Spiralling...

It's been mild and dry, but I've spent most of today working at the computer. My main diversion was looking out of the window at the birds visiting the fat balls and a large swarm of winter gnats pirouetting and spiralling in the winter sunshine.

There are several different species of winter gnat. They are all superficially alike and resemble small crane flies. They are very common and do not bite or sting so they are entirely harmless. On mild sunny days gnats may be seen outside especially in the evenings when males gather in dancing swarms in shafts of winter sunshine. As dusk gathers, the light of the last rays of the setting sun may catch the swirling swarm in such a way as to generate the fleeting image in the air known as a ghost.

Capturing an image of them proved quite tricky. I wanted to try and show the pattern of their movement, so put the camera on a tripod and used a relatively low shutter speed. It was hard to get many individuals in a frame, so this is actually a composite of several images. I love their delicacy and the swirling shapes that the camera has revealed, which are not evident to the naked eye. These are the fairies that live at the bottom of my garden...