Joe/Sue: What's this one? It's been in the same place on one of my foxgloves for 3 days. If it's still there tomorrow I'm tempted to poke it in case it has 'ceased to be'.
Hi, that looks like a Crane Fly, (Daddy Long Legs) quite short lived so may well have expired. They live just long enough to lay their eggs in the soil so their grubs can eat the roots of your lawn etc .
I don't like them , but the blackbirds and woodpeckers come searching for them so they don't seem to cause me a problem . However, if I find one when I'm digging and I'm sure of my identification I squidge it and put it with the bird feeders.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi Dovefromabove. Yes, I thought it was Cranefly - very attractive. Wouldn't be surprised if the lawn isn't full of their grubs. I've had to re-sow it every Spring the last 3 years and whilst I'm sure the main problem is compaction and drainage problems, there seems to be no shortage of blighters eating away underground. I've hoe'd everywhere today and done some in-between digging to get some air at the soil after so much prolonged rain. Was great to have some breezes and sunny spells.
The birds in this garden don't seem to really go for nasties in this garden. They don't even seem interested in the slugs and snails, of which there are plenty at the moment. Whenever I've put a handfull of nasties around the feeders, they just ignore them - live or not. On saying that, a lot of birds have not been around this summer.
Posts
Joe/Sue: What's this one? It's been in the same place on one of my foxgloves for 3 days. If it's still there tomorrow I'm tempted to poke it in case it has 'ceased to be'.
Hi, that looks like a Crane Fly, (Daddy Long Legs) quite short lived so may well have expired. They live just long enough to lay their eggs in the soil so their grubs can eat the roots of your lawn etc .
I don't like them
, but the blackbirds and woodpeckers come searching for them so they don't seem to cause me a problem
. However, if I find one when I'm digging and I'm sure of my identification I squidge it and put it with the bird feeders.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi Dovefromabove. Yes, I thought it was Cranefly - very attractive. Wouldn't be surprised if the lawn isn't full of their grubs. I've had to re-sow it every Spring the last 3 years and whilst I'm sure the main problem is compaction and drainage problems, there seems to be no shortage of blighters eating away underground. I've hoe'd everywhere today and done some in-between digging to get some air at the soil after so much prolonged rain. Was great to have some breezes and sunny spells.
The birds in this garden don't seem to really go for nasties in this garden. They don't even seem interested in the slugs and snails, of which there are plenty at the moment. Whenever I've put a handfull of nasties around the feeders, they just ignore them - live or not. On saying that, a lot of birds have not been around this summer.