AS SEEN ON CHANNEL 5's 'FILTHY BRITAIN S.O.S'
Cluster Fly
Control
LOOKING TO GET RID OF CLUSTER FLIES? - CALL US
WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE THE PEST INTERCEPTORS TO GET RID OF YOUR CLUSTER FLIES.
As always, we like to keep you, our customer, informed about the pest that you are suffering with. We genuinely care about getting the best treatment to you, for the least amount of money, but with the best results. Quite often there will be different treatment options for a particular pest. Knowledge is power when it comes to pests. So let's look at cluster flies and how we are going to get rid of them for you. There is also a YouTube video for you to watch at the bottom of this page showing you how we get rid of your cluster flies, but, for now, please read on, as knowing how cluster flies behave and how they function will help you to understand how we are going to get rid of your cluster flies.
LOOKING TO GET RID OF CLUSTER FLIES? - CALL US
WHAT ARE CLUSTER FLIES?
Cluster Flies (Polleniardis) 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 one to say the least. It's an amazing life cycle, non the less. They are a parasitic pest species of fly that live in/on earthworms. The larval stage (Maggot) of the cluster fly lives inside earthworms from spring until the end of the autumn. At the end of the autumn the adult cluster flies leave their hosts, killing the poor earthworms in the process! In natural settings, before us humans made houses and other places for cluster flies to cluster, as the cold of winter approached, the cluster flies would usually start to 'cluster' together (hence the name Cluster Flies) in hollowed out trunks of trees, under bark, abandoned mouse nests, etc.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU'VE GOT A CLUSTER FLY INFESTATION?
In late autumn or early winter you may notice hundreds, or even thousands, of cluster flies sunning themselves on the sun facing side of your house before they fly and crawl into your loft space or make their way into 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 reverse 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.
But, in the modern world, cluster flies have realised that there are much safer harbourages for them to overwinter in! These new safe cluster fly overwintering places are, annoyingly for you, in homes, caravans, etc..
You may also notice cluster flies inside your windows. This is where they have found their way inside, but can't find a way back outside, as they get confused by the sun shining in through 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 will also see them up in your loft, especially if there is a light up there, as cluster flies will be drawn to this on warmer days thinking the light from the bulb is 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?
Sadly, very little. The task of 'proofing' your house to keep cluster flies out would likely be impossible, as one tiny hole missed, would render the operation futile.
Repointing around window frames may help, but the cluster flies will 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 may have a small effect on the population, but are 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 cold and docile, but again it's not very effective.
WHAT WE DO TO GET RID OF CLUSTER FLY INFESTATIONS.
We have numerous ways to deal with cluster flies in your house or loft. The usual way that we treat your cluster fly infestation is to carry out the procedures in the YouTube video below. This is the most common way that we get rid of cluster flies, but sometimes we may think that an alternative procedure or process will suit your circumstances and provide a more efficient or effective way to get rid of your cluster flies.
We use highly residual insecticides around 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. This means it keeps killing the cluster flies for a long period of time.
We use large industrial strength insecticidal smoke generators, or sometimes, 'single release' fogging aerosols to kill cluster flies in lofts and other large volume areas infested by cluster flies.
There are loads more videos on our YouTube channel for you to enjoy and to help explain what is involved with treating cluster flies and other pests.