Reason daddy long legs are appearing in homes - and why they are nothing to worry about
As the kids return to school and the weather changes, gardens across the UK are becoming a hub for emerging tiny creatures, with many likely to appear on bathroom walls. September marks the season when daddy long legs, or crane flies, begin to hatch.
These insects, often mistaken for spiders, have spent much of their lives underground as grubs before hatching in the summer. Karl Curtis from Warwickshire Wildlife Trust explained to Coventry Live: "They are out this time of year because basically, they are hatching out of our lawns and various places – they live a lot of their lives underground as a grub, as a larva, and then what they do is they hatch out over the summer."
He added, "Probably now is the last throw of the dice, and what they do is they come out and looking to mate, lay eggs back into vegetation and then they die off. They often get confused with spiders but they're not, they're flies, they're really good food source for birds, they're really important to play their part so people should let them out their windows and not kill them."
The article also addresses a common fear regarding cellar spiders, which resemble crane flies, debunking the myth that they are venomous.
While these spiders can bite, they cannot penetrate human skin and therefore pose no threat.
Daddy long legs, often rumoured to be extremely venomous, are actually harmless as crane flies don't possess any venom. Mr Curtis clarified: "[Crane flies] they're absolutely harmless. While the female has a point on the end of her abdomen, that's to lay eggs, it's not a stinger."
He also explained why these creatures enter our homes: "The reason they come into the house is for warmth and they are attracted to light so if the lights are on in the house they come inside, and they hatch out in the darker hours to avoid being eaten by birds."
Furthermore, Mr Curtis said: "They're not looking for shelter, they're out looking for a mate and then looking to lay eggs, they end up in houses because their favourite habitat is short grass and we have lawns."
For those wanting to safely catch one, he advised using a decent-sized glass and a piece of paper, leading the insect towards light upon release.