Species of the month: September
Species: Crane Flies
During September look out for adult crane
flies; they will only be around for a few days in which time they
need to mate and the female will lay eggs.
The crane fly looks ill equipped for life,
with six fragile legs, no mouth parts as such and a habit of
bumbling around in a confused manner – but for a creature that will
spend most of the year underground as a larvae, it seems that a
more sophisticated design is just not required!
The larvae are known as leatherjackets, worm
like creatures which live mainly underground, feeding on the roots
of plants. Leather jackets can also live in water, but generally
like lawns.
For this reason they can be unpopular with
gardeners as they can damage roots, but they are an important
source of food for birds, particularly starlings and rooks.
Birds will also eat the adult crane fly and
spiders will feed on them too; their fine legs get easily caught in
spiders webs.
There are in fact many species of crane fly,
but they all have the same long legs and can be found around our
homes in September. The most common species is Tipula paludosa,
which likes modern farming methods (drained fields) and our
gardens. It is strongly attracted to light and around our electric
lights is where we will most often notice them!
The crane fly is one of several
invertebrates known as daddy long-legs, while the crane fly is a
six legged insect with translucent wings; the harvestman is related
to the spiders, with a tiny round body and eight similar long
spindly legs. There is also the daddy long-legs spider, which
has a longer body, but also has the long thin legs.
What else to look out for in September
Look out for swallows as they gather on overhead lines or on
reeds and tree tops in big flocks. This will be the adults
with this year’s young as they get set for their long migration
into Africa. By October most of these birds will have left
the UK. Swallows chatter to each other as they flock, have
iridescent blue backs and ruby red throats.