Hi All,

i´ve read a bit about the flies that seem to infest the ebro area on this site and i´d like to know just how bad they are??? Are we talking a plague of mossies infesting everything? If you have an outdoor pool, do they congregate around it and stop your enjoyment of it? Are they there all day and night, or just at certain times of the day? Someone mentioned that its worse inland. Does that mean that if you are in a village, or town like Tortosa/Roquettes you won´t be hit as hard. And is the coast or the lowlands (el perello) less affected?

Also are they biters?

Rich

They can be bad. Different areas are affected differently - for example the towns don't seem to have too many - and along the coast and on the beaches they are few and far between.  In the countryside they are more prevelant. Mainly it is house flies not mosquitoes. Generally they seem to be at their worst in april-june then september-november. In the summer it tends to be too hot and dry for the flies, again in the winter it's too cold.

They don't seem to be any worse around a pool than anywhere else. The thing that REALLY attracts them is fish on the BBQ - much worse than meat.

The flies do tend to disappear as the evening progresses, but then you get the mosquitoes - although, again, some places have more than others.

The other thing is the 'Mosca Negres' or black flies - these tend to inhabit grassy areas/scrub and bite like hell!  They tend to come out more in the late afternoon/early evening though.

Some solutions to the above are:

1. Have a 'fly free zone' where you can eat and cook outside
2. Use Autan or another insect repellant in the day for the flies and night for the mosquitoes
3. Use Natural Honey body lotion for the mosca negre - they don't seem to understand that Autan is a repellant but they hate natural honey

Hope this doesn't put you off too much - the insects are a pain but you can work out ways of dealing with them.

Nigel

I would like to know which areas are "not so bad", apart from the beach.

It is now only the end of February, and i left the back door open for 5 minutes to let the dog out, and i have spent most of the afternoon killing the "blu bottle type" flies, i must have killed 25 already and it is only 4.30pm.

If they are this bad now, God help us in the Summer!

We went to a friends BBQ on a finca last year, and you just couldn't use a knife and fork, because you needed one hand to eat and the other to wave about in front of your food, and there was no fish in sight. All the food had to be permanently covered, then you just take what you want and then cover it again.

Somebody didnt put the cover back on the meat Paella, and when we were cleaning up the whole pan could have walked away on it's own, it was alive, i felt like vomitting!

Like Nigel says, the only way to have peaceful, fly free al fresco eating, is to have a completely netted area to sit in.

I am having my whole garden and patio area covered with netting this Summer, in fact as soon as i can. It might not look too pretty, but it makes life a whole lot easier.

Whoever invents a cure for these pests will become a millionaire i'm sure.

By the way, i live in a town in the mountains, not on a finca.

Jools

I forgot to mention that a local woman said that when they eat outside, she puts a slice of ham on the floor covered in honey, the flies then go to that rather than pestering you while you eat.

I have yet to try it.

Jools

Jools, where can you get this kind of netting??
                                                           Old Nelson.

Hi Old Nelson,

You can buy it from most DIY places i think. I saw it only this evening in Vilanova Fustes in Mora d'Ebre, you buy it off the roll, i have seen it in Leroy Merlins as well. It's a greyish colour, and very fine, so that even the tiniest flies cant get through it.

Have also seen another garden in the village done with green netting, i suppose it's the same stuff that they use to put on the ground when picking the olives.

Jools

we use red top fly traps available from soldebre in tortosa

And what kind of success do you have?

they seem to work for us in the summer traps are always full
from being unable to sit outside keeps it down by about 90%
not cheap but worth it, most of our friends use them

Hello Nigel

Can you please tell me where I can buy this natural honey, and also is it called natural honey on the label?

I have spent considerable amounts of pacing up and down the Sabeco medical isle to no avail

Thanks
Mike

Hi Mike

Natural Honey Locion Hidrante White Bottle silver writing down the side says 'Natural Honey' Grey & Red print on the borrle if you are looking in sabecos go to the skincare isle and you will find it there (stand with your back to the toothpaste)  Hope you have some luck and I hope they haven't changed the colour of the bottle but make sure you get the Locion Hidrante.

Let me know if you have any luck  :)

thanks elfitis

A note about the black fly:

I feel this insect is attracted by motors working. When we arrive at home and while we are opening the garage door to park the car indoor, a lot of black flies come next to the front of our car (where is hot and noisy the cover of the motor).
Also, a man who I know, does garden jobs and he is observing the same effect when he starts his machine to destroy bushes.

I think this animal has got temperature sensors like mosquitos or others insects to find the best place to bite. Or, perhaps the reason of the attraction is the vibration. I don't know.
But, about the mosquitos, I feel that they don't bite to me when I have recently had a cool shower. The temperature on my skin is lower, then probably they prefer somebody hoter.

You know, try to keep you fresh and quiet... Then the solution would be living with a big ice on your back... and an adhesive tape on your mouth...

Excuse my english. Hugs ;)

---

Hello Jordi

your english is very good. Thanks for the tips on the flies. We all hate them and those little black flies they hurt. I put on a natural honey body lotion and it really helps.

bye for now

:)

The natural honey is great but used with a spray called Halley it's deadly.The local pharmacy stock it.It will kill a swarm of midges in second
Regarding the mosquito,the female is the one that bites and she is attracted by carbon dioxide which is given off in the breath of people....and animals.
The black fly,as in the picture,is a different little b******d


http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2167.html

wrote on Mar 15^th, 2007 at 4:29pm:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2167.html

Typical americans - resort to chemical warfare - obviously no-one told then a natural product is very effective.

Any other reasons why I shouldn't come to live in Tortosa ? I had intended moving there this year.

Snakes,frogs with disgusting nocturnal habits,toads,geckos behind the clock,bloody big beetles that look and sound like air sea rescue helicopters, ants that steal your croisants,wild boar digging up your garden,thunder and lightening storms that make the opening stages of the gulf war resemble a wet f*rt,torrential rain,undergrowth that waves it's private parts in the general direction of brushcutters etc,etc...
apart from that it couldn't be better.

You're in danger of over-selling the place.   8-)

Thank you both for the encouragement. Vipers, Wild Swine and the rest, I can handle, it's the two-legged version that concerns me. ;)