Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of flies
this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of the
annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid of them,
there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than normal to
flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being particularly
pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that this year, you
can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are dive bombing you
five minutes later ...

Arfa

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of
flies this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of
the annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid of
them, there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than
normal to flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being
particularly pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that
this year, you can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are
dive bombing you five minutes later ...

Arfa

not a fan of aerosol nerve toxins meself but "Red Top" fly catchers give a
satisfying sense of victory (however symbolic)

Jim K

On Sat, 30 Jul 2011 12:23:57 +0100, Arfa Daily wrote:

Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of
flies this year?

Weird, they've been really bad this side of the Pond this year, too. I've
hardly seen any bees or wasps (and no nests to deal with), but flies
(mozzies in particular) are all over the place.

Maybe it's the first signs of the 2012 apocalypse? (Err, I mean, olympics)

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess
of flies
this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of
the
annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid
of them,
there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than
normal to
flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being
particularly
pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that this
year, you
can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are dive bombing
you
five minutes later ...

Arfa


Not personally noticed any increase this year. We have one of those
high voltage / uv zappers in both the farm kitchen and the room I use
for meat production, and they both need regular emptying - highly
effective and they don't smell (*) unlike flysprays.

AWEM

(*) unless a particularly large moth gets stuck and burns a bit !

In message , Andrew Mawson
writes

(*) unless a particularly large moth gets stuck and burns a bit !



Has anyone noticed that bumblebees smell like roast chestnuts? Had one
burn on a halogen uplighter once.

--
Bill

"Bill" wrote in message
...
In message , Andrew Mawson
writes

(*) unless a particularly large moth gets stuck and burns a bit !



Has anyone noticed that bumblebees smell like roast chestnuts? Had one
burn on a halogen uplighter once.

doyou have a lot of chestnut trees near/around?
I often catch wasps grazing on hardwood patio furniture, presumably getting
wood fibres to build their nests - presumably bees do the same.....?

Jim K

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of
flies this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of
the annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid of
them, there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than
normal to flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being
particularly pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that
this year, you can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are
dive bombing you five minutes later ...

Arfa

We have wooden floors and no flies. I think they might hide their eggs in
the carpet .. or something.
Also do not get the horrid and beastly spiders.

In message , Jim K
writes
"Bill" wrote in message
...
In message , Andrew Mawson
writes

(*) unless a particularly large moth gets stuck and burns a bit !



Has anyone noticed that bumblebees smell like roast chestnuts? Had one
burn on a halogen uplighter once.

doyou have a lot of chestnut trees near/around?

This was in a marquee at Wentworth, Surrey, yes there were a few
chestnut trees around.

I often catch wasps grazing on hardwood patio furniture, presumably getting
wood fibres to build their nests - presumably bees do the same.....?

Jim K



--
Bill

On 30/07/2011 12:23, Arfa Daily wrote:
Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of
flies this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of
the annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid
of them, there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than
normal to flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being
particularly pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that
this year, you can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are
dive bombing you five minutes later ...

Arfa

Oddly enough, I was thinking just this morning that there a far fewer
flies than normal here. They must have all come your way!

SteveW

On 30/07/11 12:23, Arfa Daily wrote:
Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of
flies this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of
the annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid
of them, there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than
normal to flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being
particularly pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that
this year, you can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are
dive bombing you five minutes later ...

Arfa

In our case it's not an excess of flies we're suffering from but instead
have been inundated with thunderbugs this year.

On 7/30/2011 11:46 AM, Tim Streater wrote:
In article ,
"Jim K" wrote:

doyou have a lot of chestnut trees near/around?
I often catch wasps grazing on hardwood patio furniture, presumably
getting wood fibres to build their nests - presumably bees do the
same.....?

As any skoolboy kno, bees use wax to build their nests. They live
through the winter. As the bee colony grows, from time to time it splits
in two, with some staying and the rest going off in a swarm to find a
new place to nest.

As some skoolgels kno, some bees (solitaries) excavate holes in wood to
build teeny nests. I've watched them - they do an incredibly neat job -
a perfect round hole whose diameter increases after about 1cm depth.


As the same skoolboy also kno, wasps user papier mache to build their
nests. Only the queens survive the winter and they hibernate in e.g.
your loft. Last year's nest will not become this year's nest.

