Annoying little black flies.
Discussion
The North Essex countryside used to be a nightmare for them, usually coinciding with the ripening of the oilseed Rape crop. Some of the locals called them 'thunderbugs'. I'd come back coated in them after some evening rides, and they're damned annoying, as I can feel them on my skin more than I can far larger insects. They also like to die on white uPVC windowsills and make the place look scruffy. Surrey/Hampshire border where I now live doesn't have them in the same way. In fact the only place I have ever encountered them was the arable farming areas of rural Essex.
Corn lice, or thrips. Used to live in a cottage surrounded by corn fields. There'd be millions of the buggers around this time of the year.
OK, they don't bite but are supremely annoying nonetheless. They can get everywhere, including inside LCD monitors!
They don't seem to be so prevalent near my current home, my main cycling insect worry right now is swallowing horse flies which seem to be all the rage this year...and they really are not something you want in your mouth!
OK, they don't bite but are supremely annoying nonetheless. They can get everywhere, including inside LCD monitors!
They don't seem to be so prevalent near my current home, my main cycling insect worry right now is swallowing horse flies which seem to be all the rage this year...and they really are not something you want in your mouth!
There were millions of the blighters in the air at Bug Jam last weekend (Santa Pod). My mate was saying about how his IT department has to write off loads of laptops and screens because they find their way in and get stuck in the screen. "Wow", I said.
"Wow" wasn't the word I used an hour or so later when down on the startline I looked through my camera to line up a photo of a VW doing a massive burnout only to see one merrily crawling across my viewfinder, on the inside... Grrrr.
How TF did it get in there?! It lingered for a few hours and I haven't seen it since. Which reminds me, must take the lens off and see if I can get it out...
"Wow" wasn't the word I used an hour or so later when down on the startline I looked through my camera to line up a photo of a VW doing a massive burnout only to see one merrily crawling across my viewfinder, on the inside... Grrrr.
How TF did it get in there?! It lingered for a few hours and I haven't seen it since. Which reminds me, must take the lens off and see if I can get it out...
yellowjack said:
The North Essex countryside used to be a nightmare for them, usually coinciding with the ripening of the oilseed Rape crop. Some of the locals called them 'thunderbugs'. I'd come back coated in them after some evening rides, and they're damned annoying, as I can feel them on my skin more than I can far larger insects. They also like to die on white uPVC windowsills and make the place look scruffy. Surrey/Hampshire border where I now live doesn't have them in the same way. In fact the only place I have ever encountered them was the arable farming areas of rural Essex.
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