CLUSTER FLIES UK!!! Flies in my loft, flies around my windows!!! This is a cluster fly INFESTATION!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- What To Do About Cluster Flies (Polleniarudis)
WHAT ARE CLUSTER FLIES?
Cluster Flies are a common pest species in the UK. They are mainly a pest in rural locations, but we have dealt with them in towns and cities over the years. They are mainly a rural pest because of their life cycle, which is a pretty GRUESOME to say the least. It's an amazing life cycle, non the less.
They are a parasitic pest species of fly that live in and on earthworms. The larval stage (Maggot) of the cluster fly lives inside earthworms from Spring until the end of the Summer.
At the end of the summer the adult cluster flies leave their hosts, killing the poor earthworm in the process!
In the Winter, after feeding in fields and grasslands they would usually start to 'cluster' together (hence the name Cluster Flies) in hollowed out trunks of trees, under bark, abandoned mouse nests, etc. But, in the modern world, cluster flies have realised that there are much safer harbourages to be found! These new safe cluster fly overwintering places are, annoyingly for you, in homes, caravans, etc..
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU'VE GOT A CLUSTER FLY INFESTATION??
In late Summer or Autumn you may notice hundreds, or even thousands, of cluster flies sunning themselves on the sun facing side of your house before they crawl into your loft or even holes in your window frames!
They may re-emerge if temperatures fluctuate, but as average temperatures drop, they will take up more permanent residency inside.
This process will happen again in the spring as they start to wake up to carry out their life cycle again for another year.
Amazingly the offspring from these flies will nearly always come back to the same overwintering place, but usually in higher numbers!
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, you may notice cluster flies sunning themselves on the side of your house. This will nearly always be on a south-easterly facing wall, where they can get the most energy from the weak spring or autumnal sun.
You may also notice the flies inside bedroom windows, this is where they have found a way in, but cant get back out, as they get confused by the glass in the window. If they can find a way back out to sunbathe they will usually leave a calling card in the form of brown faecal matter around the window frames.
You may also see them up in the loft, especially if there is a light up there, as cluster flies will be drawn to this on warmer days thinking its daylight.
Sometimes you will also notice a strange pungent smell! This is caused by pheromones (chemical smell signals) that are designed to tell other Cluster Flies where the best place to cluster is.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Very little. The task of 'proofing' your house to keep them out would never be viable and very likely to be impossible, as one tiny hole missed would render the operation futile.
Repointing around window frames may help, but they nearly always find another clustering site not too far away, like your loft.
You could use a normal fly spray, this will kill all the Cluster Flies that it touches, but it won't affect the ones hiding away from the spray.
Old fashioned fly papers can have a small effect on the population, but highly unlikely to stop further infestations, or to have any effect at all.
You could also wait for a very cold day and try to vacuum them up while they are docile, but again it's not very effective.
WHAT PROFESIONALS DO AGAINST CLUSTER FLY INFESTATIONS.
We have numerous ways to deal with large numbers of cluster flies in your house or loft.
The usual way that we treat your cluster fly infestation is to carry out the procedures in this TH-cam video.
This is how we get rid of cluster flies as a professional pest control company:
1. We use highly residual insecticides around windows and other resting or 'clustering' sites, such as window frames. These 'professional use only' insecticides are specifically designed for use on flies, specifically resting flies. The insecticide we use also has a long residual effect, that means it keeps killing the cluster flies for a long time.
2. We use large insecticidal smoke generators or sometimes 'single release' fogging aerosols to kill cluster flies in lofts and other large volume areas infested by cluster flies.
We must also look for evidence of bats at your house, as the use of insecticides is highly restricted in those circumstances. If this is an issue we will take you through your options on what to do if bats are present.
We hope that you enjoy this video. Please feel free to subscribe to our channel for more pest and bee related videos to come in the future.
Thank you for watching and your continued support,
The Pest Interceptors.
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First year in our house, we found these cluster flies in our attic, managed to vacuum them up, they were incredibly docile, so managed to get them all, without working up a sweat. Six years later, they have never returned.
You were really lucky there! All it takes is for a few to be missed, they will return next winter, reproducing each year.
Fantastic that the non toxic way worked!
