You Can Tell It's Nearly October because....

Tottenham's dreams of Champions League football are over for another season and you have to shut the back door at sundown because of Craneflies.


















Craneflies are true flies with only one pair of wings (Diptera meaning ‘two winged’). In Britain, the size ranges from Peter Crouchlike monsters with a wing span over 7 cm to tiny species only 5 mm across. The big ones can look pretty scary but they can't actually sting and their main activities are in the evening and at night when they are attracted by the bright lights. They have a short life span that only lasts a week and in most cases each household will attract only one species.

If, like me, you've set your garden to attract wildlife then the end of September, just after the sun has gone down, is the time and place to see your own mini Battle of Britain as Bats swoop down across the rooftops and gardens to feed on Craneflies.

Some Cranefly are aquatic and once again this proves interesting as they settle down on the surface of the pond and get eaten by the toads.

There are about 350 species of Craneflies in the U.K divided into 6 families. And even though you probably aren't aware of them if you don't have a pond, the winter months are just as important for Craneflies because that is when Winter Gnats are the predominant variety.

So remember, before you reach for that newspaper or magazine to batter one of them to death they are part of the food chain.