Willowfly Leuctra geniculata

 I found this little insect, about one centimetre long, on my car windscreen when I parked near Waskerley beck at Wolsingham in Weardale yesterday. I'm pretty sure its a willowfly Leuctra geniculata, a member of the family of needleflies within the order Plecoptera, the stoneflies. 

Needleflies' name comes from the way they tend to fold their wings tightly around their abdomen, making the insect appear slender and pointed.

It's a common insect but an encouraging sign of good water quality in the beck - stoneflies' aquatic larval stages need clean, well oxygenated water and have a low tolerance of pollutants.

Mayfly nymphs from the river Wear

Some yellow May dun mayfly nymphs, from the river Wear downstream from Wolsingham. The upper reaches of the river are full of these, clinging on to the underside of every rock pulled out of the water. They are one of the food items that dippers catch, when they walk underwater, over the river bed, and flip stones with their beaks in search of prey. 

In the image above you can clearly see the feathery abdominal gills, that beat constantly and absorb dissolved oxygen from the water,