Topic: Seen at the field - what is it?

No it's not an aircraft recognition question...

These pictures are from last Wednesday at the field, at dusk, just as we were packing up.  I noticed what looked just like a plume of smoke rising behind the trees;  only it clearly wasn't smoke because the same thing was repeated all the way along the tree line - the N and W sides of the field are bordered by a line of trees a few trees deep, beyond which the ground drops away (maybe 400 yards total).  Off every tree in this line were plumes rising - perhaps 100+ such plumes visible at any one time.  The photos below don't really do it justice - the plumes were more numerous and darker than they appear in the pictures (I had a bit of struggle getting any sort of meaningful photo of this).  Wednesday was the first colder day after the hot weekend/early week.

Does anyone know what this is - pollen, insects?  It was quite a spooky site in the gathering dusk.

Stuart

 

My first thoughts are that they were insects, but you'd certainly need a helluva lot of insects to give this effect. I have seen vertical columns of midges in the past, but never on a scale such as this. 

Gordon Brown might know. There's a lot if flying through the air just now in the House of Commons.

The flying ants have just started hatching out this week here, with the hot weather earlier in the week. It looks exactly like a plume of smoke rosing from their nests, if the air is still. That would be my guess some form of hatching swarm of flying insect.

I would also say they are flying ants .
They are mating and usually come out after a period of hot weather followed by rain .
Pic below shows flying ants in another swarm 

Midges, seen every time when its very still in the spring and late summer evenings suspended above bushes.

Ian B

midges, saw the same thing as i was driving with my dad last sunday evening, all a long a road out here in the Fens 

It's the souls of the undead rising up to gain a vantage spot from which to swoop down and take the unwary who stay out after dark.

wwwoooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW 

midges.

They ride the lightning bolts down to their buried craft.

Oooooooooooh! 

Midges seems to be the consensus.  It looked a bit like that, but I've never seen insects on that scale.  Glad I didn't hang around to get bitten (devoured!)

It's the souls of the undead rising up to gain a vantage spot from which to swoop down and take the unwary who stay out after dark.

wwwoooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW 

So... that's why you only go to the field in the mornings then!

Stuart