Tuesday 22 June 2010

"Tipula Maxima" !

"Large Crane Fly" to you and me. The largest of the British crane flies. Found in our larger greenhouse this afternoon. He looks really enormous and I don't like the look of that sharp point at the end of his tail!

The larvae are laid in damp mossy ditches (which we have in the garden). This is a 'better' crane fly than the more common one which hatches from 'leather jackets' which attack the root system of grasses and annoy us gardeners and farmers. So all in all, inspite of its terrifying look it is a good thing to have in the garden!

3 comments:

Perranlady said...

Hi, Love the photos, haven't seen any Crane Flies yet - not keen, be they large or small. Well remember one holiday on St Agnes when we left a bedroom window open and found the room full of them Ugh! Sue

Anonymous said...

They are all over the place here at present. Especially in this particular greenhouse for some reason. I keep well away from them!

foreveryoung said...

Even worse than the crane flies are the slugs! Took a 'bucketful' off our potatoes last night. HOW do you stop them environmentally? Ann