In article , gavin wrote:

I am very new to gardening so forgive me if my question is facile. I got
a
compost bin free from my local council - it's one of those large black
ones
that looks a bit like a Dalek :-) I put my organic kitchen and garden
waste
in there. Every time I take the lid off I am greeted by a swarm of
smallish
flies (I guess they're not really "flies"). Is this normal? Would this
indicate that my compost is not well?

Yes and no, respectively :-)

Care to enlighten me, Nick :-)

Yes, it's normal. No, it does not indicate a problem with your
compost.

They are probably true flies, called by gardeners compost flies,
but could be any number of species. Ignore them. They tickle,
stick to paint, and otherwise make minor nuisances of themselves,
but so what?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.