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| 1 | 2 |  » Stats |
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15-03-2011, 01:21 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Harpenden, Herts
Posts: 2,117
| | | Insect clouds
These 'clouds' were tumbling off a tree near me this morning, I've never seen anything like it, they broke up into clouds of some sort of insect and re-grouped back near the tree. After 10 minutes it was all over.
Not sure what type of tree it was, any suggestions welcome.
Robin    |
15-03-2011, 01:25 PM
|  | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Near Peterborough
Posts: 7,106
| | | Re: Insect clouds
Wow fantastic, I saw something similar a couple of years ago but it was later in the summer so I'm not sure what this could be... Is it too early for St Mark's fly?
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15-03-2011, 01:44 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,658
| | | Re: Insect clouds
Hazarding a guess, fairy flies, which are actually beetles and lead perfectly respectable sex lives. Smallest known insect, 0.2mm long
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15-03-2011, 03:02 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Lincoln
Posts: 4,826
| | | Re: Insect clouds
Quote:
Originally Posted by STYRBJORN  Hazarding a guess, fairy flies, which are actually beetles and lead perfectly respectable sex lives. Smallest known insect, 0.2mm long | Fairyflies are wasps.  Fairyfly - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I can't imagine so many of those being in a swarm, but I don't know what would swarm like that anyway.
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15-03-2011, 03:09 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Lincoln
Posts: 4,826
| | | Re: Insect clouds
So I googled... 
And found ants swarm in huge clouds for one day when males mate with queens, but this usually happens later. However, there is a newspaper article saying there were reports since March but I'm not sure if it was ants in March even though it says the reports were ant related.. Soaring temperatures triggers explosion in flying ants as mating season starts early | Mail Online
One more suggestion is honey bees! They do swarm if looking for a new nesting location with a queen, I have seen them since February 16th this year.
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Last edited by JRsbugs; 15-03-2011 at 03:14 PM.
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15-03-2011, 03:14 PM
|  | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: North Yorkshire
Posts: 10,729
| | | Re: Insect clouds
Would'nt something like Trichocerid midges be more likely? |
15-03-2011, 03:16 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Lincoln
Posts: 4,826
| | | Re: Insect clouds
They really look too big for Trichoceridae, although at a distance that might be difficult to say.
See my edit on my last post suggesting honey bees.
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15-03-2011, 03:24 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: n.e.somerset
Posts: 3,219
| | | Re: Insect clouds
Ive seen bees flying up to the tops of tree just before dusk.All just hovering the Sycamore tops.Then settling down for the night.Popular haunt for the bats.
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15-03-2011, 03:44 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 301
| | | Re: Insect clouds
These are most likely to be swarms of Midges (Diptera, Chironomidae). Males form these groups to attract females. Its possible to hear the high pitched sound if you are near enough. Recently on tv I saw film of these types of fly swarming in vast numbers over lakes in Africa, looking like smoke. Our swarms are, of course, considerably smaller! |
15-03-2011, 04:00 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Lincoln
Posts: 4,826
| | | Re: Insect clouds
Chironomids seems to be a reasonable suggestion, whatever they are there's a lot of them! Is there water nearby? Midge (Chironomidae)
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