This is also why wasps get shirty towards the end of summer. Job's done
and they've all just been made redundant.

On Sat, 30 Jul 2011 12:23:57 +0100, Arfa Daily
wrote:

Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of
flies this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of
the annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid
of them, there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than
normal to flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being
particularly pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that
this year, you can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are
dive bombing you five minutes later ...


No, hardly any flies - but lots and lots of earwigs.

And so many giant slugs it looks like a dairy farm out on the lawn of an
evening. (That is, the giant slugs look a bit like cows grazing...)

--
Rod

On Sat, 30 Jul 2011 16:12:06 +0100, Steve Walker wrote:

Oddly enough, I was thinking just this morning that there a far fewer
flies than normal here.

I was thinking that there doesn't seem to be as many as normal
either. But then the weather has been decidedly cool for summer,
overnight is down to or below 10C and day time really strugles to get
to 20C. Roughly 5C cooler than normal.

--
Cheers
Dave.

"Mr Pounder" wrote in message
...

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of
flies this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of
the annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid of
them, there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than
normal to flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being
particularly pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that
this year, you can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are
dive bombing you five minutes later ...

Arfa

We have wooden floors and no flies. I think they might hide their eggs in
the carpet .. or something.
Also do not get the horrid and beastly spiders.






I too have suspended wooden floors, and the only places in the whole house
that have carpet, are the bedrooms upstairs. All of the downstairs floors,
including the conservatory which also has a suspended wood sub floor, are
clad with laminate. I really don't know where they are all coming from.
Three or four years back, we had an issue in the village, with an egg farm
about a mile away. Apparently, they weren't cleaning out the sheds properly,
or were leaving what they had cleaned out, including dead chickens, in piles
on the land. That year, there was an absolute infestation of flies for about
a month, until the council closed them down and removed the cause. I'm not
aware of any such circumstance this year though, so it's a bit of a mystery
....

Arfa

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Sat, 30 Jul 2011 16:12:06 +0100, Steve Walker wrote:

Oddly enough, I was thinking just this morning that there a far fewer
flies than normal here.

I was thinking that there doesn't seem to be as many as normal
either. But then the weather has been decidedly cool for summer,
overnight is down to or below 10C and day time really strugles to get
to 20C. Roughly 5C cooler than normal.

--
Cheers
Dave.




Hmmm. Must be the global warming .... :-)

Arfa

On 31/07/2011 2:50 a.m., Mr Pounder wrote:

Also do not get the horrid and beastly spiders.

The enemy of your enemy is your friend.

On 30/07/2011 16:46, Tim Streater wrote:
In article ,
"Jim K" wrote:

doyou have a lot of chestnut trees near/around?
I often catch wasps grazing on hardwood patio furniture, presumably
getting wood fibres to build their nests - presumably bees do the
same.....?

As any skoolboy kno, bees use wax to build their nests. They live
through the winter. As the bee colony grows, from time to time it splits
in two, with some staying and the rest going off in a swarm to find a
new place to nest.

As the same skoolboy also kno, wasps user papier mache to build their
nests. Only the queens survive the winter and they hibernate in e.g.
your loft. Last year's nest will not become this year's nest.

This is also why wasps get shirty towards the end of summer. Job's done
and they've all just been made redundant.


Yup, So depressed they are, they go out on the town, find a nice sugar
drink and eventually get *drunk*. Such fun!!

--
Adrian C

On 30/07/2011 12:23, Arfa Daily wrote:
Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of
flies this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of
the annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid
of them, there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than
normal to flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being
particularly pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that
this year, you can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are
dive bombing you five minutes later ...

Arfa


Absolutely. Seems to be a signifcant increase here too (although
possibly not statistically significant!) We put it down to the fact
that the bin collection has changed and people end up leaving food in
the green bins for longer!?!

S

On Sat, 30 Jul 2011 12:23:57 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of flies
this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of the
annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid of them,
there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than normal to
flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being particularly
pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that this year, you
can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are dive bombing you
five minutes later ...

Arfa

Last year I bought The Executioner electronic fly swatter and it is
really good ONCE you actually contact the fly! The difficulty is
following the fly around the room, trying to anticipate where it's
going next. What is needed is a laser that detects the fly's movements
in a nanosecond or so, and then fires a bolt of 10,000 volts at the
thing.

