Remember these eggs?
I said they were the eggs of alderflies – but they’re not (as any alderfly expert could probably have told you).
Actually they’re almost certainly the eggs of the hoverfly Helophilus pendulus – there’s a brilliant picture here – which is a regular around the pond.
They turn into the babies of the animal with just about the least attractive name in the animal kingdom – what we popularly call rat-tailed maggots.
If ever an animal needed brand makeover, it’s this one.
And it’s why Alisdair had the eggs but not the alderflies (see the comments).
