Tis the season of flies, to be eaten alive

Postcript. Covering up seems to be the best method of protection for us. Horse flies have an unusual slow flight pattern. Their body shape is longer than standard flies, they are easy to spot once you realise this. They first land on you very softly and just wait to move to an area of flesh. They will target the underside of a bare arm or hand. They seem to sense when you are distracted by something else. A customer of ours had her leg balloon in size after two bites on her leg. Our dog also gets bites. We walk the same walk a lot we know where they wait. I try to kill as many as possible as they do not give up they just keep coming back to bite you. I am of the opinion they target females in menustration above other targets available.

Extra Link Clegg

The fields are currently full of flies. Most flies just irritate but not the horse fly ( