Crunchy Snack

If I was fortunate enough to be playing cricket at Lord's in 1935 I would be batting on a wicket facing unaccustomed spin for that ground!! This was the result of huge numbers's of leatherjackets, the larvae of the Crane fly burrowing into the grass, destroying the roots and leaving bald patches on the wicket! The ground staff collected 1000's and burned them!

These insects are everywhere you go at the moment but rarely do we look at them closely, unlike Charles Paul Alexander who really should have got a life having described 75% of 4,250 species!

They have a long snout, antennae and compound eyes and what I find interesting is that the hind wings have been modified into 2 tiny knobbed structures called halteres which act as gyroscopes. You can just see 1 of these in the photograph on it's back!

My chickens just adore these as crunchy snacks and trot from one to another of them on the lawn! My very own pest control managers!