Now at the Charles River Peninsula: March flies, swarms of them

View from Hill, Charles River Peninsula, Needham, MA

A lovely day to be out walking the Charles River Peninsula. Except for the plague of swarming March flies. Wear protective glasses and keep your mouth closed and you might be OK... (Don't worry. It's a passing thing...)
The March fly is a species of bibionidae (I don't know if these are "lovebugs" or not, but that's what they are doing--mating). If you let them they will crawl all over you. Here's a close up of a female (the males look quite different).

In other CRP news:
The blue-gills are making nests of small stones at the canoe launch.
And if you stand on the small bridge at the start of the trail you may see barn swallows circling a small pool in the swampy area to the right.

What are they doing? Collecting wet leaves and mud for their nests (presumably on a Walker School building).