MM wrote:
On Sat, 30 Jul 2011 12:23:57 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of flies
this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of the
annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid of them,
there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than normal to
flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being particularly
pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that this year, you
can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are dive bombing you
five minutes later ...

Arfa

Last year I bought The Executioner electronic fly swatter and it is
really good ONCE you actually contact the fly! The difficulty is
following the fly around the room, trying to anticipate where it's
going next. What is needed is a laser that detects the fly's movements
in a nanosecond or so, and then fires a bolt of 10,000 volts at the
thing.
Fly zappers with UV lamps as used in food shops are fairly effective.

Admittedly, you don't get the exercise of chasing the little perishers
round with a fly swatter....

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

"Gib Bogle" wrote in message
...
On 31/07/2011 2:50 a.m., Mr Pounder wrote:

Also do not get the horrid and beastly spiders.

The enemy of your enemy is your friend.

What has that got to do with the horrid and beastly spiders, Gib Bogle?

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...


"Mr Pounder" wrote in message
...

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of
flies this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of
the annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid
of them, there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than
normal to flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being
particularly pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that
this year, you can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are
dive bombing you five minutes later ...

Arfa

We have wooden floors and no flies. I think they might hide their eggs in
the carpet .. or something.
Also do not get the horrid and beastly spiders.






I too have suspended wooden floors, and the only places in the whole house
that have carpet, are the bedrooms upstairs. All of the downstairs floors,
including the conservatory which also has a suspended wood sub floor, are
clad with laminate. I really don't know where they are all coming from.
Three or four years back, we had an issue in the village, with an egg farm
about a mile away. Apparently, they weren't cleaning out the sheds
properly, or were leaving what they had cleaned out, including dead
chickens, in piles on the land. That year, there was an absolute
infestation of flies for about a month, until the council closed them down
and removed the cause. I'm not aware of any such circumstance this year
though, so it's a bit of a mystery ...

Arfa

Dunno how long flies eggs take to hatch.

"Tim Streater" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Mr Pounder" wrote:

"Gib Bogle" wrote in message
...
On 31/07/2011 2:50 a.m., Mr Pounder wrote:

Also do not get the horrid and beastly spiders.

The enemy of your enemy is your friend.

What has that got to do with the horrid and beastly spiders, Gib Bogle?

What is horrid and beastly about spiders?

They are sneaky cunning creatures that did not come from our world. They are
man's oldest nightmare and I will kill anything with more than four legs.
It's not looking too good for the dog at the moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oXYAWWGxw4

I was here, lost an arm and part of a leg.


--
Tim

"That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines
imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted" -- Bill of Rights 1689

Mr Pounder wrote:
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

"Mr Pounder" wrote in message
...
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of
flies this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of
the annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid
of them, there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than
normal to flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being
particularly pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that
this year, you can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are
dive bombing you five minutes later ...

Arfa
We have wooden floors and no flies. I think they might hide their eggs in
the carpet .. or something.
Also do not get the horrid and beastly spiders.



I too have suspended wooden floors, and the only places in the whole house
that have carpet, are the bedrooms upstairs. All of the downstairs floors,
including the conservatory which also has a suspended wood sub floor, are
clad with laminate. I really don't know where they are all coming from.
Three or four years back, we had an issue in the village, with an egg farm
about a mile away. Apparently, they weren't cleaning out the sheds
properly, or were leaving what they had cleaned out, including dead
chickens, in piles on the land. That year, there was an absolute
infestation of flies for about a month, until the council closed them down
and removed the cause. I'm not aware of any such circumstance this year
though, so it's a bit of a mystery ...

Arfa

Dunno how long flies eggs take to hatch.

It depends on temperature, but from egg laying to flying away takes from
a week to a fortnight, which is why weekly rubbish collectons were
introduced in the first place.
--
Tciao for Now!

John.

"Bill" wrote in message
...
In message , Jim K
writes
"Bill" wrote in message
...
In message , Andrew Mawson
writes

(*) unless a particularly large moth gets stuck and burns a bit !



Has anyone noticed that bumblebees smell like roast chestnuts? Had one
burn on a halogen uplighter once.



