Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Aliens poking through my lawn!

Hilary_15Hilary_15 Posts: 83
in Problem solving
Hi
Can anybody tell me what these weird things are (hundreds of them) poking through my lawn. They look a little like a crane fly which isn’t fully developed. Is something happening underneath the grass which is likely to ruin my lawn?
«1

Posts

  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    edited September 2020
    You’re right about crane flies. There’s a photo here

    https://aroundtheyard.com/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=9864

    RHS advice here

    https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=651


    And Gardening Which advice here

    https://gardening.which.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/115000185985-Leatherjackets


    Rutland, England
  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831
    Had our first Daddy Long Legs in a very long time in the house last night.  I absolutely hate them, following a few traumatic incidents when I was a kid.  Funny how that remnant of fear from 50 or so years ago can just switch on like a light when certain things trigger it.  Moths do the same for me, unless they are really small.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I hate the stuck together ones the most. Get a room somewhere else!!
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I made my porridge this morning and lifted a spoonful, then noticed a leg and the body of a crane fly.... not a good start to the day, and had to re-make my brekkie!
    There are several around the house - and apart from food for other creatures (inc my dog) I'm amazed that something so ungainly and lumbering has managed to survive for so long.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    I wonder if that was what was eating my young cabbages late July. When pulled up, they had been eaten from the root up - only some not all. Selective insects!
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    They're like the alien emerging from John Hurt's stomach. Hopefully the birds might get plenty of them too.  :)
     
    You soft blokes @Pete.8 and @KeenOnGreen...I don't know... :D
    Nice bit of protein in the brekkie Pete.  ;)
    I do have sympathy @KeenOnGreen. I had a real problem with moths due to childhood. A leather armchair in my bedroom was 'home' to regular families, and my mum would never open windows. The forum has helped me enormously with it though, to the point where I study any quite closely when I see them. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    There's a time and a place for protein @Fairygirl and it's not at breakfast time and in my porridge bowl! 🤣


    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    "Is something happening underneath the grass which is likely to ruin my lawn?"

    Leatherjacket (larvae) do live in lawns and do cause problems.
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    I love crane flies!  So graceful in flight.  I look forward to seeing them every autumn.  Hard to believe something so ethereal develops from such a fat ugly blob of a larva.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    They don't look graceful to me. They hover about like flying spiders looking for a chance to get tangled up in your hair. At least proper spiders scuttle away or stay still😟
    In London. Keen but lazy.
Sign In or Register to comment.