I do wonder if there were any other reasons though, maybe their food/breeding materials were removed from the surrounding area, I guess that's impossible to know.
Great result either way. 🙂
@@PestInterceptors cheers mate, was not a pleasant sight, when I first spotted them.
Nice video, we've just had a skylight installed and have loads up there. Saw a clip saying WD40 works but i dont believe that lol. Not tried it though.
We hear WD40 solves lots of pest problems. The latest one was for pigeons! 🤷♂️
I suppose it may mask the pheromones left by the cluster flies? Perhaps 🤔
At the least it will keep your windows from rusting 🤗 so no harm in trying (but it will only mask what it is sprayed onto)
Thanks got them in my loft in country, horrible up there putting a bomb in now.
Always best to wait until the first frost of winter has happened. 👍🏼
Am I able to use an Electrostatic ULV Fogger with Pro-Perm insect killer for cluster flies in my attic?
I may be wrong but I don’t think fogger insecticides are residual.
It would be good as a knock down though.
Hey I have an attic bedroom and it's just recently got flies in it again. I've just bought some fly bombs from Amazon so will that be enough to kill them all?
Are you in the uk? Has it just started to drop cold where you live recently?
@@PestInterceptors yeah I'm in Bradford, and they started showing up last month so I'd say it's been pretty cold if they're infesting my room.
The problem with cluster flies is that they can cluster in places the smoke may get too. For example, they love velux roof windows as they can get inside the hollow frames. They will also get into roof space or in the voids between the ceiling and the roof tiles in loft conversions.
That’s why we use a residual insecticide as well as smokes or aerosols.
You may be lucky though. Give it a try with the smoke bombs.
Good luck from the Pest Interceptors
Great informative video. Have them in my loft. Been using an insecticide we got for fleas. Killing them each spray round the velux gaps. Going to get a smoke bomb or two 👍
We are glad you liked it (hope we got a subscribe off you 😉) but don’t forget that the wet spray we use as professionals is a residual insecticide, in other words, once it dries it stays as an effective insecticide and keeps killing for months afterwards.
It’s also an insecticide that is designed for ‘resting flies”.
Thanks for watching 👍🏼
@@PestInterceptors ok. I guess it’s professional users only for the residual insecticide is it? Am thinking they could be in the cavity between brickwork too. Have just ordered 3 bombs. Was wondering how they get in my bathroom. I think possibly through the Extractor via the brick cavity
@@RichDavey yes I think it’s only professional that is residual, not sure though.
Cluster flies can get through tiny gaps, but what they are following is light. When you have your heating on the heat can warm up wherever they are hibernating. The flies think it’s spring time. They wake up and try to find a way out. If they do this at night, when the heating is on its hottest, there is no light outside. So they will be drawn to any light they can find.
If you have lights in the bathroom they are likely to be sunken lights. These lights have to be open in the loft. Hence they attract the flies.
@@PestInterceptors looks like you know your stuff 👍 hopefully I will get rid of them. I will spray around the lights in the bathroom 👍
@@RichDavey and try to keep the lights off as much as you can. No light, no flies. Plus with the price of electric atm…..👍🏼
Hi we just bought a house and every year we get cluster flies, we have no pets but previous owner did, getting fed up of zapping them, although kids find it entertaining, thinking of getting a fogger but not sure what to use with it, any recommendations or tips please,
Erm watch the video 🤷♂️
Cluster flies have nothing to do with pets in the house.
The video tells all. 😊
They vanish with laundry detergent
How? Do you leave a dish of powder up in the loft or what?@@Joyjoy-ih1ie
I've just started getting loads of flies in the house over the last two days. They're quite big, very quiet and slow when they're flying. I keep finding them dead on the floor, windowledges, and anywhere else they literally drop, like on the work surfaces, on shelves, or even in a vase. Any idea what I can do?
They sound more likely to be House , Bluebottle or Greenbottle flies.
Did you notice a weird smell recently? Then the smell disappeared and a few weeks later you got flies.
All these types of fly lay eggs on carrion. Once the maggots eat the dead animal they pupate and re-emerge a couple of weeks later as adult flies. For the first few hours they are really dumb and docile.
Hope that helps.
I have a ton hiding in my house and walls, how long until the ones already here will die? Or, simply put, how long do they live?
