Crane Fly – Tipula maxima: This is the largest of the British Crane flies. It has a leg span of 100mm, i.e. 4 inches and it has quite distinctive, heavily patterned wings.

As with several other crane flies, dragonflies, midges and mosquitos it’s development cycle includes an aquatic phase. The female lays her eggs in the damp mossy fringes of ponds, ditches and streams. On hatching, the larvae take to an aquatic existence just below the water surface, before continuing their development in submerged leaf litter.

The female abdomen has a sharply pointed tip that looks much like a fountain pen nib. It uses this tip to push its eggs into the ground.