Bug’s Life

Our guide to British invertebrates

Known collectively as hippoboscidae, this family of winged and wingless insects thrives as a parasite of both birds and animals. The brown, flattened blood-sucking critters have six sturdy legs and are often mistaken for ticks, which have eight legs. However, keds move a lot quicker than ticks, they don’t burrow into the skin and they’re very hard to crush. Often found on birds of prey, they can carry blood-borne parasites between one bird and another.

Simon Lester