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Weird fly swarm

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  • 05-05-2018 1:23pm
    #1
    km79
    Registered Users Posts: 48,235 ✭✭✭✭


    Looked out the window earlier and was greeted by an infestation of weird looking flies

    We live in the country and have lots of fruit trees and laurel hedging so it’s not unusual to have insects flying around
    But I’ve never seen these yokes before

    They are black and silent. They kind of hover around the grass and hedges and have a weird appendage hanging downwards from middle of Body
    Never seen them before

    And they seem to come and go in large groups. None there now but will be again in a few minutes

    Any ideas ? I doubt I’ll get a photo of them


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    #2
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    Anywhere near the sea?

    I regularly see massive swarms of kelp flies on the beach.


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    #3
    km79
    Registered Users Posts: 48,235 ✭✭✭✭km79


    my3cents wrote: »
    Anywhere near the sea?

    I regularly see massive swarms of kelp flies on the beach.

    40km inland of Galway so no

    I’ll try and get a video or photo


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    #4
    bizidea
    Registered Users Posts: 403 ✭✭bizidea


    Ive seen the exact same kind of fly your talking about for the first time ever today as well never seen anything like them before odd loking things.where I'm seeing them is damp marshy ground


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    #5
    km79
    Registered Users Posts: 48,235 ✭✭✭✭km79


    bizidea wrote: »
    Ive seen the exact same kind of fly your talking about for the first time ever today as well never seen anything like them before odd loking things.where I'm seeing them is damp marshy ground

    Interesting Cos the field at that side of the house would be damp and marshy


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    #6
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    They are the perfectly harmless St Mark's Flies, so named because they first appear each year around the feast of St Mark in 25th April until late June. Also called Hawthorn Flies.


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    #7
    km79
    Registered Users Posts: 48,235 ✭✭✭✭km79


    Kaiser Shrilling Peach wrote: »
    They are the perfectly harmless St Mark's Flies, so named because they first appear each year around the feast of St Mark in 25th April until late June. Also called Hawthorn Flies. They appear

    That's them
    Thanks


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    #8
    bizidea
    Registered Users Posts: 403 ✭✭bizidea


    Must be a good year for them so if a lot of people are seeing for the first time ever


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    #9
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    bizidea wrote: »
    Must be a good year for them so if a lot of people are seeing for the first time ever

    Actually, we usually have a large number of them here and have had only a few this year so far.


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    #10
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 49,524 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    well, if numbers are down, that's possibly because i inadvertently ate two on my cycle this morning. flew through several swarms, had the rather unusual experience of one crawling around the inside of the lens of my glasses for a couple of minutes earlier (was climbing up a steep hill so didn't have the luxury of stopping).


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