Marsh Cranefly

The Marsh Cranefly is possibly the most common cranefly in Britain.

It tends to be the earliest Cranefly to be seen, flying from April throught to October, in damp grassland.

Like all craneflies, the females, prior to egg laying will be a little rotund, as they carry several hundred eggs. The females have pointed abdomens to insert their eggs into damp soil. The males are slim with squared off or club shaped abdomens.

The larvae are called ‘leather jackets’. They are brown legless grubs which spend their time below ground eating the roots of grasses and root crops.

The Marsh Cranefly are common and widespread throughout Britain.