insects and such!

[Lindylou]

Hi,
this will be our first summer in Brittany and hope to make a lot of use of the garden, but is there a time of year that has a problem with insects. In the uk we have what we call horse flys, I think it's around May/June time, when you cut grass around the tree's you get quite a few bites, Our new garden has a lot of trees along one side, would we get something similar or are there worse things to come.
Lindylou.

[Alcazar]

Not really a specific time of the year, but there are biting insects in France, certainly.

If what you call Horse-flies are coming out of the long grass, they sound more like biting midges or harvest bugs.
Horse-flies are about 1.5x as big as a bluebottle, but look similar, with very sharp mouthparts, and they bite to suck blood.....often, when they fly off, a small puncture bleeds for a few seconds

You do need to be aware of hornets, but they are only really a nuisance at the end of the season, unless, like my wife last year, you're unlucky enough to disturb a nest. 3 stings, and a visit to a doctor was necessary! Her eye was swollen closed for 5 days

Alcazar

[Liz]

I have had ant bites a few times when digging in the garden, not from the ordinary black ones I think, but some other larger kind. You will also get mosquitoes in the late summer, and if you are any where near farm land you will get flies also fairly late in the season.

Lovely here isn't it?

Arm yourself with your preferred repellant and remedy. For mosquitoes at night we find the plug in devices very effective.

Liz (29)

[Suninfrance]

Hi

We're in the Limousin and we have flies, that look like ordinary flies, but if you are in the shade, they like to draw blood!! Irritating when you are trying to have lunch in the garden and you feel you can feel the little beggers nipping away. They particularly like ankles - mine anyway.


Horseflys, the same as in England, wasps as in England, hornets a different matter. However, with the hornets although they look scary, if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. Try not to get within 2-3 metres of their nests and they won't touch you. However, if they are too close for comfort, a badminton racket is a good weapon.

Some friends have just acquired something that looks like a badminton racket, but it has a battery and once you swat the offending insects, it fries them. Quite a useful tool if you are an insectiphobe.

We are getting used to all the different insects though - they are ow a part of our everyday life, and we've only been here a couple of months.