Bug ID

[andy]

Just zapped this bleedin' orrible fly that came into the conservatory....2cms long and real mean looking.

Any idea what it is. My guess would be a horse fly but not sure

[Shrubrose]

Could be a horsefly Andy. I got bitten by one last week whilst mowing the grass. Boy, did my arm swell up. I never feel them until I feel the bite and by then - too late.

[Rosefriend]

I think that you could be very right Andy - it is a horsefly I think.

I don't know whether German horesflies are any different from English horesflies but in Google it says they have a painful bite - well after being bitten nearly every day for the last 2 or 3 weeks, all I can say is that yes it bloody does hurt and there is at least one less in this world now that you have killed it.

RF

[Dutchy]

Hm not sure, the horseflies ( or that what we call horseflie ) we have are smaller.
The thing to use against them is a repellant
I know the Dutch name which is Muggenmelk and is made by Jaico.
It is sold to people who go to Scandinavia. It has diethyl-m-toluamide as active ingredient.
Though meant against gnats it works a treat against horseflies. They hate the stuff

[Rosefriend]

We call then bremsen - this is the sort that we mostly get here.



and this sort looks similar to Andy's.



Either way they are horrible and can suck up to 0.2ml blood each time they get you.

I have written down the name of the ingredient Dutchy.

RF

[nightowl]

Not sure about Andy's fly but RF's first photo is definitely what I know as a Horse Fly.

A few weeks ago I had a spate of really large flies in the garden, they looked a bit like bees, but flew like hoverflies. They had a disconcerting habit of taking up a hover position right in front of your face, as if they were studying you.

But the hover-fly action made me decide they were harmless. The real Horse Fly has a very slow , ponderous flying action, which makes them easy to kill, if you hear them, which you don't!

Still not sure what Andy's one is, but don't think it's a Horse Fly.

[andy]

I googled horsefly on google images and there seems to be a lot of variations. There were ones that were very similar to mine.

Still....i'm calling it a horsefly because it's big enough to eat a horse !!!

[Deleted]

nolawn said:

Not sure about Andy's fly but RF's first photo is definitely what I know as a Horse Fly.

A few weeks ago I had a spate of really large flies in the garden, they looked a bit like bees, but flew like hoverflies. They had a disconcerting habit of taking up a hover position right in front of your face, as if they were studying you.

But the hover-fly action made me decide they were harmless. The real Horse Fly has a very slow , ponderous flying action, which makes them easy to kill, if you hear them, which you don't!

Still not sure what Andy's one is, but don't think it's a Horse Fly.

Sounds like a Drone Fly to me.

www.nationalinsectweek.co.uk/insects/drone-fly.htm

www.plantpress.com/wildlife/o382-dronefly.php

[nightowl]

Yes, Rita, that sounds like what I had in the garden. Thanks.