Invasion of the daddy long-legs!

Sep 16 2005 By Catherine Lillington

MIDLANDERS are all a-flutter over an invasion of daddy long-legs.

Their lanky limbs make them easy to spot as they fly towards lightbulbs and television screens in homes everywhere.

Gary Denning, a Birmingham office worker, said he has spent the past two weeks shooing the bugs - also known as crane flies - out of 11-year-old daughter Beth's bedroom.

"Beth is scared to death of these things," said Gary, aged 43, of Stonnall, near Lichfield. "She's not scared of anything else like spiders or flies. I tell her they won't hurt her because all they want to do is get to the light. But she's still petrified!"

"If you open the window and the light's on they just seem to come flooding in."

Dr Kevin Moffat, an expert in insect behaviour at the University of Warwick, said: "This is peak daddy long-legs season when they hatch into adults.

"They don't feed and they don't bite. What they're doing at the moment is mating and laying eggs."

Steven Falk, senior keeper of natural history at Warwickshire Museum, said: "We always get a flush of crane flies this time of year.

"But they're totally harmless and the adult life span of a crane fly is probably only a few days.

"Each female may lay several hundred eggs from June onwards and these take a fortnight to hatch. These feed through autumn, winter and spring as leatherjackets - or larvae. The insects don't feed as adults, surviving on what they've already stored."