On 01/07/2010 12:32, Mentalguy2k8 wrote:

"Mentalguy2k8" wrote in message
news:5K_Wn.94783$w51.88115@hurricane...
They're black and smaller than house flies. We're getting a lot in the
garden, they seem to fly/hover aimlessly underneath the washing on the
line (like gnats), but never seem to land on anything.

Same indoors, they congregate in the middle of the room, sometimes a
dozen or two, just moving around underneath the ceiling fan, never
seeming to land on anything. They're coming in through an open door
(although an almost full-lenght curtain is across it, the breeze lifts
it at times and we seriously need the fresh air)

I'll try and get a photo later on, but does anyone have any ideas what
they are, and how to get rid of them? I'm getting tired zapping them
with my electronic fly-swat

Here's two that I zapped earlier:

http://tinypic.com/r/33mbr75/6


I'm no expert, but it looks like the Lesser House-fly, Fannia
canicularis, (Fanniidae). My book says that the male flies incessantly
around lights and other objects indoors. Larva feeds in various
decaying materials. There are many similar species.


--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

On 01/07/10 13:24, AriesVal wrote:
On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 12:12:01 +0100, Mentalguy2k8 wrote:

They're black and smaller than house flies. We're getting a lot in the
garden, they seem to fly/hover aimlessly underneath the washing on the line
(like gnats), but never seem to land on anything.

Same indoors, they congregate in the middle of the room, sometimes a dozen
or two, just moving around underneath the ceiling fan, never seeming to land
on anything. They're coming in through an open door (although an almost
full-lenght curtain is across it, the breeze lifts it at times and we
seriously need the fresh air)

I'll try and get a photo later on, but does anyone have any ideas what they
are, and how to get rid of them? I'm getting tired zapping them with my
electronic fly-swat

Window screens are the answer, well that is what my American friends keep
telling me!

We have screens, but they don't stop fruit flies.

On 01/07/10 15:21, Sacha wrote:
On 2010-07-01 13:30:39 +0100, meme said:

On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 12:32:02 +0100, "Mentalguy2k8"
wrote:


"Mentalguy2k8" wrote in message
news:5K_Wn.94783$w51.88115@hurricane...
They're black and smaller than house flies. We're getting a lot in the
garden, they seem to fly/hover aimlessly underneath the washing on the
line (like gnats), but never seem to land on anything.

Same indoors, they congregate in the middle of the room, sometimes a
dozen
or two, just moving around underneath the ceiling fan, never seeming to
land on anything. They're coming in through an open door (although an
almost full-lenght curtain is across it, the breeze lifts it at
times and
we seriously need the fresh air)

I'll try and get a photo later on, but does anyone have any ideas what
they are, and how to get rid of them? I'm getting tired zapping them
with
my electronic fly-swat

Here's two that I zapped earlier:

http://tinypic.com/r/33mbr75/6
OMG run their highly dangerous and will kill you if they bite you.




They are just harmless hoverflies.

Not hoverflies. Those are striped and look like miniature wasps but are
entirely harmless and a gardener's friend.

Having not seen a wasp yet this year, my wife git stung by one yesterday.

"®óñ© © ²°¹°" wrote in message
...
Offer them a banana.

(Fruit flies like a banana)


LOL I know this one "time flies like an arrow"
R. :-)

"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 13:31:39 +0100, "Mentalguy2k8"
wrote:


"Derek Turner" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:12:01 +0100, Mentalguy2k8 wrote:

They're black and smaller than house flies.

Probably thrips a.k.a thunderflies, from your description of their
behaviour.


I looked those up, and it's not them. The ones I have are like "normal"
flies that you get in the house and on dog poo (the big blue/green ones
that
buzz), except they are quite a bit smaller and don't land on anything,
don't
seem interested in people or food. They are hanging around in seemingly
pointless groups like gnats do. If they landed on something I might be
able
to work out what they're feeding on, but all they do is hover and jerk
around within the space of about a square yard. I can't see where they're
coming from or where they're going. All I know is that for every dozen I
kill, they're calling for backup and are back up to full strength within
minutes. But if I don't kill them, I still have the same number, it's not
like they're continually arriving, they just seem to reach a certain
number
and maintain it.

Have tried spraying citronella on the door frames, curtains etc., but it
doesn't seem to bother them.

If they don't appear to land or eat anything they are probably one the
predators that eat the even smaller insects that you don't even
notice. Do they occasional make a sudden movement? Sort of jump six
inch.

Yes, they do... just kind of

Martin wrote:
Having not seen a wasp yet this year, my wife git stung by one yesterday.

