...than that of the crane fly? Alias daddy long legs (or as a small boy I once looked after called it, a "long legs daddy". I much prefer the long legs daddy, somehow).
Anyway, whatever you call them, they seem singularly pointless (I'm sure Adrian will disagree with me, but then he's an expert). This is going to be a bumper year for them apparently, and I've already evicted my first (although they don't usually arrive/emerge until October). Their young ("leather jackets". No. I don't know why, either) are unattractive in the extreme, and the adults just...well, they just dance about, distributing their limbs all over the place until they are pretty well legless. They don't appear to eat or sleep, but they do breed.
And they're doing it right now. Somewhere near you.
That's all.
They amuse me. I'm not an expert, Trevor tells me what they are.
ReplyDeleteAh. Trevor. I should have known.
DeleteWe have them decorating various spider webs about the place and they rise up in spindly clouds when I walk through the long grass. I have often wondered what the point of them is - but then when you think about it, what is the point of us? We seem to contribute nothing to the planet except to mess it up x
ReplyDelete"Spindly clouds". Brilliant! You should use that, Teresa.
DeleteActually I've noticed many more spiders this year. I used to love them, but since I heard that they have started to bite, I'm not so sure. The thought of legless daddies is quite amusing.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how often they run out of legs, Maggie. Unite often, I should imagine.
DeleteThey scare me with their weird and seemingly (?) erratic flight patterns. With a spider, I can pretty much guess where it is going to run, and I can catch it with my spider glass (used to be a normal drinking glass but is now reserved for that sole purpose) and a postcard, and chuck it out where it belongs.
ReplyDeleteBut with those flying things...! Their long legs make them look like spiders to me, and they FLY and are all over the place, suddenly changing direction as if they were coming straight at you!
Of course I know I am just being a daft bint and they are definitely NOT coming straight at me, but they still scare me. I can't sit down to read a book in peace when I know one is in the house, let alone settle down for sleep.
They are easy to catch in cupped hands, Meike. Then you can just tip them out to,do their thing outdoors.
DeleteThe dog is enjoying catching them in long grass. There was a huge one sitting on the side of the door I was about to enter this morning…..I had nothing to smack it with, so went through a different door! I hate them……I think it goes back to when I had long hair, and thought they might get tangled up in it round my face.
ReplyDeleteThey you may hate them, but don't smack them, Frances! Live and let live; even the long legs daddies.
DeleteYou are correct Frances in that the only thing a female crane fly does is mate and lay eggs because she pupates with them already inside her. Often they don't even bother eating. The males presumably are even more pointless. But the leatherjackets are, like so many insects to our eyes, wonderfully destructive. Not like us then!
ReplyDeleteActually, just like us. Mate. Lay eggs. That's life, Graham.
DeleteI saw a very long snake yesterday; now that DOES worry me.
ReplyDeleteNot at all the same, Cro. No legs, for a start.
DeleteI rather like them. They have their own kind of elegance. My daughters and husband scream when they see them and beg me to chase them outside, but they dance too wildly to be caught (the daddy long legs, that is).
ReplyDeleteI will never understand the purpose of anyone or anything, but I think we all deserve our own turn around the dance floor.
I find them easy to catch, Joanna.
DeleteI think they're cute.
ReplyDeleteCute? Hmmm. Not sure about that, Keith.
DeleteI quite like them, especially when they're harmless!
ReplyDeleteI don't mind them. And you're right. The adults seem pretty harmless.
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