Where do they come from!???

Since clearing out the garage and stripping + repainting the window and door frames, some wildlife has suddenly appeared! One end of the garage is, obviously, the garage door onto the driveway. The other end is an access door with a window beside it - north facing, so not too much sun getting in.

All around the window frame there are now hundreds of little mozzies ... or at least I think they are. They are tiny wee midges and make a high pitched buzzing sound. I killed em all stone dead with some wasp spray and cleaned up. Looked the following weekend and the place was crawling with them again, though some had conked out most likely due to residue of wasp spray!

Now I'm far from a insectologist (I'm sure there's a word for that ;) ... but don't mozzies need stagnant water to breed? This weekend was the only rain for almost two months!

Any ideas what they are, why they're there and how to get rid of them? It's horrible to open the door in there now.

a
Reply to
al
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Yes, Entomology

Reply to
parish

Well thank you for that ;o)

If there are any entomologists out there, amateur or otherwise ...!?

One other possible thing of note - I currently have 2100 litres of bark in there waiting to be put to use. Don't know if this would encourage their growth or not.

a
Reply to
al

No. Entomologist. :-)

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

What do you think? How long had that bark been sitting somewhere before you had it delivered? It strikes me that it is possible the beasties are congregating by the window because that is the main source of light and they are sourced from the bark. Think compost heap, that is what you may have in your garage, hopefully sans hedgehog or grass snake ;-)

If you want a definite id on the beasties find one, dead will do and either describe it or post a picture on a website and ask the question in uk.rec.natural-history (ignore the threads from the crazies) there are some knowledgeable people in there.

Peter

Reply to
Peter Ashby

As far as I know there is only one or two days in a year when the ants come out to fly around to get laid. That occurs sometime around early July if memory serves me right.

I'd be happy to be corrected, but I find it doubtful that these are ant species. More likely to be dragonfly or some other pest I imagine.

PoP

Reply to
PoP

Dragonflies require large ponds or clear running streams full of wildlife to breed as their young are highly carnivorous. They will eat tadpoles for eg.

Peter

Reply to
Peter Ashby

Only been sunlight recently so I'm with you there!

Suppose it could be. I've sanded down, polly-filled and primed + double-glossed over it all though, I don't see any gaps! On the outside, the window sill was completely rotten so I chiselled it out as best I could and nailed in fresh wood. It wasn't "wet" in the wood I removed at all, just totally destroyed by years of damp winters and no re-painting.

When I've killed the little beasties before and swept them away, I haven't seen where they've come back from. Just the next day that there's a whole bunch back swarming around the window.

Positive - I have a personal vendetta against all ant-kind and know very well what they look like ;o)

a
Reply to
al

Dragonfly are normally a couple of inches long aren't they!? These are about 2-3mm in length and make a high pitched fizzing noise.

a
Reply to
al

Well, it is in 100l closed bags rarther than the cubic meter bags that are filled by dumper (had a special offer on at the time and turned out cheaper than the £45 cubic meter ones!). Still ... was of the opinion that all midge type beasties needed stagnent water to breed?

Would be a good idea if I had a good enough digi camera to zoom up on them (they are tiny!). I think 1.5m is the closest I can shoot with it, it's a cheap & cheerful one that's good at big outdoor pictures!

a
Reply to
al

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