@judahbrutus it doesn’t really matter.
The adult flies are hibernating in your house. When it’s warm they will leave, lay eggs on earthworms, the eggs hatch out and live as a parasite in the worm until they hatch out as adult flies.
The flies then feed and mate and then they come back to where their parents came from…..your house.
can you tell me if this residual insecticide is harmful to humans? We store things in our lofts and go up there on occasions- can we get health issues from breathing it or touching it ?
This particular one is professional use only. Once it is dry it is safe for humans and animals.
When applying the correct ppe should be used.
we have just bought a house and there are cluster flies in the loft..the house is almost new and pristine -very clean but it has a very large non LED bracketed street lamp on the upper outside wall..do you think the flies are attracted to it? We also may have a blocked gutter /down pipe and a pooey smell in the adjacent upstairs bathroom all of which might cause the flies to gather ..what do you think? @@PestInterceptors
@@doggyvonne with flies identification is always very important.
Presuming they are in fact cluster flies, I don’t think any of the above are things that would attract the flies.
If you have a strange smell perhaps you should look at this problem as it may be causing the fly problem although the flies that will cause won’t be clusters.
they are smaller and less fat than blue bottles and black, easy to catch
@@PestInterceptors
@@doggyvonne maybe take a look at your flies compared with photos of cluster flies on Google.
It’s difficult to say what they are in this format.
If we are ever uncertain we send samples to an entomologist. That way you are certain 👍🏼
We moved into our house a few years ago and we didn’t have them for 2 years? But the last 2 years they’ve been back. Is there anything we can do to stop them year on year? Thank you in advance :)
The secret is to use a residual insecticide. As far as I know there aren’t any non professional use insecticides.
Even with professional use insecticides it is a challenge to get rid of Cluster flies.
Sorry to be the harbinger of bad news.
What brand insecticide ? I have the same issue can’t get rid of them
I had these on Velux windows in a new property. I didn’t realise that when they were killed they released a smell so after squashing loads of them the top floor stinks of flies still. Any advice on how to get rid of the smell? It’s awful!
Get rid of them professionally and there is no need to squash them.
The smell you are smelling is actually coming off the live flies, it’s a pheromone to attract more of their friends to their cluster site.
@@PestInterceptors if I see another swarm I definitely will get someone out. We had just moved in and saw them so I panicked and just started killing them . Never seen anything like it before! 😬As of right now I can’t see any at all, i smoke bombed the loft and some more came out but since then nothing and the top floor of the house still has a horrible smell to it
Previous owner of the house said these flies hibernate in our loft and leave in spring but this is February and we have cluster flies coming into the upstairs of the house through one particular window frame but we cant find where the crack is -it seems sealed. Why are these flies so active and how are they getting in- i can keep killing them easily with spray but all this spray near our sleeping areas cant be good for us?
@doggyvonne in an artificial situation like a house, the warmth from our modern heating systems artificially wakes up the flies too early. Sometimes it will just be a really warm day and that will wake them up. Either way the flies will wake up and try to get outside (on a warm day you will see them sunning themselves on the sunny side of the house.) when the temperature drops the flies will get back inside when they realise it is still winter.
Keep killing them, but really you need to use a residual insecticide that keeps killing for weeks after application.
Last 2 summers , I found billions of cluster flies, they were so annoying, but my mum just tried to kill them with an old book we don’t use anymore
Perhaps we give her and her book a job 😆
When you kill them off in the loft you than have them dead in the loft. Is there a way of keeping them from getting into the soffit in the first place? If you spray the outside of the house around the soffit will they pick up the insecticide and still end up dead inside your attic?
You will never proof against cluster flies. It’s just pretty impossible to do so.
And most residual insecticide doesn’t kill on contact like say a fly spray, so although it will kill them on the way to the loft, lots will still get to the loft.
@@PestInterceptors Thanks
Do you use bifenthrin? That’s what I used in Australia for many pests; termites, redback spiders, cockroaches, etc. If you want to see flies, go to Western Australia in the spring and early summer. Absolutely shocking. Ugh!
We use a residual insecticide that is designed for resting flies. I think it was Cimetrol Super on this one, not sure what the actives are in it.