Oh no, invisible wasp invasion!
It's like an episode of X-files!

(apologies, hope your wife is not in too much discomfort ;-)

On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 15:25:17 +0100, "Mentalguy2k8"
wrote:

If they don't appear to land or eat anything they are probably one the
predators that eat the even smaller insects that you don't even
notice. Do they occasional make a sudden movement? Sort of jump six
inch.

Yes, they do... just kind of

That's when they get their food. If you look very carefully you will
see the target getting caught. They may be keeping the midges under
control.

Steve

--
Neural Planner Software Ltd www.NPSL1.com
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. www.justnn.com

"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 15:25:17 +0100, "Mentalguy2k8"
wrote:

If they don't appear to land or eat anything they are probably one the
predators that eat the even smaller insects that you don't even
notice. Do they occasional make a sudden movement? Sort of jump six
inch.

Yes, they do... just kind of

That's when they get their food. If you look very carefully you will
see the target getting caught. They may be keeping the midges under
control.

Great, so now I owe *them* a favour !?!?

Any idea what they are? I'd like to read some more about them

On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 15:45:16 +0100, "Mentalguy2k8"
wrote:


"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 15:25:17 +0100, "Mentalguy2k8"
wrote:

If they don't appear to land or eat anything they are probably one the
predators that eat the even smaller insects that you don't even
notice. Do they occasional make a sudden movement? Sort of jump six
inch.

Yes, they do... just kind of

That's when they get their food. If you look very carefully you will
see the target getting caught. They may be keeping the midges under
control.

Great, so now I owe *them* a favour !?!?

Any idea what they are? I'd like to read some more about them

I've no idea what they are called. I just think they look like the
little flies that are eating the midges around my pond.

Steve

--
Neural Planner Software Ltd www.NPSL1.com
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. www.justnn.com

In general it is a waste of time trying to identify insects to species level unless you have a specialist key and a microscope, with the exception of a few large and clearly distinct species such as butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers and the like, or a few locally species-poor classes such as ants (we don't have very many kinds of ants in Britain). Field guides to British insects show only a small fraction of the species we find here. Once we get into areas such as flies, beetles, bugs, etc, there are many, many British species, most not shown in the consumer literature, that the amateur naturalist can't hope to distinguish unless they want to make a special hobby of it.

People have been saying "its not a hoverfly, because these are striped like a wasp etc". But actually there are large numbers of different species of hoverflies found in Britain alone, and they have a wide range of colourations. What is important with insects is the body pattern. It is obvious with just a glance with this one we see it is indeed a fly, ie Diptera, and not a thrips or a wasp (there are huge numbers of wasps too, mostly not black-and-yellow stinging things, but quite different things that mainly parasitise the larvae of other insects)

A lot of people have been saying this maybe a fruit fly. There are also many kinds of fruit fly, not all of which have red eyes like the common fruit fly usually does, in fact even the common fruit fly doesn't always have red eyes. But this don't look like no fruit fly either.

Someone suggests it might be a predator. But I am not aware of any diptera that are predatory on other insects.

Now I don't know my way around the diptera very well, but Spider has made an excellent spot, and it does look rather like Fannia canicularis. There is an excellent photo of one on Wikipedia. Whether that is exactly what this one is is probably going to depend on the details of the wing venation: with a magnifying glass to examine the wing venation, you might be able to confirm this is exactly what it is. But if it isn't F canicularis, it is plainly one of its close cousins. Very well spotted Spider.

"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 15:45:16 +0100, "Mentalguy2k8"
wrote:


"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote in message
. ..
On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 15:25:17 +0100, "Mentalguy2k8"
wrote:

If they don't appear to land or eat anything they are probably one the
predators that eat the even smaller insects that you don't even
notice. Do they occasional make a sudden movement? Sort of jump six
inch.

Yes, they do... just kind of

That's when they get their food. If you look very carefully you will
see the target getting caught. They may be keeping the midges under
control.

Great, so now I owe *them* a favour !?!?

Any idea what they are? I'd like to read some more about them

I've no idea what they are called. I just think they look like the
little flies that are eating the midges around my pond.

Do you want them back?!

Thanks for the help, at least I can understand what they're doing and be a
little more tolerant.

On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 14:21:57 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2010-07-01 13:30:39 +0100, meme said:

On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 12:32:02 +0100, "Mentalguy2k8"
wrote:


"Mentalguy2k8" wrote in message
news:5K_Wn.94783$w51.88115@hurricane...
They're black and smaller than house flies. We're getting a lot in the
garden, they seem to fly/hover aimlessly underneath the washing on the
line (like gnats), but never seem to land on anything.

