A Scot has captured an incredible video of what appears to be a midge tornado rising over a countryside path.
Ross Cunningham, from Inverkeithing in Fife, was out walking in Loch Leven, near Kinross, when he came across the strange sight.
Posting a clip of the insects on Twitter, he wrote: "Don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this before. A hovering pillar of insects!" The footage then shows thousands of insects swirling around in a vertical mass above the path reaching high into the sky.
The video, which has since been viewed thousands of times on Twitter, has prompted people to speculate on what the odd gathering might be.
One person posited: "A midge tornado!?" While another described it simply as a "portal to hell".
However, others had more prosaic explanations. Someone who had obviously seen something similar wrote: "Male Mayfly mating flight. Pretty impressive."
After examing the clip, a NatureScot spokesperson said: “These are non-biting midges (Chironomidae) that hatch at the same time, producing millions of flies.
"The ‘tornado’ is known as lekking, which is a moving gathering of males to attract females from the surrounding area. This is not a rare event, but it only happens at short periods when the temperature is right for them.”
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