The Fly

It may well have been all of the rainfall that we had in 2007 or just plain luck for the whole of last summer we did not have one house-fly. We have one now ... so far it has resided for three whole days and I haven't been able to chase it out. My attempts to swat it have also been in vain. It is a very agile, active specimen!

Why would I want to be rid of it? Well, firstly this little fly type that resides all over the world in any human habitat, loves to paddle in excrement (any variety will do), then it will walk across food stuffs ... whether it is fresh in someone's house or rotting in an open wastebin or tossed aside on waste-ground. Finally, it will land on human skin ... bringing a variety of germs with it. The female house-fly will lay her eggs in any rotting material, refuse, animal dung or manure. Within a fortnight (fourteen days) the new generation has formed and taken flight. Each female house-fly will continue laying several clutches of her eggs throughout the warmer parts of the year.

The common house fly - Musca domestica

Additional note: it has been found that people who eat Marmite (Vegemite) rarely if ever get bitten by mosquitoes. (May be someone will produce a tablet version or inoculation ... or even the odd pomander for those who try but just can't manage to eat it!)