No, bees make wax from nectar.

"Tim Streater" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Jim K" wrote:

doyou have a lot of chestnut trees near/around?
I often catch wasps grazing on hardwood patio furniture, presumably
getting wood fibres to build their nests - presumably bees do the
same.....?

As any skoolboy kno, bees use wax to build their nests. They live through
the winter. As the bee colony grows, from time to time it splits in two,
with some staying and the rest going off in a swarm to find a new place to
nest.

As the same skoolboy also kno, wasps user papier mache to build their
nests. Only the queens survive the winter and they hibernate in e.g. your
loft. Last year's nest will not become this year's nest.

This is also why wasps get shirty towards the end of summer. Job's done
and they've all just been made redundant.

Proper skoolboys know that whilst honeybee colonies survive the Winter, only
Queen bumble bees survive the Winter.
They go out and start a new colonies ever year from scratch.

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
Is it just me, or are others around the country suffering an excess of
flies this year? Seems like every room you go in, there's one or two of
the annoying little *******s buzzing about, and as fast as you get rid of
them, there's more to replace them. And they seem more resistant than
normal to flyspray. I've always used blue Raid in an aerosol can, being
particularly pleased with its 'knock down' abilities, but it seems that
this year, you can score a direct hit, and still the bloody things are
dive bombing you five minutes later ...

Arfa

Best solution is electronic zapper but only work well on the dimmness.
Other good solution is flypaper. I don't fancy nerve gases.

On Sun, 31 Jul 2011 10:16:56 +0100, Adrian C wrote:
Yup, So depressed they are, they go out on the town, find a nice sugar
drink and eventually get *drunk*. Such fun!!

:-) Oddly enough, they don't do that on this side of the Pond - must be
a trait that only the European species have.

Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Tim Streater
saying something like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oXYAWWGxw4

I was here, lost an arm and part of a leg.
No artillery? No choppers? These klods just armed with sten guns? No
RPGs, no mortars, no flamethrowers, no tanks?

Nothing like the book, BTW.

Bill the Galactic Hero was much better.

Infintely better.

I love the sequel where he solves the Earth's waste problem by using the
state subsidised government InterGalactic Postal Service to post all the
scrap to developing planets.

In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Tim Streater
saying something like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oXYAWWGxw4

I was here, lost an arm and part of a leg.
No artillery? No choppers? These klods just armed with sten guns? No
RPGs, no mortars, no flamethrowers, no tanks?

Nothing like the book, BTW.

Bill the Galactic Hero was much better.

Infintely better.

I love the sequel where he solves the Earth's waste problem by using the
state subsidised government InterGalactic Postal Service to post all the
scrap to developing planets.

I think that was in BGH itself, in fact.

I thought the later sequels were much weaker, at least the two of them
I've read. Relying too much on "and suddenly something unpredictable
happened" - unless you happen to like trekkie crossovers and suchlike

Nick
--
Serendipity: http://www.leverton.org/blosxom (last update 29th March 2010)
"The Internet, a sort of ersatz counterfeit of real life"
-- Janet Street-Porter, BBC2, 19th March 1996

In article ,
John Williamson writes:
MM wrote:

Last year I bought The Executioner electronic fly swatter and it is
really good ONCE you actually contact the fly! The difficulty is
following the fly around the room, trying to anticipate where it's
going next. What is needed is a laser that detects the fly's movements
in a nanosecond or so, and then fires a bolt of 10,000 volts at the
thing.
Fly zappers with UV lamps as used in food shops are fairly effective.

I have one which was in the bedroom. Trouble is that I would
get woken up with a bang-buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-fizzzzzzzz-pop-pop...
and it didn't actually seem that good at attracting flies.
I didn't use it for long.

Admittedly, you don't get the exercise of chasing the little perishers
round with a fly swatter....

I now have several carnivorous plants around the house, and I
never see any flies. I did wonder if they get enough to eat,
but inspection shows they are catching some flies. A few times,
I have watched a fly get interested in the plants, only to be
consumed - quite satisfying to watch.

I put them outside on the flying ant day for an extra boost.

I don't think any of mine are quite big enough yet to do this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-14416809
although they have grown much bigger pitchers this year than
in the past.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]