Alderfly

When I got out of the car at Fishers Green this afternoon the air was thick with flying insects. Most were non-biting midges but there were quite a few others that I haven't been able to identify. I think some might have been stoneflies. My image is of an alderfly. The larvae of these flies are aquatic carnivores that live in the silt at the bottom of ponds and slow-flowing rivers. Adults emerge in early summer and live for only a few days in order to mate. Mating takes place at night and the females lay their eggs on overhanging vegetation. The larvae hatch and drop into the water where they develop over one to two years.


I called in to the Wildlife Discovery Centre to find out if nightingales had been heard. Not yet. I spent a pleasant time listening to a blackcap singing sotto voce from deep in a bush.