Same indoors, they congregate in the middle of the room, sometimes a dozen
or two, just moving around underneath the ceiling fan, never seeming to
land on anything. They're coming in through an open door (although an
almost full-lenght curtain is across it, the breeze lifts it at times and
we seriously need the fresh air)

I'll try and get a photo later on, but does anyone have any ideas what
they are, and how to get rid of them? I'm getting tired zapping them with
my electronic fly-swat

Here's two that I zapped earlier:

http://tinypic.com/r/33mbr75/6
OMG run their highly dangerous and will kill you if they bite you.




They are just harmless hoverflies.

Not hoverflies. Those are striped and look like miniature wasps but
are entirely harmless and a gardener's friend.
Have you actually looked at the photo

On Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:27:18 +0100, meme wrote:

On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 14:21:57 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2010-07-01 13:30:39 +0100, meme said:

On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 12:32:02 +0100, "Mentalguy2k8"
wrote:


"Mentalguy2k8" wrote in message
news:5K_Wn.94783$w51.88115@hurricane...
They're black and smaller than house flies. We're getting a lot in the
garden, they seem to fly/hover aimlessly underneath the washing on the
line (like gnats), but never seem to land on anything.

Same indoors, they congregate in the middle of the room, sometimes a dozen
or two, just moving around underneath the ceiling fan, never seeming to
land on anything. They're coming in through an open door (although an
almost full-lenght curtain is across it, the breeze lifts it at times and
we seriously need the fresh air)

I'll try and get a photo later on, but does anyone have any ideas what
they are, and how to get rid of them? I'm getting tired zapping them with
my electronic fly-swat

Here's two that I zapped earlier:

http://tinypic.com/r/33mbr75/6
OMG run their highly dangerous and will kill you if they bite you.




They are just harmless hoverflies.

Not hoverflies. Those are striped and look like miniature wasps but
are entirely harmless and a gardener's friend.
Have you actually looked at the photo
Ooops sorry Sacha that wasnt meant to be abrupt as I wrote it.

In message 4f1Xn.129694$Hs4.106667@hurricane, Ragnar
writes

"®óñ© © ²°¹°" wrote in message
.. .
Offer them a banana.

(Fruit flies like a banana)


LOL I know this one "time flies like an arrow"
R. :-)


Good old Groucho :-))
--
Gopher .... I know my place!

On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 17:48:15 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2010-07-01 17:30:16 +0100, meme said:

On Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:27:18 +0100, meme wrote:

On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 14:21:57 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2010-07-01 13:30:39 +0100, meme said:

On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 12:32:02 +0100, "Mentalguy2k8"
wrote:


"Mentalguy2k8" wrote in message
news:5K_Wn.94783$w51.88115@hurricane...
They're black and smaller than house flies. We're getting a lot in the
garden, they seem to fly/hover aimlessly underneath the washing on the
line (like gnats), but never seem to land on anything.

Same indoors, they congregate in the middle of the room, sometimes a dozen
or two, just moving around underneath the ceiling fan, never seeming to
land on anything. They're coming in through an open door (although an
almost full-lenght curtain is across it, the breeze lifts it at times and
we seriously need the fresh air)

I'll try and get a photo later on, but does anyone have any ideas what
they are, and how to get rid of them? I'm getting tired zapping them with
my electronic fly-swat

Here's two that I zapped earlier:

http://tinypic.com/r/33mbr75/6
OMG run their highly dangerous and will kill you if they bite you.




They are just harmless hoverflies.

Not hoverflies. Those are striped and look like miniature wasps but
are entirely harmless and a gardener's friend.
Have you actually looked at the photo
Ooops sorry Sacha that wasnt meant to be abrupt as I wrote it.

I wondered what I'd done wrong - especially as the only meme I know is
my grandchildren's other grandmother!! Yes, I did look at the photo.
Why? Do you think they look like hoverflies? Or do we just experience
different hoverflies? Or call things by different names? To me,
hoverflies are striped and look like this:
http://taos-telecommunity.org/epow/E...er%20fly_s.jpg
I'm

familiar with those little black jobs aimlessly floating around in an
irritating fashion but not with hoverflies that look like that, behave
as a 'gang' or come into the house except, perhaps, accidentally. I
suspect we mean two different things as the OP says that his pests are
black.
Theres hundreds of different hoverflies and there not all exactly
straight forward striped.
They can be from 4-5mm long going upwards and come in all different
colours.
This is just one website and a small selection.
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/...overflies.html