Leijpark013

@leijpark013 · 27 Jul 2021

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Leijpark 013 27-7-2021 Green mesh fly

#leijpark013   #greengauzefly
published by Thierry P. Dinjens · 31 minutes ·
To get a better view of an animal that lives in the Leijpark, we'll step into the world of Harry Potter today. This half-blood wizard (son of a wizard and a witch) has been recorded in a number of books by Joanne Rowling. He has the most amazing adventures and attends the fictional magical school Hogwarts.
In these stories, fiction and truth are constantly intertwined. Hogwarts are situated in the Scottish Highlands, but if you want to buy magical animals for a spell, magic potion or as a pet, then you have to be at the Enchanting Beast Bazaar, which is located in London, a big ride on the broomstick. The Enchanting Beasts Bazaar was a narrow pet store where the strangest animals were on sale: fire crabs, purple toads and a white rabbit that could turn into a top hat. But if you wanted to use the Swap spell, a spell that could turn an object into another object, or even a person in another person, then you needed so-called “Lacewings”. Those Net Wings, insects with extra-long fine mesh wings, had to simmer for three weeks before you could add them to the magic potion. Some plants, a bunch of bloodsuckers and the horn of a unicorn with two horns (the so-called two-horn) and the switch trick could start.
Among all this fantastic nonsense we see the word “lacewings” and they do exist.! We meet one in the Leijpark and we know her under the name Green Mesh Fly. Now the insect is indeed green, but definitely not a family of flies. Flies have two wings, gauze flies have four.
In itself, gauze flies are innocent animals that live on the nectar and pollen of flowers. However, their larvae are 'killers'. Not for us, but for aphids. The English even call the larvae 'aphid lions' or: Luizenlion. A good word for the Harry Potter series, by the way: “For sale: Luizenleeuw. Three metres long and only drinks plant juices.” Anyway, we deviate again.
The Green Mesh Fly does have one incongestion: they massively gather in sheltered places in the cold months and if we don't pay attention, these are our homes with the greatest ease.! They don't do much and certainly can't stab, but most people don't like a cloud of hundreds of gauze flies in their homes. The best way not to let this happen is to make sure they can't get in, or at worst, let go of the vacuum cleaner on it.
In the Leijpark we find an adult specimen that was eating peacefully. And those who are tempted to let go of the spell 'Wingardium leviosa' on it, the Harry Potter series spell that lets you fly things is mistake. The Green Mesh Fly doesn't need a spell at all. The animal can fly on its own, even though the flight is slow and stumbling. The animal really needs to be of its brutal colours and, in extreme cases, if it really has to defend herself, it separates an extremely unpleasant smell, which gave her the nickname “stinky fly”. Yet it won't be caught very often by birds and spiders active during the day; the Green Mesh Fly prefers to fly at night. That brings another enemy: the bat. However, gauze flies have scattered hearing organs on their bodies and allows them to perceive the sounds that a bat makes. As soon as they hear a bat, they fold the wings together and drop out of the sky like a stone. That's a way to escape, isn't it??
It's funny in itself that such a void insect has made it a character in one of the most popular book ranges in the world. That's the beauty of fantasy, in it everything is possible. In the Leijpark, fiction and truth come together in the Green Mesh Fly. How beautiful is that??