![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/01\/winter-gnats-swarm-David-Chapman_cmyk_preview-1024x683.jpg\")
YOU MIGHT THINK NO INSECTS ARE around in February, but you\u2019d be wrong. Spend any time near a compost heap or damp woodland with plenty of soggy leaves and you may notice swarms of little flies dancing jerkily up and down in the air, as if on invisible strings. They\u2019re easiest to see against the light, when their long legs and delicate wings turn gold in the weak winter sunshine. These are winter gnats, also called winter craneflies. The larvae feed on decaying matter, hence the association with compost and mouldering vegetation. <\/p>\n\n
As with many fly swarms, the midair dance parties are to do with breeding (the same is true of mayflies, which aren\u2019t true flies). The dancers are usually males, competing for mates, and while their puppeton-a-string movements appear graceful, the swarm can be fairly frenetic. Take some time this winter to appreciate their brief moment in the spotlight.<\/p>\n\n
BH <\/strong><\/p>\n\n Take a moment to enjoy winter craneflies bobbing on invisible strings <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":23411,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"17","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"17","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_17-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_17-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"February-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"February-2023","purple_external_id":"February-2023-17-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"February-2023-17-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000087240||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000087240||","purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.500","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.500","purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.500","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.500","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"58d61955-0ac4-406c-83f1-ab6f21d86b70","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-01-12T09:15:49Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"be69666f-c2e2-4f11-b769-1cecd9490554","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-01-12T09:21:01Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Avmlmb8LiTxG3aRzs2UkFVA","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[25],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/52234e55-29ae-45e2-9a28-c6a72cd44c15.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"< 1","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/52234e55-29ae-45e2-9a28-c6a72cd44c15.jpg",1591,1692,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/52234e55-29ae-45e2-9a28-c6a72cd44c15-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/52234e55-29ae-45e2-9a28-c6a72cd44c15-282x300.jpg",282,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/52234e55-29ae-45e2-9a28-c6a72cd44c15-768x817.jpg",768,817,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/52234e55-29ae-45e2-9a28-c6a72cd44c15-963x1024.jpg",800,851,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/52234e55-29ae-45e2-9a28-c6a72cd44c15-1444x1536.jpg",1444,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/52234e55-29ae-45e2-9a28-c6a72cd44c15.jpg",1591,1692,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Take a moment to enjoy winter craneflies bobbing on invisible strings","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23412"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23412"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24117,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23412\/revisions\/24117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}