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Bugs at Chatsworth

BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
in Wildlife gardening
At the Chatsworth Flower Show on Wednesday I saw swarms of giant gnat-like creatures flying below the trees in the car park. Ugly looking spuds. Anyone know what they are?
Rutland, England

Posts

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Horse flies? ugg.
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    Thanks, Fire but no. More googling leads me to think they were mayflies. Zillions of them.
    Rutland, England
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Was there water nearby?
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    St Mark's flies might still be gathering at this time of year.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    Not those either, WE. These were more like mosquitoes on steroids. The trees were close to the R. Derwent so mayflies seem likely.
    Rutland, England
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    What time of day was it? If it was into evening they may have been July bugs (cock chafers). I was at a concert once when a swarm arrived and had the audience screaming & flapping around. The band stopped playing and ran for cover. I think a lot of people thought they were bees....
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    We saw them as we were leaving, about 4.00 pm. There were clouds of them below the trees in the disabled parking area. A couple got into the car with us and surfaced again about 20 minutes later so we ushered them out of the open window. They’ll have a long journey home! Without question they were mayflies, exactly as shown in the photo above but darker in colour.
    Rutland, England
  • Bright starBright star Posts: 1,153
    I went to Chatsworth last year and there were lots of Mayflies that time too.
    Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

  • Papi JoPapi Jo Posts: 4,254
    Lovely critters, those May flies. One of my favourite subjects when I used to take lots of macro photos. Here's a little example.
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