HELP!! FLIES IN LOFT & MARKS IN FLOORBOARDS ROT?

[igiveitup]

1)Can anyone help? If flies are in a loft especially in winter is it a sign of something dead in loft? OR are there such named blow-bluebottle flies that hibernate in lofts supposedly not serious or damaging?

Any help on getting rid would be appreciated

2)Also, marks in floorboards, how can one tell if wet, dry, or some wood burrowing beetle has left the marks.

 

[Richard C]

Most probably cluster flies;
http://www.rentokil.co.uk/pest-guides/insects-and-spiders/flies/cluster-fly/index.html
They feed on rotting vegetation rather than rotting flesh so it doesn’t mean something has died up there. If it’s bluebottle, however, then something probably has died up there. Being next door to a farm (sheep & cows), I get cluster fly infestation most years; they can be a PITA to eradicate if you don’t get rid of them all in one go as they have a homing instinct & come back to the same place with their new kids every year. Even when I do get rid of the lot, living next door to a decent habitat like I do, they usually re-discover my loft again anyway. They generally lie around on their back & if you disturb them with light in hibernation (I never even knew flies could hibernate before I discovered these little fellas), they fly around all dozy & are quiet easy to catch. I usually empty a can of fly spray into the loft over a day every spring & then hover up all the bodies!

Can’t help with the beetle juice stains.