What are these

[Lori88jg]

Hi have recently moved into an apartment in Shropshire (UK) it's kind of in the middle of fields etc but over the last couple of weeks I have noticed hundreds of these little black bugs they are so tiny you can only see their legs when they move their literally the size and look of headlice. There are hundreds on my window sills and spotted a couple inside but mainly sooooo many on my window sill Help please

They're not ants?

No definetly not ants their way smaller

Various names: thrips, thunderflies, crop flies.

There will be more when they harvest whatever is in the fields.

Hi I Googled those as I was told about them but they honestly look so much smaller there is literally hundreds and you can't even tell they are bugs they are that small until I saw a couple of them move they are literally can only be described as baby headlice due to size, they congregate on my window sills but the odd one I've found inside on my towel and sink!

Some sort of louse or mite then. Was there old food in the cupboards? A birds nest in the roof?

Weevils?

Flour mites, though they are more likely to be near flour.

Hi thanks for the replys I have noticed that the neighbours have them all over their windows as well so can't be down to food being left in cuboard etc so strange and annoying

Not weevils no even tinier! Literally so tiny

They are thunderflies, get used to them if you live rurally, they don't harm, just annoying. Wait for them to die then hoover them up. Our windows were black with them last week before the rain.

Deffo thunderbugs, I live in a similar area and we get them frequently, had them after the storm last week.

When we first moved from London to the countryside we were perplexed as to what they could be, they get everywhere and especially like to invade photo frames and get squashed between the glass and the picture!

Like this

Thrips. They are disturbed during harvest. They get everywhere. I there is one on the second hand inside my mum's vintage clock. I remember it appearing as a child. It's gone round and around for about 30 years to date.

Yeah those are thrips :)

Thunderbugs we call them. Totally harmless

Yup thunderbugs (thrips). We live close to fields/rural and get loads of them. They seem to come in waves as we get loads all at once then none for a while again. They are harmless, just annoying. We have two stuck inside our TV screen! Also had loads and loads of leaf beetles coming off the rapeseed crops, and they are much more annoying but equally harmless (unless you're a brassica!).

I live in Shropshire. They are thunderflies - they are everywhere at the moment!!

Everywhere in Worcestershire too, make me feel so dirty and yucky.

Corn lice but they have loads of different names. Come off crops when disturbed. Try walking along even the edge of a field of crops, you will soon find them or they you! Harmless and as far as I know they don't bite.

Thanks for the replys everybody! Especially the person living in Shropshire lol they are so annoying there is so many of them they get absolutely everywhere

Just dropping by to say we've moved this thread over to the Chat section.