Lots of flies in the house suddenly in 2024? Here’s what to do (UK)

1 June 2024
by Merlin Environmental

There’s currently no hard evidence to prove whether this year (2024) has more flies nationwide than in previous years. However, it’s possible that you are experiencing a localised fly issue if you have noticed a lot more flies this year in your home of business.

Winter 2023/24 in the UK was a relatively cold one vs averages.

This matters because it affects fly populations.

Flies try to survive through winter and continue mating, but the cold kills them off and limits how much they can breed. The colder the temperatures, the lower the survival rates are.

Most flies need to continue reproducing during winter because they have short lifespans. That’s why, during winter, flies seek microhabitats to stay warm, from compost heaps to cattle sheds, where they continue to reproduce. Also, prolonged bouts of extreme cold can kill flies hiding in these winter habitats.

The summer months act as a multiplier for fly populations, allowing them to breed, and live free of cold, thus resulting in increasing numbers of flies across the UK at this time of year.

When lower numbers of flies survive the winter, the lower the fly numbers are when summer kicks off, which naturally affects how many flies there are around during the summer.

Since winter 2022/23 was a mild one, it resulted in increased fly populations throughout summer 2023.

More recently, winter 2023/24 has been a very cold one vs historic standards, which resulted in  reduced fly numbers in summer 2024.

Why does it seem like there are more flies in 2024?

There is probably a more localised reason as to why you have lots of flies in 2024. That’s what this post will discuss.

Continue reading below to learn why you have lots of flies in your home as well as what you can do to get rid of them.

Found lots of flies in the attic or garage in winter or spring?

Are the flies about 8mm long, a dark grey colour, with flecks of gold on their backs? If so, you may have Cluster Flies.

The Cluster Fly will look for warm, sheltered places like homes, garages, or sheds to stay warm for the winter, where they will group together in a large cluster and effectively hibernate until Spring. When weather conditions are a bit more hospitable, they will make their way back outside. These flies are not interested in laying eggs in human food, so although it can be somewhat frightening to discover a swarm of hundreds of flies sleeping in your garage or loft, they are relatively harmless to humans.

Cluster flies lay eggs in earthworms so that’s all they really want to do once they awaken from their slumber. When the weather warms up they’ll try to get back outside to carry on business as usual, but you may suddenly find yourself with a large swarm of these flies in the house if they are struggling to find an exit or if they’ve only just come out of hibernation.

What to do

If the flies are sleeping, vacuum them up. If they are buzzing around, leave a window or door open for maybe half a day so they can get out, leave the room, and ensure entry points to other parts of the house are closed so they don’t venture further into the house. The problem with cluster flies is that they tend to return to their favourite hibernation spots each year, so once you’ve got rid of them, it’s best to seal up any entry points into your home to prevent them from returning. Common entry points include gaps in walls around doors, pipes, cables, and roof eves.

Discovered a swarm of flies suddenly in the house one summer’s night?

Most insects thrive in the warm summer months breeding and increasing in numbers. If you’ve suddenly discovered a plague of little flies in your house on a summer night it could be because you left the window open and the light on in the room. Most flies are attracted to artificial lights at night because it confuses their natural navigation system, designed to help them navigate in relation to the sun and moon.

Flies tend to reproduce a lot in the summer and your area might just happen to have a lot of a certain species at certain times of the summer. If you’ve left the lights on in your house during the night, it will draw flies, and with the window open you could discover hundreds of them occupying a room suddenly.

What to do

If the flies are stationary, just get the hoover out and vacuum them up. If you try to squash them, they will stain the walls. To get rid of the remaining flies, simply turn off the lights, keep the windows open, and leave the room, closing the door tightly behind you. In the morning, once there is daylight, the flies will leave the room through the window to follow the light outside.

Noticed a lot more common flies around the house suddenly?

Another reason you might find lots of flies in the house is that many breeds, such as bluebottles, greenbottles, and houseflies are attracted by the smell of rotting meat. If you have an uncovered dog food dish or even a dead rat in the wall this will be a fly magnet. Flies can smell rotting meat from several miles away, and since meat is the perfect food for maggots, it’s a highly attractive place for flies to come to lay their eggs. Once the eggs hatch into maggots, the maggots will munch on the rotting organic material around them, and eventually turn into more flies. Since one female fly can lay up to 150 eggs in a batch, if a piece of rotting flesh attracts just 5 flies, it could result in 750 maggots, which could ultimately all turn into flies buzzing around your house.

What to do

You need to identify what’s attracting the flies. Once you discover this, brace yourself for the shock of finding something that smells terrible and is riddled with maggots. Using protective gear, remove the thing attracting the flies from your house. If you can’t find it, then it may offer some peace of mind to know that the maggots will eat it, and eventually there will be nothing left except maybe bones. Until the carcas has been fully consumed, you’ll have lots of flies to contend with!

There are various ways to deal with flies in the home such as zappers and sprays which can be bought online or in a local hardware store.

Another measure you can take is to try and identify where the attractant is, perhaps in a wall cavity, and then seal up all the gaps to prevent the flies from emerging.

Got a sudden swarm of tiny little flies in your kitchen in summertime?

If you have a swarm of tiny flies in your kitchen, it could be fruit flies. Fruit flies are attracted to decomposing vegetation. If you have a fruit bowl or a compost bin in your home, it will be very attractive to fruit flies. It’s best to always keep your fruit in the fridge instead of out in a fruit bowl and ensure internal compost containers are sealed shut. Remove any other decomposing plant material you might have around the house, too.

What to do

If you’ve already got a fruit fly problem, then you can create traps to catch them. There are many types of traps, but the best ones use apple cider vinegar, which fruit flies love. Simply mix cider vinegar with a good squirt of washing-up liquid. The washing-up liquid will make the cider vinegar lose much of its surface tension. Fruit flies will be attracted to the vinegar but the liquid won’t hold their weight due to the washing up liquid being mixed in, so they’ll drown.
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