Is it just Crawley which is plagued by these things at the moment, or is it nationwide?
They are not scary like spiders, potentially painful like wasps, or disgusting like flies – just annoying. They keep fluttering around skittishly, flapping into your face. It is like being inundated by very, very fragile moths.
Jo // Sep 18, 2006 at 9:41 am
Due to the BBC search facility being quite so rubbish I can’t provide a link, but I’m sure there was a report recently about this autumn seeing more spiders and daddy long-legs than usual…
Andrew // Sep 18, 2006 at 10:32 am
*Millions* of them. They invaded my dance class last week. I like Ricky Gervais’ take on them.
Skuds // Sep 18, 2006 at 11:37 am
Jo, the Guardian had a little bit in G2 last week about spiders, which mentioned the daddy long-legs. It said they are good because they eat spiders…
I find that hard to believe. We have spiders which could wrestle a mouse into submission and I can’t see a daddy long-legs (the Peter Crouch of the insect world) taking them on!
Danivon // Sep 18, 2006 at 8:02 pm
I saw a spider eating a daddy long legs yesterday. It had a problem with the legs, but otherwise didn’t seem threatened at all.
I think that the Graun got caught up because I remember seeing a letter about daddy-long-legs/crane flys where some (american) correspondant called them ‘Harvestmen’. Now, a harvestman might be a crane fly in the States, but over here it’s a kick ass spider-like thing that eats spiders and pretty much anything smaller.
Skuds // Sep 19, 2006 at 1:38 am
It really is nature red in tooth and claw down in Southgate isn’t it? 🙂
I liked the Gervais clip – one of my favourite bits of the Animals show.