If you’re going to visit the Australian Outback, you’d better be prepared to meet a few flies – or maybe a few thousand.
Bush flies breed prolifically in cow dung, and there’s plenty of that in many Outback areas. Flies can produce a whole new generation every seven or eight weeks, and considering that a single female fly can lay about 100 eggs, the fly population can rapidly multiply astronomically.
Fortunately, the flies are usually prevalent only in the hotter months (September/October to March/ April), and are sensible enough to go to sleep when it gets dark (unless it’s very hot). But when they’re present in their thousands, they can be very annoying, and a fly net as shown in the picture, plus a liberal application of insect repellent are important precautions.
It’s been found that you can drink a cup of tea, or even a beer, without removing your fly net. However, that doesn’t work for things like Vegemite sandwiches or meat pies, and, although a fly or three does provide some extra protein, most people prefer to get it from other sources.
Are your flies protected by any do gooder group? Or can you attempt to kill at will? 🙂
It’s 24/7 open season on flies, although they’re pretty nifty little critters, and you know that if you manage to deal with one, its place will be taken by ten reinforcements. So any effort to reduce their numbers by a physical attack is not worth the trouble. Just wear a fly net, and learn to live with them, or else visit the Outback in the middle of winter.
We have flies, but not like that… I remember Deer Flies from back in the northeast. Bite like they are drilling for oil. Scourge of trail riders…
Our bush flies are not much into biting, rather sucking up a few molecules of protein in the form of sweat or saliva, etc. So they like to get on your face or in your ears.