can be seen just below the middle leg on the left of the photo. They work like gyroscopes keeping the fly in balanced flight. This one could be a male Tipula pagana.

At closer range they look to me like some weird alien creature from a Doctor Who story:



Fortunately they are quite harmless as they do not bite or sting. In fact at the adult stage they do not even eat. It can be a nuisance having them indoors, especially at night. Like moths they are attracted to light and will spend hours head butting lamp shades and light fittings.

Unfortunately it was a dull day. I had to wind up the ISO to 2000 to take hand held close shots. Not easy holding the camera anywhere near steady as I had to stretch over the kitchen sink to get the camera close enough. I couldn't use the ring light as the reflection from the double glazing would have wiped out the photos. I just took lots of shots. Binned about 50% then put the best of the rest in Zerene Stacker which did a remarkable job of lining them up and picking out the best bits from each photo.