Horse flies!!!!

Anyone else getting munched by these **** at the minute?

I’ve been covered in bites by them over the last fortnight and the last week has been particularly bad.

I feel them when they bite me and then even have time to swot and kill the buggers, but my got they have made a mess of my legs and arms!

Anyone else suffering?

Is there a go-to repellent that keeps them plus mosquitoes and other bugs away? I’m particularly keen to dissuade horse flies though as I swell up badly with them and they actually hurt when they bite!

I was sliced open by one just above the knee the other day… like a scalpel cut that start weeping yellow gunk the next day and itched like **** nasty critters !

Don’t look on Youtube at them feeding. Little cretins can bite through my Merino top :o(

Go faster is my £0.02

I fell off on some Lakes climb today because I could feel one of the little bastards homing in on my calf.

They seem to be more toxic this year. Couple of guys at work have been laid up by them (and these are big yorkshire fellas)

Road bike. Seriously. I barely ride mtb this time of year as steep climbs through pasture are a guaranteed way to get bitten. They even bite through clothing.

Though I did read that they get confused by stripes (theory is that zebras evolved their stripes for that reason) so you could try this:

I ended up in primary care the other week on advice of pharmacist. I swell up like buggery when bit. You could even see a red line tracking up a vein in my upper arm.

Road bike. Seriously.

I was bitten while out on the road bike 🙁

Is there a go-to repellent that keeps them ……. away?

Hate the things, they seem immune to anything I have tried. Start your search here!

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The strong flavour of DEET seems to mostly keep them away from me and the vast majority of other biters.

The swelling from multiple horsefly bites (don’t google it) can be pretty dramatic and lasts about a week before it subsides. Two days after being peak pain IME, with the bites oozing translucent yellow liquid and yes the swelling I’ve had has been enough to stop me walking.

had a week up in the lakes a few weeks back for once we had good weather its normally windy and rainy and we discovered the down side of good weather in the lakes – Horse flies , I made sure any routes we did had minimal slow sections as whenever we were moving slow the buggers were biting, also noticed the feckers like to hang around gates – so whenever we had to stop at a gate we got bitten

The odd thing was their bites didnt swell up a lot, for me where as horsefly bites on the surrey hills leave inch long red welts on me

We also had a coupe of days in the Peak District and yorkshire but didn’t get bothered by horseflys so much there – but there was a bit more wind on those days

Aldi or Lidl fly repellent in the green bottle Xpel I think its called keeps em off me. Also stay in the open away from hedges, if you can ride in a breezy place helps as well, if they bite try not to scratch its the scratching that kicks off the swelling and itching. I have 2 horses and am currently haymaking so believe you me I am an expert on Horseflies at the mo!

Cheers for the responses folks. Not just me then!

It’s been mostly when walking with the toddler on my back out in the peak that I’ve been bitten. I ride with a few groups where you wait for other slower riders too and I think it’s the standing around time when it happens.

I’ll try that Xpel, cheers.

Anyone else tried any different repellents?

Going up the col de joux plane a couple of years ago, I got about 30-40 bites by the time I crested the top, I was close to tears of frustration with the bastards just overwhelming me.

Not just me then – a week off the bike so far due to being on strong antibiotics for a bite that went rogue.

Road bike. Seriously. I barely ride mtb this time of year as steep climbs through pasture are a guaranteed way to get bitten.

They would need to be the size of **** pterodactyls to make me choose road riding over MTB in summer….

It’s all well and good you lot complaining, try having horses 😐

I really don’t fancy being bitten by a horse scaled… 🙂

Evil things – I’ve had a few this year that have been very red, inflamed and sore. One I scratched a lot and it was bloody deep – it had scabbed over but still itched like a bastard. The scab came off and the bloddy was proper dark red.

Not much seems to keep them at bay for me.

Not convinced by the ‘road ride’ suggestion, either.

Got bitten during a long, fast, road section, a few weeks ago – felt the bugger get me (on the butt-ocks) whilst travelling at over 20 mph (how fast can they fly, FFS?) and the tell-tale red lump was evident at the end of the ride.

The thing I don’t get is how they have evolved to have such painful bites!!!

I squashed three yesterday whilst out walking, felt them bite my legs and my hand on three separate occasions and then slapped it with my pathfinder walkbook in my hand. Made a right mess!

Much easier to hit than a house fly which are like ninjas

Surely evolution would have favoured the insects that can bite you without you realising?

