Can anyone identify these little pests?

[ReallyReallyGood]

Mosquito

[The Rotrex Kid]

St Marks fly I think?

[The Rotrex Kid]

The Rotrex Kid said:

St Marks fly I think?

Or called a Hawthorn fly. Looks like it to me?

See here - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[paintman]

Probably a type of midge or gnat (diptera), referred to in the trout flyfishing world as 'buzzers'.

Don't be too quick to rule out hawthorn flies (bibio) as it is the right time of year for their appearance.

Edited by paintman on Sunday 24th April 17:23

[otolith]

That looks to me to be a chironomid midge (the aforementioned trout fisherman’s “buzzer”)

[otolith]

Hazuki said:

Now to find the cause and get rid of them!

They will be breeding in a nearby waterbody - they're a very important part of the ecology. They're quite harmless, they don't bite. Over a large lake or reservoir you can often see enormous hatches of them like columns of smoke over the water.

[anonymous-user]

ReallyReallyGood said:

Mosquito

Nope. Mosquitoes have a distinctive long needle like proboscis emanating from the middle of their face, through which they inject anticoagulant and then draw blood.

[StevieBee]

otolith said:

they're a very important part of the ecology.

What isn't?

[blueg33]

StevieBee said:

otolith said:

they're a very important part of the ecology.

What isn't?

21st century mankind

[otolith]

StevieBee said:

otolith said:

they're a very important part of the ecology.

What isn't?

In this context, anything that is scarce! What I mean is that these midges and their mud-living larvae occur in such huge numbers that they are a significant food source for all sorts of aquatic and terrestrial life.