Help... Blue Bottle Flies!!!!!

seabre

Hi

Just wondering if anyone can help. I arrived home today to find the front exterior of my house covered with Blue Bottle flies! I mean there are hundreds of them basking in the sun on the walls windows and chimneys. I hate hate hate these creatures so needless to say I was horrified. I am also worried in case there's something attracting them. My husband reckons its just because we are having an unusually warm sunny day which brings them out but I don't know.

Are there any plants that attract them or could there be a deeper problem like drains or something. I have 2 small kids and I'm petrified the flies will get in the house as I know what prolific germ carriers they are! Any Advice greatly appreciated.

PS - Not sure if this is the right forum but with such an unusual topic..... If anyone can move it to a more suitable board please do so....Thanks

emer_b

I'm having a similar problem and wasn't sure where to post it. For the past few weeks the exterior of my house has been covered with flies (like blue bottles, but brown), especially the sunny walls. We've just finished an extension which isn't completely sealed and they have accumulated in the hundreds on all the walls and windows, lots inside too. I swept up about 500 of them yesterday and there's nearly as many today. They seem to be quite slow, maybe dying off but still thousands of them around. I've been spraying a bit with Raid but mostly just trying to seal off the house to stop them getting in and it feels like I'm fighting a losing battle! Any ideas anyone?

seabre

Emer

I'm actually relieved to see your post in that I'm not the only one!! But its awful isn't it? Maybe it is just the time of year with the unusually warm weather but I have to say I really don't remember anything like this any other year and even in the summer they weren't about to this extent.

Lets hope someone can help or put our mind at ease at least. BTW what part of the country are you in I'm in Galway but not on the coast although I am near a lake.

Good Luck!

emer_b

I'm in Clare, not near water. I figured it must be weather related in some way. I've lived here for the last 3 yrs and haven't seen anything like this before. Its pretty gross but thankfully they don't bother me too much. I was just hoping they might be gone after a few days and there's no sign of them leaving yet!
Anyway, always good to know you're not the only one!

Mike2006

I am in Co. Limerick and noticed the same thing over the past few days.

Nasty looking little buggers too. Have been able to keep them away from the house but I did wonder was there something specifically attracting them.

I am in the countryside and there are cattle in the adjoining field so i was blaming that.. Maybe not though...

If anyone has an explanation for why they are around I would appreciate it too..

Mike.

jugger0

Can of lynx+lighter= BOOM

As for the cause

" Because these flies are attracted to foul-smelling things, like dead animals and poop, they sometimes fly to plants with bad-smelling flowers (like Greenbrier) or fungi (like Elegant Stinkhorn). Blue Bottle Flies end up helping these organisms because they transport pollen or spores so that they can grow new plants or mushrooms"

Taken from here http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/blue_bottle_fly.htm

maringo

had lots on outside wall enjoying the sun unfortunately when the door is opened some come in - i have a bat thingy with a battery which i use - when it touches them they go zzzzzzzzzz!!!!:eek:

seabre

jugger0 wrote: »

Can of lynx+lighter= BOOM

As for the cause

" Because these flies are attracted to foul-smelling things, like dead animals and poop, they sometimes fly to plants with bad-smelling flowers (like Greenbrier) or fungi (like Elegant Stinkhorn). Blue Bottle Flies end up helping these organisms because they transport pollen or spores so that they can grow new plants or mushrooms"

Taken from here http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/blue_bottle_fly.htm

My God - this link really did nothing to alieviate my fears!!!:eek: Would make ye puke reading it. Flies gone today as it remained cold most of the day - roll on the winter;)

joanofarc

left a bedroom window open yesterday to air room.....omg....came home to the swarm!!!! hundreds of the f**kers all over the inside of the house.....aaaarrrrgggg! afraid to open windows now so next problem will be condensation:mad:

lazyman

We had the same problem,
It was because of the weather,
They were all over the external walls that the sun was shining on

Son Of A Vidic

This thread is a relief, because I've got the same problem here in Co. Sligo. There's hundreds of blue bottles all over the outside of house and the garage. There's also a lot flying around inside the garage, so they're obviously hatching out from somewhere I think.

Dempo1

Yep its the weather (good for a change), i have a timber cladded extension and the pests had great fun trying to get under the cladding, a high pressure hose sorted them out quick enough. Its been terrible for the past two weeks, the warm weather two weeks ago brought them out of hibernation. Quick solution is to hose down the area near your door, particularly areas getting lots of sun shine, its the sun thats keeping them alive and out.

The problem should be sorted next week with an arctic wind for casted! Yuck, can't stand any and all flies:eek:

emurphy77

Glad to come across thread, down in Cork, in the early afternoon I get c 30-40 dying blue bottles in my room, they are dying on the window sill. Like many got car port cleaned out as thought there may be a dead mouse in there, there is not. Its just the 2 rooms facing South West that is attracting them.
Relived its a more commo problem as I have asked loads of people who thought I was going daft

artieanna

I have lots of these flies in the greenhouse all grouping in any folds in the polythene. They are also a nuisance in velux windows.

fryup

this thread should be in....nature & birdwatching by right