WINTER GNATS

Sitting in the warm sun on one of those cold, crisp mornings recently I became aware of lots of little flies drifting about apparently aimlessly.  They were like tiny golden fairies, lit by the sun behind them,  but unfortunately I was unable to catch this phenomenon on camera.

Some of them gathered in small clouds, dancing up and down.  What could be happening?

Photo: University of Wisconsin

Well a bit of research showed me that these were Winter Gnats.  They are pretty well the only insects that brave the winter cold.  They are closely related to crane flies but much much smaller, between 5 and 10mm long.

The dancing clouds are apparently males showing off to passing females in the hope of a mating partner.

Here is a male.  You can see the two claspers at the end of his body, which are to help hang on to a mate when he finds one.  The scale on the right is millimetres.

 

And below is a female with a pointed ovipositor at her tail end, with which she would have laid her eggs in rotting vegetation, the ideal home and diet for the larvae.  Both photos are of dead insects and as they are so small and delicate some of the six legs are missing.

Two photos: Erica McAllister for BBC Wildlife Magazine

I compiled this yesterday morning and then there was a brief bit on the last ten minutes of Winterwatch last night, which showed them beautifully so do check it out.

BBC Wildlife Magazine had this picture of the little guys highlit by sunlight.

So ethereal