What bug is this?
By Llew
Lincolnshire,
United Kingdom 
I've just been out to check my garden over (no wind, yay!) and found lots of these in my potato bag.
They're about ½ inch long with wings, but didn't fly off when disturbed. Are they flying ants?
I'm worried now that my spuds will be no good if they've nested in my bag and are feeding on the tubers. So, (apologies to organic gardeners) if I put ant powder round the inside edges of the bag will it get rid of them and will my pot's be alright to eat?
They haven't even sprouted yet!!!!
10 May, 2009
Answers
It looks like some kind of fly, rather than a winged ant. I'm wondering if it could be a type of hoverfly - they are apparently good at getting rid of some garden pests.
10 May, 2009
No, MG. They don't look like ants at all.
I'll go google hoverfly, Weed and see if I can find a match.
Thanks.
..........................
Hmmmm, nope. Only pics of hoverflies I can find all have stripes or spots or something and look a bit like wasps/bees.
10 May, 2009
It definitely looks like a fly with those eyes, maybe just sheltering?
10 May, 2009
because it looks greyish and because of the red eyes i think it could be a flesh fly or a type of blue bottle
10 May, 2009
PS have you manured with farmhouse manure recently?
10 May, 2009
I find bugs fascinating. It would be interesting to find out what it is.
I mentioned hoverflies as I normally have quite a few in the garden as they like the pond. Some of them are stripey, like lightweight bees. Some of them though do look very like normal flies but they hover the same as the bee - like ones. They seem to differ from flies in appearance as they are normally, but not always, thinner in build.
The one in your picture looks quite thin under its wing casing which made me wonder if it could be one. There are apparently about 190 species of hoverfly in the UK, and probably a lot of fly species as well so it might be difficult to get a positive ID for it. :)
10 May, 2009
No, Mageth. No manure, hun.
Weed, I looked at dozens of different pics and couldn't find one remotely like this. Still, that's not to say it isn't one, as you say.
I'm interested to know what it is though.
They didn't seem bothered by my presence and they weren't hovering or flying. Just walking around on the top of the compost. They disappeared later in the day though.
10 May, 2009
Odd... keep us posted
11 May, 2009
wonder if they were newly hatched then? if they were walking around then disappeared maybe waiting for wings to dry?
11 May, 2009
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Llew, I don't think that those are flying ants - just doesn't look right. Do they look exactly like ants with big wings attached? If they are flying ants then they will not harm your potatoes. Might be an idea to catch one and take along to your local min. of ag. to i.d. for you
10 May, 2009