Anyone know what this beasty is?

[yorkshire sam]

I opened the lid on my nettle brew to do some feeding and just under the surface were some white maggots anywhere from about 1/4 inch up to about 1 inch. They were wriggling giving the impression of swimming. They appeared to have a very thin thread like appendage like a tail behind.I netted them out and put them on the road way ( prior to squishing them) and I was amazed how fast they could move. Does anyone know what they are and what has 'caused' or made them as the lid on my nettle brew dustbin obviously doesnt keep them out or did they come from the nettles?

I have included some thumbnails

grateful for any help and how to prevent them.

[ginger ninger]

NASTY... Could they have been some eggs that have hatched of the nettles ??

[gingerlover]

Hi ginger ninger, thank you for the "welcome hello" before.

Saw some of these pictured elsewhere on here and have heard they are rat tailed maggots. horrible looking things.

[Nicos]

Never seen them before...looks like they are rat tailed maggots though- they are baby hoverflies according to this! ( = goodies as they eat ahids)

Google Image Result for http://www.fathom.com/feature/190259/3747_insect3.jpg

[yorkshire sam]

Thanks for all your comments - they are indeed rat tailed maggots - larva of the hover fly. These adult flies dont eat greenflies ( unfortunatly) as they feed on nectar, but are important pollenators. The maggots need nitrogenous polluted water to survive. Having read about them, while the adult is indeed a goody the larva if ingested could cause us humans problems so they advise not using the nettle brew for feeding veg! So it looks like this years nettle brew is destined to feed the compost heap instead.

[Nicos]

That's interesting!!..thanks for sharing!!

[Jerryfb]

AFAIK a lot of hover flies have rat tailed maggot babies. Not the most attractive of children but the resulting grown ups are garden goodies. I would leave the mix aside and wait for them to hatch

[Polly Fouracre]

It may be as well to identify before squishing. Innocent until proven guilty sort of thing!!

[fran]

They are what I had and I thought they were baby newts!!! Decided they must be something a lot less attractive the other day. So now I know!! Thanks