You get to fly around as an adult for just a couple of weeks, humans run around the house trying to batter you with the newspaper and everything in the natural world wants to eat you!
But the huge numbers which have emerged on the island over the last few weeks should ensure that plenty get to reproduce before their short adult lives are over. This is obviously important for the Crane-fly population but it also essential for our Chough, which eat the crane-fly larvae, commonly known as ‘Leatherjackets’. The larvae live just below the surface of the soil for most of the year, just within reach of a chough’s downturned bill.
Large numbers of Crows and Gulls have also been gathering to feast on ‘Daddy-Longlegs’ across Ramsey’s fields and passing migrants, like this Yellow Wagtail have also been cashing in. I put my moth trap out last night for it to be invaded by a writhing mass of Crane-flies, attracted to the light. Surprisingly, a couple of moths also managed to find a space on the egg boxes inside, in fact once I had ushered the Crane-flies out there were two new moth species for Ramsey hiding underneath!
Explosions of adult Crane-flies are fairly common here in the autumn and usually happen when a hot summer is followed by heavy rain showers and then a dry warm September. It’s really spectacular to see the sheer numbers rise in a cloud from the bracken, you can actually hear them taking flight.