Bloody flies!!

[Abouteffingtime]

Anyoneelse absolutely plagued by them? Theres at least 20 flies in my house at any one time. Mostly in the kitchen/dining room.

I am keeping all food put away, sides sprayed and wiped down. Sink bleached. Door/window closed. Amd still they come. I have just swatted 15 in the kitchen, its a small room too so they are literally buzzing around you. Go back an hour later to more.

What can I do to stop them coming in?? I do have some wimdows open vecause its so hot!

Is there something i can use to repel them?

Citronella candles?/plug ins/incense?

Also one of those things on the back door with beads that they can’t fly through

I sympathise I’ve got a plague of them in my basement kitchen. I’ve now resorted to those sticky long things you hang up. This morning there must have been 20 flies in each of three hanging things. The sticky things look gross but work sooo well

Pop some cordial in an egg cup or ramekin dish and they'll drown in there. I used to use fly stickers too but its a slow death for them that way and I don't want to add to their suffering. I wouldn't dream of killing other insects but flies are germy aren't they?

I haven't had any flies at all for weeks. I thought it was because of the heat.

They ARE germy and theyre all over my bloody surfaces

I hate the sticky things too. Maybe i will put a glass of wine out for them, they always seem to make their way into one.

I have a fly screen thing, not beady but similar but have taken to keeping the door closed.

Off to google plug in fly repellant....

www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/30/house-files-uk-plague-homes

It's been terrible this year. I put an insect net up at the kitchen window and that's helped a lot but there's still a few getting in via other windows/doors.

I put sliced lemons in a bowl by the kitchen door which is always open. Seems to work. Unless I cook chicken then they are all in! But do go when it’s out the oven.

I had one of them few years ago but it fell down and landed on my very furry white cat, she ran into the garden so scared with it all stuck to her.
Eventually caught her and had to cut it off with some of her hair poor thing. 😒
They do work though .

Sorry Oxo01 that made me laugh so much. They’re utterly vile things but, in my case ( which is extreme) is working. My terriers worry after anything new in the house and they did notice but it made a change from them attempting to snap at the thirty odd flies

We’ve got loads too, just the past couple of days. If I don’t clear food or any smears/crumbs away immediately they are all over.

My main advice is keep your kitchen bin firmly shut at all times otherwise they go in there and lay eggs 🤮

I think swatting them just creates more smears for them to investigate tbh

We also have teeny tiny moths. I worried about clothes but it turns out they were eating some lovely bulbs I hadn't got round to planting. The bulbs were thrown out but the millions of tiny moths are still there.

Yep
It was funny a few hours later but when the cat and I was running around the god dam garden with my parner saying to me to calm down it was far from funny 😂

I thought if she jumped the fence she would have bushes and all sorts sticking to it.

Also if she tried to lick it or use her paws to get it off or both I had images of her paws and tongue stuck to it ending up with a visit to the vets 😂😂

This is very interesting and discusses the importance of flies (and how they get PR compared to bees who are no better or worse!!)

the key to keeping them out of the house is to create habitats outside that they appreciate but also attract fly predators

Agree - really bad this year. Pleased to hear it’s not just us. Why, why, why don’t British (or indeed any European) houses have fly screens over the doors and windows?!?! (I know why, they weren’t designed that way and how would you put them on my Victorian terrace sash windows, but still!).

We have roller blind style fly screens on all of our windows so only get the occasional fly that comes in if someone opens the door . It is brilliant .

Up until about an hour ago I'd not noticed any more flies than usual (one of my cats catches the ones we do have) but I roasted a chicken earlier and left it out to cool - covered in foil and two large tea towels - and when I went in there were about 30 bluebottles on the top tea towel.

Where the fuck did they come from? The kitchen window was only open a few inches at the top (sash window)

Urgh.

Managed to get rid of most of them by opening the window fully and spraying fly spray. But now I've had to clean the whole kitchen for traces of fly spray. We had a few stragglers that escaped the kitchen but I think I've dealt with them all now.

I'm 99% sure no flies got to the chicken but I am going to bin it, just incase. I just cannot unsee the tea towel teeming with fucking flies. And now we have no dinner!

The fly catching cat was nowhere to be found but I think even he'd have been overwhelmed at the amount of them.

Get a fly screen

Years ago when my cat was a kitten I unrolled one of the long flytrap things on a windowsill and shut my cat out of the bedroom. Come 6 am she scratched to come in and I’d forgotten why the door was shut. She jumped up on the windowsill then down again with the stuff stuff over her.

Cue frantic Googling whilst half asleep! Rubbed her with olive oil then Fairy, and the into the shower. I thought there’d be blood but other than one plaintive meow she didn’t object too much. Thought she’d never forgive me but she jumped up on the bed with me and curled up.

As for this year yes, we’re plagued. Fruit flies especially. Discovered maggots in the kitchen but which only takes the soft plastics before going to the supermarket. Really surprised anything in there attracted them.