The thing I don’t get is how they have evolved to have such painful bites

They haven’t “evolved” that, it’s a reaction to the saliva by you. Evolution doesn’t work to make a fly’s bite less painful because it doesn’t need to. The fly reproduces: ergo its as evolved as it needs to be.

Horse flys are some of the fastest insects as well, some can fly over 100kph.

They dont like shade though, so also try to stop under a tree (where the midges will get you instead)

Avon skin so soft, while usually for the midges, seems to be keeping the horse flies off me as well. And has no DEET like a proper repellant.

Mrs M got bitten on the hand a few years ago by a horse fly (in a shady area under trees).  Nearly ruined our holiday she had such a bad reaction.  Then a few days later cycling down a Cornish country lane I realised that the fly that had landed on the inside of my glasses was a horse fly (I have no idea how it managed it but it did).  Cue a very swervy panic stop to get the glasses off and shake the bastard thing off!

Like wasps with no sting but more bitterness and hate.

The reason you fel them bite is that they don’t have a needle like proboscis like mosquitos, they just slash their way in with sharp tooth like things and then gorge on the blood that oozes out.

The thing I don’t get is how they have evolved to have such painful bites

They haven’t “evolved” that, it’s a reaction to the saliva by you. Evolution doesn’t work to make a fly’s bite less painful because it doesn’t need to. The fly reproduces: ergo its as evolved as it needs to be.

I don’t mean they have evolved to have a painful bite, I mean how is it they haven’t evolved to have a painless one really. I swotted 3 yesterday, that’s three that dies as a result of me feeling them bite.

Surely nature would have favoured the painless bite as they live to reproduce?

Surely nature would have favoured the painless bite as they live to reproduce?

The seems to be able to reproduce pretty well, don’t you think? Bear in mind the natural “prey” are deer, horses, and so on. They just swat them away, it’s only humans who’ll splatter them. We probably don’t make enough of a difference overall to the numbers.

I use AntiSan on the bites. It seems to take the itch out of them and get healing quicker than without it. I think Boots do it in tiny tubes in their travel section.

Noticeably more of the evil things this year. Anyone else call then Clegs? I just get funny looks when I use that name.

as mentioned by bacondoublechee – Avon’s “skin so soft” works quite well.. not perfect though

Just been knobbled by 2 whilst out kayaking – successfully swatted and crushed one on my back which is no mean feat considering I was in my pretty tippy K1 – taking a hand-off the paddle at speed can often result in a dunking. We called them clegs when growing up in Scotland.

They get me every year… currently sporting a comedy swollen ankle,armpit !!& calf. I find alcohol,the drinking type ,is the best relief . 😉

Boggie

i think clegs is more of a Scottish name for them

They bite, because they need blood to be able to reproduce. Also it is only the female that bites. I’m a gardener, and I hate them more than wasps.

Clegs is used around here too.

As for “why have they evolved to be painful” the clue is in the name…horse skin isn’t exactly the easiest thing to slice through. I’ve also noticed a few more than usual this year, perhaps the hot dry weather suits them more (relative to eg midges or mosquitoes).

 Going up the col de joux plane a couple of years ago, I got about 30-40 bites by the time I crested the top,

Ha, that’s where I had one of my worst bites too. Etape du Tour a couple of years ago, it was baking hot. People flaked out all over the place in any available bit of shade. I stopped at the top to cool off in the mountain pool and got a bite that swelled my forearm up, I looked like Popeye. Felt it bite me and managed to kill it but the damage was done.

There do seem to be more of them around this year.

and Ticks 🙁

The Garmin Forerunner 235HR is a pretty chunky watch as I discovered when a horsefly got wedged against it on a ‘gravel’ ride yesterday.

three separate bites before I got rid of the fecker. It felt like being stabbed with a compass in geometry class. This morning the watch won’t fit on the swollen wrist.

Grrr.

yup, I feel as though I have been “Meals on Wheels” for the bitey big buggers when riding the trails at Kirroughtree of late.

I normally poodle roon Kirrie in about 1h.45m’ish.. just lately I have been doing sub 1h.20m times…. just trying to keep on the move to stop them having me as a meatfeast…. 🙂

on Saturday my riding buddy had to change an inner tube on his bike…..I told him he could catch up on me as I wasn’t stopping….. the bitey buggas even destroy friendships….LOL….