Swarms of flying black things-surrey

[Giveitago]

Please, what are the thousands of fly things that are black, fly with vetical bodies with dangling legs. They stay close to the vegetation and dont seem to want to bite me or the animals.

Are they eating other insects? How long will they stay for?

Many thanks

[Jason Green]

Afternoon GIAG, and welcome to WAB!

They could be St. Mark's Flies, the males tend to aggregate in groups around a female and tend to dangle their legs.

Do you have a photograph of them at all? There are of course other possibilities.

Take care,

Jason

[Giveitago]

Many thanks Jason.

I have a very old countryside book and had thought maybe the st marks. However,i am good at distinguishing a pig from a sheep, flies are not my forte. I will try and get a piccy but photography is not my forte either.

They dont seem to be around a particular object, they seem to stay within about 10 feet of the shubbery, possibly as the sun is too warm. They are about half inch in total and hover around but rather than horizontal, they seem to dangle in the air.

They all turned up 3 days ago.

[Giveitago]

I found a dead one which has enabled me to look it up on the natural history site and yes, it would seem like a St marks fly.

Many thanks for your help. Perhaps next time it will be something abit more exciting!