Why everyone’s talking about... Daddy longlegs

THERE seem to be more daddy longlegs around than ever at the moment… is that true?

Hard to say. This time every year about 200billion of the insects, officially called crane flies, emerge in the UK (about 3,000 for every man, woman and child) – all in search of a mate. The adults come from larvae – called leatherjackets – which develop in the soil. Some experts say the cool, damp spring offered the perfect conditions for them to thrive. Entomologist Christopher Terrell-Nield says he’s seen ‘more crane flies buzzing around than usual’. While Matt Shardlow of the Buglife charity says numbers have picked up since August but with big regional differences. And he says reports of an ‘invasion’ of the insects are just ‘anti-crane fly propaganda catalysed by pest control companies’.

So they are pests?

They are certainly unpopular with gardeners because leatherjackets eat roots, leaving bare patches of lawn. And they are the nemesis of golf course groundskeepers, especially since 2016 when chlorpyrifos, the chemical used to kill them, was banned. However, the larvae contribute to the ecosystem by helping break down decaying matter. And adults don’t eat crops as they are so focused on finding a mate in their two-week lifespan.

Aren’t they poisonous?

No, that’s an urban myth, possibly coming from confusion with spiders dubbed ‘daddy longlegs’ elsewhere in the world. (No one really knows how or when the nickname took off here). Some people do think crane flies are a bit creepy, however, as their six spindly, twoinch legs drop off easily – they are often shed under stress.

Are they all one species?

There are about 300 species of UK crane fly, but telling them apart is nearly impossible without a microscope and specialist knowledge. In China, some species have a leg-span of up to 10in. And in 2016, a British entomologist was sent to St Helena in the South Atlantic to investigate a species thought extinct as it hadn’t been seen in 45 years. Her hunt was brief – one flew through a car window and landed on her hand.