That's What I Call a Cleg!

This little beauty was found on the tailgate of my car when I went to put my walking boots away. It was almost 3cm long and looked hungry. Apparently this is a giant horsefly, or as we call them in Scotland, a huge cleg. Thus far I have escaped being bitten by one of these buggers, although plenty of their little cousins have supped deeply on my blood.

Usually I use my iPhone for blipping, purely for convenience, but in this case I had my wee Canon IXUS to hand, and felt the macro would be just the ticket for capturing this nasty creature. As I was attempting to take a second shot it rose up with a noise like a Chinook taking off, causing me and my mate to jump backwards squealing like Kenneth Williams. Luckily it had spotted some large Americans stepping down from a tourbus nearby who offered much better pickings than our skinny Scottish frames.