They were blowing in the wind

By ERWIN CHLANDA

Where do all these poxy flies come from?

Many breed locally, and many are likely to have been blown in by winds from the Barkly, north of Alice Springs, and the Channel Country to the east, thriving there after the big summer rains.

Bush flies can only breed by laying their eggs in dung.

Bush flies became worse in this region when cattle and horses were introduced, says Steve Morton, author with photographer Mike Gillam of the recent book Australian Deserts.

Dr Morton says there are tens of thousands of species of flies, of which bush flies are just one.

Bush flies have a life span of about a week. They have as their main enemies only a couple of dozen species of dung beetles which bury the droppings of animals.

However dung beetles, brought in from the Mediterranean and South Africa, are fussy about climate and only about three introduced species like it here in The Centre.

I have a memory of doing a story with pastoralist Tony Chisholm on Napperby Station, north-west of Alice Springs, close to 50 years ago.
He had dung beetles and you could eat your sandwich in the open air without shoeing away a single fly.

His son Roy recalls when the CSIRO brought six punnets of cow manure, each with about 50 beetles. They were released in six different yards.

"They were good little breeders and multiplied quickly," says Mr Chisholm.

Some buried the manure, some were doing their job by eating the fly larvae.

PHOTO Thierry Fillieul, Pexels. The insect is not a bush fly.