Got a new house fly

Winter must be over. I've just seen a house fly. Its our first one this year. I might even not squash it just yet.

 

YAY

i think

 

Today I soaked a rather large bluebottle with the hose by accident as I was watering some pots outside. It didn't fly away so it was either on it's last legs or I stunned it with a blast of very cold water.

 

Mmm...flies. Bit of a pet hate of mine to be honest.
I posted this on another forum some time ago, still applies though so allow me to share it with you on here.

Did these creatures evolve simply to cause the maximum possible irritation to all and sundry?
As the annual re-emergence of these infuriating little creatures gets under way, after several minutes of study, I have noticed a number of distinct types, listed totally un-scientifically as follows:

1. The Floater. This is the one which appears on hot days, when you're engaged in some useful activity in the garden, lazily circling you as it passes across your field of vision at maddeningly irregular intervals. For added effect, it will occasionally land on your head or face causing you to flail wildly and ineffectively with insane rage.

2. The Scavenger. These appear from nowhere within seconds, as soon as anything edible is taken outside. One will soon become several in a matter of minutes as if by some unseen communication. They are large and very persistent.

3. The Headbanger. If you are quietly sitting indoors reading or watching the telly, this is the one which enters the room at tremendous speed and then proceeds to spend the next hour smashing itself repeatedly against the window, making concentration on anything else impossible.

4. The Mystery Fly. It comes into the room, does a couple of quick circuits and then vanishes. For a while. Then it repeats the procedure and disappears again. You know it's hiding somewhere in the room. Can you find it? Can you f***. Searching is useless, you will never locate it. Eventually it will disappear mysteriously and you will forget about it. Until it returns several hours later. In the bedroom. In the dark.

5. The Prescott. Big fat ugly thing; appears from nowhere, smacks you in the face, then goes off to find some s**t to eat.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, feel free to add your own.

 

Trunky it's even worse when a pet cat spots any of these distinct types of fly and goes crashing about the room in hot pursuit only to catch the said fly and crunch it up as if it's some sort of feline delicacy. Yuk!

 

Yes, if it means we can have some heat we'll even put up with the flies!!!

Val

 

our Chihuahua Freddy has a thing about flies, he likes to stalk them but only if they're sunbathing in the garden cos then they seem less inclined to fly away before he gets a chance to pouncenot that he'd ever be fast enough to catch one anyway

 

We used to have a border collie that was opposed to flies. If one came in our house while the dog was there, it was doomed. Our Lassie would chase them around relentlessly, then choose her moment, seize her opportunity, and launch. She never missed. As she got older she became more experienced, and rather than chasing the fly she would just stand in one spot waiting for it to pass overhead, then she'd leap, sometimes about 6ft up, and snatch it in mid flight. A sad day came when she was about 12 year old. She missed. It was the first time anyone had seen her miss. It could only mean one thing. The poor girl was getting old.

We all reckoned that when her time came she'd get reincarnated as a crocodile (or aligator, I don't know the difference), because apart from her ability to remain stationary before leaping to snatch things out of the air, she also had an affinity to water. There are several large ponds near where we lived and when we took her for a walk, she would always go for a swim with no encouragement from us. She didn't doggy paddle like most dogs though. All you'd see was a pair of eyes and a nose moving swiftly through the water and a slightly wiggly wake following behind, and she couldn't half move.

 

Swat the flies http://www.majman.net/flyswatter/

 

I always remember a pretty horrid experience with our lab 'Fudge' he decided to have a pee while we were out for a walk, up a hedge right in the middle of a wasp nest!!!!!!, I didn't realise at first till he came out the hedge bottom being chased by all these wasps I panicked and started running shouting him to follow,we must have looked a sight this mad screaming woman running along like she was possessed, anyway we did eventually lose them but not before they'd stung my poor boy in several places, the lucky thing was he was on anti inflammatories for his athritis which took the swelling down so next day he was fine.

 

poor Snoop our Bichon Frise got a nasty sting right in between the pads on his foot (i can only assume he stood on one) it must have been very sore there though as he (being the baby he is anyway) let out an almighty scream! i remember he came hopping/running straight to me to...save him the poor little mite

 

Ouch bet that hurt honeybunny , thats the strange thing with Fudge he was a real baby but never made a sound, usually like yours he'd run to me for the least little thing,he had several stings on his face one really close to his eye

 

poor Fudge that sounds really nasty it breaks your heart when they look to you as if they are expecting you to 'fix it' or 'make it better', we cant work miracles

 

Wasps..don't get me started on wasps they're a plague here. And it's simply not true that they don't sting unless provoked. A dab of vinegar sorts it out, but eventually it can cause anaphylactic shock. Just wait 'til I get my mitts on some permethrin

 

wasps really don't seem to need much provocation at all! i doubt anyone hasn't had the odd one come after them menacingly for reasons only known to the wasp. last year i had to flee indoors to escape one...i've absolutely no idea what i was supposed to have done! i escaped unscathed but for ages after i could see him agitatedly zooming around the back door