Legs Twelve

This pair of Spotted Craneflies Nephrotoma appendiculata was snapped by Simon as they mated on our back fence. The larvae resulting from such a union live in the soil and can be a garden pest, especially in areas of cultivation.

However, these 'leatherjackets', as the larvae are known, dessicate very easily, and are likely to do poorly this year, since it is so dry (at least, so far). The newspaper headline the other day translated as 'Touraine fears a record drought already', because we had less than a quarter of our average rainfall in March and no rain at all so far in April. Since these should both be quite wet months, gardeners, farmers and wild fauna and flora could be in for a very difficult time of it.

Susan