these flies!

smilesr said :

Along with the flies and mozzies I’ve noticed that a lot of the deciduous trees are only just starting to turn red and lose their leaves – seems rather late in the season to me. I wonder if the whole phenomenon is due to the warm late spell we had?

barking toad is sure to attribute this to global warming.

Along with the flies and mozzies I’ve noticed that a lot of the deciduous trees are only just starting to turn red and lose their leaves – seems rather late in the season to me. I wonder if the whole phenomenon is due to the warm late spell we had?

I’m with miz on this one – you folks complainin’ about flies! We used to dream of only having a dozen flies in the house at a time!

Back in the day, when Gus (of Gus’s Café fame) was trying to get seating outside the restaurant he confessed, “there’s no way we’d serve food outside until something is done about the flies!” These days, the appearance of a fly or two is unusual. You kids have it so lucky!

Note that ANZAC day has been and well and truly gone (in Canberra . We haven’t had a particularly heavy frost yet. This is weird weather for sure. And for those of you new to Canberra, “heavy frost” for Canberra is when the ice is so thick on the ground and the air is so cold that you have to eat your outdoor café lunch standing up. With your gloves still on. Balaclava optional. But no flies, because there’s that lovely fog-no-wait-it’s-mist-no-it’s-drizzle-no-it’s-just-fog thing happening.

I was thinking the same thing recently. They seem especially prevalent (or noticeable) in cafes and restaurants.

Same with mice, cockroaches, mozzies, etc etc — and things like lavender, rosemary, bottlebrushes… they all think it’s springtime!! Never seen that before at this time of year.

Onceler said :

It’s “hordes”, by the way.

And “phenomenon”.

Do you keep the dead bodies in your backyard? You should bury them to keep the files away.

I’ve noticed the odd fly still around, but I can’t say that there has been more than usual or hoards of them.

They aren’t in the same sort of numbers as when I went to school, but yes, I have noticed the odd few around whereas I’ve hardly noticed any for years.

arescarti42 said :

They drive me absolutely nuts, no idea how they get in but they do somehow.

Best thing you can do is get an electric handheld fly swatter, its sort of like a regular bug zapper, but you can swing it like a tennis racket.

I think they can be had from Australian Geographic for about $25, or off dealextreme.com for about $10.

Without a doubt, best $10 i ever spent.

They are possible the most fun gadget ever created. I was introduced to them in Hong Kong where they are cheap and plentiful, and without any of the safeguards of the ones here. Electric flyswat fights were a painful, fun game in the staffroom.

And good for eliminating flies from the household without flyspray too I guess… I have a small hoard of the them in the cupboard.

I think they are attracted to all the undiscovered bodies lying around Canberra – as we all know that if you want to get away with a murder, then come to Canberra to do it.

Anyway, I did read an article somewhere that said that due to the recent drought conditions, dung beetle numbers have taken a bit of a hammering, which has meant that the fly population has been able to increase considerably as there is more animal dung lying around for longer.