Australian pests make our UK pests look well tame!!!
The Pest Interceptors are hoping to go check out pests from around the world in the coming years....lets hope Australia is one of the places!
@@PestInterceptors, I used bifenthrin for residual for roaches, flies, spiders, all sorts. My main job was spraying sand pads before poly, mesh and concrete goes down. All new builds in Western Oz, have to have it done.
@@johnnunn8688 that sounds like a great law! Rare things! 😂
I need you guys at my house!! Where in the U.K. are you based?
We are based in Stourbridge, West Midlands. But we cover a large area.
I'm not sure if I have cluster flies or house flies but there are loads of them the whole time. I might have to call someone in to help but I have pets and I'm worried about any chemicals hurting them. We have a tiny one bedroom bungalow so no where to hide away from anything dangerous that may be used.
They seem to be hanging around outside he bathroom window and bathroom air brick but that side of the house is in constant shade.
If you’re in the uk and you’ve had them during the summer, it’s very unlikely to be cluster flies.
Most of the treatments/chemicals we use on cluster flies are totally fine around dogs, once they product is dry.
We’re are you based?
@@PestInterceptors We're in Kent so I don't think we are near you unfortunately. We seem to get this every year but we've never been able to see where they were (possibly) entering before. We just assumed them were house flies until this point.
@@sugarpuff2978 like I say, if you’re getting them in the summer months it’s not going to be cluster flies.
House flies, green bottle fly and blue bottle flies are all carrion flies, they reproduce on dead meat.
There is a lesser house fly, that’s the annoying fly that flies around your light fitting in the middle of the room in a strange triangle or square flight path and it does it for days on end. Similar looking and same size as a cluster fly. About half the size of a house fly.
@@PestInterceptors I think we've only had them over the last week or so but this does seem to happen yearly and happens all of sudden. I can't have the windows open even to cook because then they all come in. Yesterday I probably dealt with in excess of thirty flies all at once. Do you think they could be house flies/green bottles/blue bottles? I know they aren't the lesser house fly. Thank you.
Hi mate I live on top floor apartment and I’m seing lots of lies outside my 2 of my windows, and it’s been getting a worse over the past week I have none in my flat as I keep all the windows closed but I need some advice on what to do
You need to wait until they are all inside (after a hard frost) and then treat them. A residual insecticide is needed really, and residual ones are usually professional use only.
I’ve never seen those flies, ever.
They return in greater numbers year after year! Horrible little earth worm parasites!
Thankfully they don't carry disease!
The buzzing when you kill them is preturbing.
When I opened the last velux window 🙈🤮😂
What are you spraying on the window frames ?
A residual insecticide made for ‘resting’ flies.
Cluster flies rest on and cluster inside window frames sometimes.
@@PestInterceptors thank you , I have hundreds of these in past few days and driving me mad . I’ve been reading up and everything points towards cluster flies . They seem to appear from nowhere in my kitchen extension where I have 3 velum windows . What do you suggest I do please ? I can’t afford to get someone in so would need to sort on my own . Thank you so much for taking the time to reply
@@PestInterceptors I bought some spray from screwfix tonight … do you think it will do
Please ?
Zero in Ultra Power Household Pest Killer
@@srouse7521 if you’re in the uk it’s way too early for cluster flies. They start to come in houses in the cold of late autumn you see.
Identity of the fly is paramount. You can send me a photo if you like. help@pestinterceptors.co.uk
@@PestInterceptors thanks for the offer . I’m in Glasgow and we have seen a drop in temps of about 5-7 degrees in last few weeks . I will send you a picture .
Eugh nasty things x
They really are awful things!!! I never know who to feel more sorry for, the home owner or the poor earthworm the cluster fly has killed!
@@PestInterceptors keep up the awesome work 👍
Nice video best on TH-cam about cluster flies!
London is fly city tiny by the billion and sizes u can see too it’s nuts it’s unhealthy and does your head in big time even the pubs have tons u cannot get away from them if I spray any more permethrin I’ll choke to death. Everyone started hanging clothes outside it’s plain nuts
Lots of different flies. Most can be removed by just removing the breeding materials. Good luck with that in a city though!
Remove the breeding material..remove the flies. ✅