Daddy - What Long Legs You Have

Crane Fly AKA Daddy-long-legs

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.

Daddy Long-legs

Spotted this Crane Fly outside a window this morning:



An aptly named Daddy Long-legs. This must be one of the largest I've seen at a good 60mm across.

Crane Fly on the Kitchen Window

Spotted a Crane Fly on the outside of the kitchen window. Grabbed the 50D with 70-200 zoom lens + Raynox DCR-250 macro conversion lens to photograph the insect from inside. I only used ambient light which was failing rapidly as flash would just have reflected back from the glass.

Balancing my hand and the lens on a Honeydew melon which brought me to just the right height I took a few shots. The final three I then process in Zerene Stacker and spent a while in Serif Affinity Photo beta to take out about a hundred blemishes from dust on the window which were littering the background:



This is the uncropped view which isn't too bad for hand held without extra lighting and at 7 p.m.. The out of focus green of the lawn made quite a good background.

Invasion

Many will have noticed the emergence of Crane Flies (Daddy Long-legs). This year they are particularly numerous. There are scores of them hunting round the nettles on the edge of the cricket field. They are harmless to humans and pets though they can be a nuisance when they come indoors. Fortunately for us they only live about two weeks, just long enough to mate and lay eggs but are a good supply of food for many birds.

This one was resting on my kitchen window:



They have one pair of wings. Instead of the second pair they have a pair of halteres or rocker arms just behind the wings which vibrate and help to maintain balance when flying. They are the two club shaped bits with round 'weights' on the end:



As I opened the back door yesterday this green Shield Bug fell on the floor:



Photos taken with the Nikon Coolpix S9050

Crane Fly

Very little of note going on here recently. Not as many birds visiting as I would have expected once the temperature had dropped though there are plenty of sparrows and a group of Goldfinches visiting every day. On top of that the light levels have been abysmal with all the heavy cloud cover.

This morning there was a Crane Fly, Daddy Longlegs, on the outside of the kitchen window which gave me my first photo opportunity for several days.





Taken with the Lumix TZ7 lens touching the inside glass of the double glazed window.

A Wednesday of Wings

It's that time of year when the air is busy with insects. Some times too many for comfort. Sunday was a good day for lazing in the garden but that idea didn't last very long as everything was soon covered by an invasion of greenfly and those tiny thunder flies. At least one spider must have been happy when its web filled up with breakfast, lunch and dinner for days ahead.



There is a bush growing just over the fence though most of it seems to be my side. Over the past week it has been a constant attraction for scores of bumble bees.



It is also the start of the Crane Fly season here. They often stay in the same place on a window for hours on end. (That is not a sting but a back leg in line with its body)



Finally it is also the damselfly season on my garden pond. There have been several males and a few female Bluetailed Damselflies.

Let Me In

A Crane Fly - Daddy Long Legs - waited patiently on the outside of the front door giving plenty of time to set up the 350D with bellows to catch a series of shots of its underside. Nine photos of varying focus points were processed by CombineZP to make one stacked picture.



There are quite a few Crane Flies appearing at the moment, later in the year than I normally see them though different types do appear at different times of the year.

Visitors to the Garden Pond

I have been waiting quite a while to see the return of a Broad Bodied Chaser to the garden. I didn't see any last summer or the summer before that but one had visited two and three years ago. Finally I spotted one yesterday.



It flew around the garden a few times and only landed twice so I was lucky to get a few hurried shots and a short piece of video.

I am very sure that Blue-tailed Damselflies have been breeding in the pond for a while as the numbers seen are gradually increasing year by year. This year I can normally see six flitting about amongst the reeds. This is the first time I have spotted them mating.



Various insects come to the pond to drink, flies, wasps and the occasional visit from a Tiger Crane Fly. Their numbers have increased this year as their yellow ochre colouring can often be spotted flying about various areas of the village.



Filming was difficult as the sunlight was so strong bright colours became washed out and there was a stiff gusty breeze.



Today has started out dull and wet. The garden desperately needs a decent amount of rain though so far today we have only had one hundreth of an inch. The last rainfall was one tenth of an inch on the 29th June.

Tiger Crane Fly

This crane fly was on the outside of my kitchen window for hours. From the inside it appeared to be one of the usual drab varieties. It wasn't until I looked at the photo taken from outside that I noticed the yellow and black stripes.





As there are over 4000 different types of crane fly it took a while to be certain of the identification:
Crane-fly Nephrotoma flavescens
which is commonly found in gardens though I have never really noticed this type before now. I was surprised it stayed put when I held the TZ7 really close to get a decent shot, as can be seen by the reflection of the camera in the outside photo.

Friday at the Flicks (Crane Fly, House Sparrows, Starling Fledgelings)

The Crane Fly - Tipula lateralis -  busy apparently laying its eggs in the floating pond plants in my garden pond.



While I was filming the Crane Fly at one end of the pond a couple of House Sparrows landed on the waterfall at the other end and fortunately didn't notice as I turned the camcorder in their direction.



At the beginning of the week, when these were filmed, there were two or three fledgeling Starlings visiting to be fed.



Early this morning there were at least 15 youngsters all clamouring to be fed. It was interesting to note that they tended to stay in groups of three or four which were presumably family groups.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you. You never know what will turn up next.

Crane Fly, Sparrow Nestbox

I was puzzled yesterday when I saw what appeared to be a Crane Fly dipping its abdomen in the pond. Up till then I had assumed all crane flies laid their eggs in soil. On searching the internet I found that the Crane Fly Tipula lateralis likes marshy waterside environments. Most of the time it seemed to be laying its eggs in the oxygenating plants on the surface of the pond.



Maybe with the lack of rain recently this was the nearest it could find to the correct environment.


I have often looked at a nestbox positioned on a telephone pole not far from home. It looks like a standard Bluetit / Great Tit box so I was quite surprised when I saw a House Sparrow busily fetching seeds to feed the youngsters inside. It didn't go in the box but just fed its brood through the hole.

From MIDMARSH JOTTINGS

 The Crane Fly was taken with the 50D+400mm and the Sparrow with the Lumix TZ7