Thursday 24 September
Just a couple of days after the Autumn equinox and the weather has turned. On Sunday I spent a few hours in the hot sunshine getting a bronzed face and head in the process. Today the sky was thick with showery rain with allday precipitation.
Only crows and rooks on my drive to work. They seem to be unphased by the soggy conditions. In fact, they seem to revel in it. Gathering together in ever increasing numbers, their packs multiply on roughly ploughed ground. Worms aplenty but they’ll eat almost anything.
Eating dinner this evening I was dive bombed by a crane fly. There are loads of them around indoors.
I am aghast of the awe and wonder of nature. We all are, right? The variety, the resilience, the near perfection of every species and it’s remarkable inter-dependence and interaction with others.
Then there’s the Crane fly. This gangly insect seems to be so badly designed it looks like a creature made up from left over parts once every other insect was ‘made’.
The legs and antenna appear too long, the wings seriously inefficient. They are too loud with their ridiculous dull buzzing hum; interspersed with clangs and pings as they bump into light shades, bulbs and windows.
Their common names are well-known. The larvae, or ‘Leatherjackets’, feed on the shallow fibrous roots of plants often seriously damaging crops. Farmers and gardeners are not fans. The fly form is called ‘Daddy-long-legs’ but must not be confused with the spider of the same name.
A common myth is that they are the most poisonous insect of all but cannot use their venom due to lack of sting or mouthparts. They actually contain no venom. Another is that they live for one day and must mate on that day. They actually live for a couple of weeks but do attempt to reproduce as soon as they emerge from the pupa. They tend not to eat but may drink nectar from flowers.
What a beautiful, wonderful mess.
The Bald Birder 