Yesterday, UK photographer Paul Bunyard (@wildaboutimages) ran into a massive mating swarm of chironomid midges (family Chironomidae) while travelling through the Norfolk countryside, and shared some amazing images on Twitter (reproduced here with his permission).
Photo copyright Paul Bunyard & reproduced with his permission
A simple association for this Tuesday’s tune, and a reminder that flies are pretty ubiquitous, and can be found all around you! Take for example, this midge (Chironomidae: Chironominae) resting on a leaf at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ontario:
I visited the gardens with other things in mind, but seeing this large midge just hanging out, I couldn’t resist a shot or two!
Short and sweet this week, but stay tuned later this week as I hope to get back to a more frequent blogging schedule!
This song is available on iTunes – All Around Me – Flyleaf
P.S. – Midges are a pain to identify, especially from photos! If anyone has tips on their identification or a further guess on what genus this might be, I’d love to hear about it!