Dear Auntie Mac,

What is up with the flies? I was blaming a hole in a screen or the kids leaving the door open too long, but then I find that everyone else is having the same problem. It’s all over social media. Some people are accusing manure trucks, others all the chickens in town, the dump. Is this typical of Hampton? What’s causing it and what can we do?

Not a Fly Fan

My Dear Neighbor:

Many times throughout the years Auntie Mac has heard this same lament, usually from those newly arrived, perplexed and offended that a rural farming community would yield so many, well, farms. That flies would accompany these farms was just too much to process. To those hopeful souls whose oblivious inner roadmap leads to the land where brisket grows on vines, Auntie Mac has usually reserved merely a soft, courteous sigh. But your question merits further exploration, for indeed, flies are notably more plentiful here this year—as they are everywhere, and the reason has little to do with one’s proximity to an area where brisket is still, as it were, on the hoof. There are, quite simply, many more of us on this planet, we are closer together, and we produce more waste, which attracts more flies. Also, a warmer climate attracts more insects in general, as those normally buzzing about the hotter climes feel ever so much more welcome in our region. With the sheltering in place that many of us employed during the pandemic, more household waste stayed relatively closer to home, and while we were not exactly having a jolly time of it, other creatures were taking full advantage.

Auntie Mac has discovered that there exists such instruments as “pest predictors,” and is happy to let you know that 2022 is not, as you would surmise, the Year of the Fly, but rather the year of the rat, mosquito, tick, and that perennial favorite, the bedbug (see “pandemic and its consequences,” above). Be that as it may, let us not assume, then, that the insect population in general is on the rise; in fact quite the opposite is true and this is something with which we should all view with concern. Since about 1980 we have lost roughly half the world’s insects due to pesticides, habitat loss, pollution and climate change. Without insects to eat, most reptiles and amphibians and about half of all bird species will become extinct. Insects return nutrients from dead plants and animals to the soil. They also assist in pollination and are essential to insure plentiful crop harvests (excluding, of course, vine-grown brisket).

I’m sure many of us remember when we had to clean our windshields frequently due to the amount of bugs bumping into our cars. Can any of us remember the last time this happened?

Like you, Auntie Mac finds the housefly (and his petulant cousins the deer and horsefly) to be a most unwelcome guest, but she is prepared to attempt to find a way to live in harmony with those few creatures still with us. Our lives may indeed depend on them.

Your Auntie Mac