If you see a tiny insect with unfeasibly long antennae in spring and summer it is likely to be a fairy longhorn moth. They may be tiny, but people notice them because they are so striking, and every year one or two people ask me what they are if we see them on a walk or an outing. It seems many people think they are flies as I have several times in the past been asked to identify 'these flies', even by experienced naturalists. The one in the photo is a female. The males have antennae that are half as long again.
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| Female Green Fairy Longhorn Moth Adela reaumurella (Fr. Adèle verdoyante). |
They often congregate in large numbers, with males flying around trees in the sun, and sitting waving their antennae back and forth.
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