Soggy start to summer boosts brutal horseflies

12:07pm Monday 13th August 2007

LAST week, I wrote a rather horrifying story about how the wet weather had benefited our mosquito populations and how we were now left with a real boom of these rather annoying blood-sucking creatures.

With this in mind, I set out to find something cheery to write about.

However, I began to struggle, as on my many trips out into the countryside this week my attention kept on being taken by yet another type of blood-sucking fly.

At one point I had visited Hurcott Pastures, a Site of Special Scientific Interest between Podmore Pool and Hurcott Pool in Kidderminster. It was late in the day and as I looked down on the grass banks of the fields I was met by a spectacle of aerobatics performed by a dozen or so swifts and swallows.

These birds were swooping with their mouths gaping, twisting and turning to reap up the bounty of insects that were also flying their way across this field. This was a wonderful sight and surely worthy the attentions of my forthcoming Nature Notes but no, the birds were simply not good enough as they had allowed this vision of their aerial mastery to be ruined by one of the creatures they were there to feast on.

The spell of wonder was ruined by a sharp intense pain on my hand. A quick inspection soon identified the culprit, as staring back at me with what has to be the most alien looking eyes in the animal kingdom was a horsefly, which was busy sawing it blade-like mouth parts into my skin.

There are a few different species of horseflies you are likely to encounter and just like the mosquito it is the female we have to worry about.

The horseflies seem to have done rather well out of this wet start to summer as the horseflies lava like damp muddy conditions to develop, and we certainly have had plenty of these.

The horsefly's mouth parts are huge and they saw their way through the skin, drinking blood from within the wound. Few people will miss being bitten by a horsefly as their bites are quite painful.

A big bite like this is often open to infection so try not to scratch afterwards. As the bites are rather painful it probably means that the horseflies expect to be discovered committing their assault and unlike the slight of frame mosquitoes, that rely on stealth for their survival, the horseflies rely on their armour to survive the swat of a horse, cow or a human hand that surely must be on its way after such an affront.

The armour is designed to absorb the shock of the slap but the dazed fly often appears to fall away dead.

However, given a few moments you will see that the armour will have done its job and the fly comes to its senses and continues on its way which after a good meal of blood will be to find some mud to lay the eggs of the next generation.

The armour is however only designed to take a slap from above, so if vengeance is your cup of tea, make sure you deliver a glancing blow.

Anyway, it was uplifting to watch the swifts and swallows feed and I,m hoping they will soon get on top of the bumper brood of biting flies and use this not-so-welcome population boom to raise a much more welcome bumper number of young themselves.

EDITOR'S CHOICE