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Biting flies


crossy67
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Went for a walk in a forest today and ended up cutting it short.  I was getting bitten like mad by flies.  They were a little bit bigger than your standard house fly but they bit, not like a flea bite or a mozzie, you felt a sharp bit, looked down and there they were.  I swatted quite a few and don't seem to have any lumps or reaction to them.  I don't think they broke the skin but I am wondering what the heck they were.  Honestly, I ended up leaving our nice afternoons walk after about 20 minutes, I had been bitten about 20 times and just couldn't enjoy it.

Any ideas what they were?

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Sounds like horse flies I find they normally come out when its humid or after rain and Im alergic to the bites and they can make my whole arm or leg swell up, although I find if you dont scratch them they dont get so bad , but its hard as they itch like crazy ...
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They are not horse flies just smallish flies that bite. They are unusual in that (normally) they cause no skin reaction.

Spray your 'bare' bits before you go out and they should leave you alone.

They seem to prefer females btw.

.
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Didn't think they were horse flies, they're not any bigger than a large house fly, from what I have seen of horse flies they look just like a house fly but bigger and these didn't have hoofs.  These looked a bit different.  A couple of the bites started itching last night.  Ruined a nice walk round the forest.

Go for females eh?  Next time I'll wear more manly clothes and aftershave [:D]

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I think you would know about it if you'd been bitten by a horsefly. OH was and was in pain, with a severe swelling around the bite area and had to see the dr. She prescribed anti histamine and steroids.

Since living in France (8 years) I've always found the black flies bite, exactly how you describe.
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My wife attracts anything that bites.I take anti histamine for hay fever and I find ,touch wood, that if I am bitten I get very little irritation.My wife sometimes takes one of my tablets and she finds that the irritation is not so bad.

I have been told that insects are attracted to women because of the chemical Feromone that they release.How true it is I do not know.
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  • 1 month later...
Coming in late on this thread, I know, but we had terrible problems with the biting flies at our previous house and now at the new one.   If we sat under the cherry tree with feet on the floor, within five mins, the little blighters were biting like mad and sometimes breaking the skin and drawing blood.  However, if we sat on the gravel path or on a sun lounger, no problem at all.  They have no preference for biting male or female as me and OH both suffered.  They were definately not horseflies and did look like ordinary house flies.  No idea then what they were, but they are, and still are, a nuisance.

I've been having a look around on the internet and have come up with one possibility - the Stable Fly.  This fly does not only bite livestock, as in cows, horses, etc, it is also partial to a bit of human blood. 

Stable flies are common around confined animal rearing

facilities, but can also be pests in open pastures. Both sexes feed

on the blood of livestock and man, and inflict painful bites. Adults

actively feed during sunny days and generally feed on the lower parts

of animals. After feeding, they rest in the shade of posts or trees,

and on the sides of buildings. Females require blood meals for egg production

and can lay several hundred eggs during their lifespan. Eggs tend to

be laid in moist decaying organic material that contains large amounts

of rotting vegetation, such as manure mixed with bedding, fermenting

feed, silage, and rotting hay. Larvae complete development and pass

through 3 instars within 1 to 2 weeks. They spend a further 1 to 2 weeks

as puparia before emerging as adults. The entire life life cycle from

egg to adult is usually completed within 2 to 5 weeks, with a number

of generations occurring throughout the summer. Stable flies overwinter

in breeding sites as puparia and emerge the next spring as adults.

(Source:   http://www.nadsdiptera.org/FFP/stable.htm)

As you can see from the blurb they can also "rest" on the sides of buildings, but these are not to be confused with the cluster flies which are currently active and swarming on, particularly, light coloured buildings.  These flies, are seeking a place for hibernation over winter, look like ordinary house flies but are slower and smaller.  They do not lay eggs in the house, they prefer earthworms, they are just looking for somewhere to over-winter and will re-emerge from anytime in January onwards (depending on how warm the weather is).  They tend to enter the house through small cracks or holes on the outside walls and possibly only in one particular room (they can also be known as attic flies).  They are difficult to get rid of and usually come back to the same house, year after year.  Some people say to spray a solution of Jeyes Fluid around the affected area, others say use fly spray, hoover them up and empty the bag into a sealable bag that can then be thrown away, use of citronella, etc, etc.  You can also apparently buy a "bomb" from your local brico or co-op agricole (I guess similar to the ones you can buy for flea infestations).

There is plenty on the internet about cluster flies.

This is just my view from researching on the internet, and would welcome the  views of others on the Biting Flies and the Cluster Flies, your thoughts, suggestions for remedies, etc.

Jan

xx

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I think I identified the ones that had me as deer flies.

[IMG]http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h198/Rhodopus/deer-fly-illustration_360x250.jpg[/IMG]

I came cross them only the other day when looking for what the latest thing to dine out on me was.  I have now been eaten by Harvest mites.

[IMG]http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/y346/Mahoshonen/Red%20Harvest/chigger-camp-karankawa.jpg[/IMG]

I seem to attract biting things.  We went camping to Cap Feret a couple of weeks ago.  It was really hot so we had to leave the tent flaps open.  Bad mistake.  I got bitten 11 times in an hour, Julie didn't get bitten once[:@]

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You are obviously tastier than Julie.  But they are a nuisance.  I think deer fly also goes by the name stable fly and other names too, same group of fly, just a different name.  As for those little red mites - they may be small, but they do pack a punch - I've been bitten by them too.  At the moment I am suffering from mozzy bites.  Had nothing all summer, but just in the last week or so, they have become a pain (literally).  Got two corkers on my leg - look like mini volcanos at the moment.  [:'(]

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[quote user="Suninfrance"]You are obviously tastier than Julie.

[/quote]

Easy, she'll get jealous lol.

[quote user="Suninfrance"]

I think deer fly also goes by the name stable

fly and other names too

[/quote]

Yes, ooohh you nasty little b**ard was one I christened them with.  I still have a red weld on my arm from one bite, that was ages ago and it's only just fading now.

I don't know for certain it's the harvest mite but the symptoms etc all point that way.

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The odd bite is bearable if you live in the countryside or are outside a lot, but when it comes to aoutats/harvest mites/chiggers, that's when I get hysterical. No one wants to look like they have some terrible skin condition and be scratching like a monkey for weeks on end! Next year I aim to find something which will keep them away and when I do, I shall post on here. In the meantime, for mozzie bites, stings, biting flies etc., (as long as the skin isn't broken) we swear by After Bite in our house. It's a pen which dispenses smelly ammonia-type fluid and if you use it immediately on a bite it lessens the impact and stops the urge to scratch. It also works on nettle stings, wasps etc. Stings a bit when first applied but worth it for the relief. You can buy it on the Net or from English pharmacies. Not seen it on sale in France, but maybe? For a painful swollen bite, good idea to take an anti-histamine before bedtime. This reduces the swelling really well. Anything that doesn't respond probably needs medical treatment or assessment.
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We used to use Autan for prevention.  We went to Corsica on holiday a few years back, the mozzies there were hardcore and just licked it off to find what they wanted, it was like we were not wearing anything at all.  Then we went to a chemist and bought the only repellant they sold, it was called Marie Rose and was brilliant.  Well worth looking up if you need something.

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