Crane Fly On Fleabane

I happily shared the shower with a crane fly this morning. When MrQ did his ablutions he squashed it and washed it down the plughole. :( He said it made him itch - I'm guessing he's frit. These insects are completely harmless but some people don't like the way they blunder around dangling their dislocating (daddy) long legs.

They always emerge at the end of the summer/beginning of autumn but this year they seem to be a bit more prolific than usual owing to the damp weather we have had.

I photographed the female in my image on a Guernsey fleabane, an invasive weed from South America which was first found in Guernsey in 1961. I noticed it on our property a few years ago and found out that it was Conyza sumatrensis. It is now called Erigeron sumatrensis.