Loads of little flies...

[joebingo]

...made my commute home a little annoying today - anyone else in London notice this?

 

[dondare]

Yes, Camden and Archway. I felt them but I didn't see them.

 

[clarion]

And flying bloody ants most of the way home!

 

[ianrauk]

Yep, got a good covering in SE London this evening

 

[joebingo]

I was pretty much full by the time I got home...

 

[Buddfox]

I get this a lot in Richmond Park in the evenings. Makes me feel like I'm getting round quickly!

 

[Bromptonaut]

Didn't notice them in London but lots of corn thrips round here atm. Tiny little blighters about 1mm long. Get everwhere; a deceased example is emulating a comma in my laptop screen.

 

[ufkacbln]

I was pretty much full by the time I got home...

I know an old cyclist who swallowed a fly,
I dont' know why he swallowed a fly.....
Perhaps he'll die?

 

[slowmotion]

West London at 9pm tonight was like riding through a brown blizzard.

 

[ufkacbln]

I believe flies give 3 calories per gram.

At fruit fly level that would be 10,000 flies, but only some 1,000 if you are looking at house fly size.

Either way to gain the 70 calories of a 14g M&S flapjack portion that is a lot of flies.

 

[Tyke]

No problem until I stopped for a rest under the trees in a hi viz they thought I was lunch by the look of the hi viz within about 30 sec/

 

[gregsid]

Cycling glasses are a necessity... as is a face mask and a fine hair net.

 

[gregsid]

I believe flies give 3 calories per gram.
At fruit fly level that would be 10,000 flies, but only some 1,000 if you are looking at house fly size.
Either way to gain the 70 calories of a 14g M&S flapjack portion that is a lot of flies.

I thought after all those stats and maths that you'd conclude more than "that is a lot of flies."!

 

[oliglynn]

Try cycling through a swarm of them like I did this weekend with freshly sun-creamed arms. The effect is similar to that of fly paper!

 

[blockend]

Lots of tiny house flies up north too yesterday.

Worst fly scenario I experienced was in north Norfolk many years ago, cycle camping with a friend. Two cycle tourists passed the other way swathed like Bedouin. Up ahead the sky was dark as though a thunder storm was brewing, it was in fact a cloud of thunder bugs, or whatever you call those little black things that live on cereal crops.
Riding into it was pretty grim, there were billions of them in your nose, ears, eyes, shorts, everywhere.

Twenty minutes later we rode through it and the sun came out. Looking behind they just looked like a black cloud. I swallowed a bluebottle last summer while on the bike. That was unpleasant.