Cheshire: Residents plagued by huge number of flies

The winged insects are being reported 'everywhere' in Culcheth by residents, and people in the area have even created surveys to be passed on to the Environment Agency.

A large number of residents have taken to social media to voice their irritation with the number of flies that are in and around Culcheth at the moment.

One resident showed the number of flies that were inside a house in Croft (Image: Newsquest)

One resident said: "I've never seen flies in the house this time of year [before]... They're everywhere!"

This is not the first time flies have been an issue in the area, though in the past it had tended to be the more rural parts of Culcheth - this time it looks as though flies are being reported from all over the community.

One resident took to a local Facebook group, explaining that he had been in touch with a pest control expert, saying: "[The expert] took a sample and has never seen this particular species in 20 years.

"Apparently, even if you kill all of them, they lay eggs for the next day."

Problems with the insects have been mentioned throughout summer by residents, but this year the issues have persisted into autumn.

282 households said they had been 'severely impacted' by the flies (Image: Newsquest)

One Croft resident has lived in the area for more than 50 years and has never witnessed issues with flies as bad as they are now.

The resident's daughter added: "This year the flies are like nothing we’ve witnessed before.

"I absolutely know that this is not just a 'price you pay for living in the country' issue for two reasons.

"One, it’s never been this bad before; and two, I live rurally myself and - when returning from my mum’s - I counted a grand total of two in my own house."

One resident said that almost 40 flies were caught on fly paper in just one day (Image: Hilary Heywood)

As mentioned above, residents have created their own survey to pass over to the Environment Agency about the issue.

Almost 730 households in Culcheth responded to the survey.

One respondent said: "The flies are horrendous we are unable to eat our tea without flies trying to land on the food.

"We are unable to watch television at night without wafting flies away. Even at night, we have to sometime sleep with the covers over our heads as flies wake us up by landing on our faces.

"I have to do a fly check before my children go to bed to make sure there’s none in their bedrooms."

A number of residents mentioned the waste disposal at Diggle Green Farm, on Wilton Lane.

A spokesperson for Diggle Green Farm said: "Diggle Green Farm are aware of the allegation.

"As a responsible operator, we take our environmental obligations seriously and we continue to work closely with both the Environment Agency and Local Environmental Health."

Almost 600 households said they're impacted every day (Image: Newsquest)

A spokesperson from the Environment Agency said: "We have received reports of flies in Culcheth.

"Environment Agency officers have been in the area, and we are working in partnership with Warrington Borough Council to investigate the source of this issue.

"As our investigations are currently ongoing, we would be unable to comment further at this time.

"We would urge anyone who experiences any further nuisance to report it to us via our incident hotline on 0800 8070 60."