Again, I've no camera for it, I'm afraid.

It's long and black and thin - similar kind of shape to an earwig. But with
a pointy bit on its bum instead of pincers, and oddly red legs.

They are quite ... evil looking things, really. And they have wings
(transparent) and they fly kind of similar to a wasp if you catch them out
of the corner of your eye.

Anyone any suggestion what it could be? I don't believe I've ever noticed
anything quite like it before.

--

wrote in message
...
Again, I've no camera for it, I'm afraid.

It's long and black and thin - similar kind of shape to an earwig. But
with
a pointy bit on its bum instead of pincers, and oddly red legs.

They are quite ... evil looking things, really. And they have wings
(transparent) and they fly kind of similar to a wasp if you catch them out
of the corner of your eye.

Anyone any suggestion what it could be? I don't believe I've ever noticed
anything quite like it before.

Try the Ichneumon Wasp on Google

Phil

Phil Gurr wrote:
It's long and black and thin - similar kind of shape to an earwig. But
with
a pointy bit on its bum instead of pincers, and oddly red legs.

They are quite ... evil looking things, really. And they have wings
(transparent) and they fly kind of similar to a wasp if you catch them out
of the corner of your eye.

Try the Ichneumon Wasp on Google

There is a huge variety in those images! But yes, I think you've nailed it,
thank you. There were 2 big ones and what looked like a baby one last time
I looked. Not sure where they're living, though, as they seem to disappear
for days then reappear.

Time to go read up about them I guess.

Thank you.

wrote:
Again, I've no camera for it, I'm afraid.

It's long and black and thin - similar kind of shape to an earwig. But with
a pointy bit on its bum instead of pincers, and oddly red legs.

They are quite ... evil looking things, really. And they have wings
(transparent) and they fly kind of similar to a wasp if you catch them out
of the corner of your eye.

Anyone any suggestion what it could be? I don't believe I've ever noticed
anything quite like it before.

Ichneumon fly?

--
Rusty

Hi,

It could be a Cleg, it is approximately 3/8 " long, black outer casing on wings, red body and legs and red head. It is quite thin approximately 1/8", it can give a nasty bite. Does this sound anything like what you saw!

On 1 Oct, 03:04, uriel13 wrote:

It could be a Cleg,

That'll be a beetle that moves in with a bigger beetle & tries to look
as much like it as possible?

bobharvey wrote:

On 1 Oct, 03:04, uriel13 wrote:

It could be a Cleg,

That'll be a beetle that moves in with a bigger beetle & tries to look
as much like it as possible?

heh, nice )

--
Chris

On 1 Oct, 08:45, "CT" wrote:
bobharvey wrote:
On 1 Oct, 03:04, uriel13 wrote:

It could be a Cleg,


I have always known a Cleg to be a Horse Fly, a creature with one hell
of a bite, and no way a beetle.
What you have is one of the parasitic wasps, nothing that is going to
do you or yours any harm.
David

uriel13 wrote:
It could be a Cleg, it is approximately 3/8 " long, black outer casing
on wings, red body and legs and red head. It is quite thin approximately
1/8", it can give a nasty bite. Does this sound anything like what you
saw!

Hi. Thanks for the suggestion (which was vaguely amusing, as I was getting
a mental image of an insectoid Nick Clegg hanging about my window!), but I
think the earlier suggestion fo an Ichneumon Wasp is the right one. After
15 pages of images, this is the one closest to my beastie:

http://www.insectoid.info/thumbs/607.jpg

Now you've learned why "and it's got red legs" did not contribute very much to the identification, and "pointed end" and "flew like a wasp" contributed a whole lot more. What distinguishes insects is their body lay-out. But there are indeed a huge number of species of parasitic wasps, and many of them are rather striking, so when people see a striking unusual insect flying like a wasp, it is often what it is.