Busting myths about the daddy long legs

Iwrote last week about a crane I had seen on the Isle of Sheppey and I thought I would carry on the theme and talk about daddy long legs or craneflies.

I was walking through the long grass and saltmarsh on the Isle of Sheppey and there were hundreds of them flying out in front of me crashing into the grass and sedges. They do seem to hold on into the autumn and be more noticeable to the public as we move through September and into October.

We all feel sorry for daddy long legs as they seem to be very clumsy, bashing into things with their six dangling legs. Scientists are not sure why they have such very long legs – maybe for egg laying or to distract possible predators as they grab them – who knows.

Unfortunately, we find them in the house, frazzled in the lightshade, or drowned in the bath or toilet or curled up on the windowsill. A couple of country myth busters need to be dismissed. Daddy long legs can’t bite you, they don’t have fangs and are non toxic and can’t harm us in any way.

Daddy long legs are not all male – another name for them in the past was granny nobble knees.

The daddy long legs itself is in a group of around 90 species of craneflies in the UK and a large proportion of them need to lay their eggs in moist, soft ground, or mud to me and you, and the grubs or larvae which hatch are called leatherjackets.

For more information contact Owen Leyshon, Romney Marsh Countryside Partnership, telephone 01797 367934 or log on to www.rmcp.co.uk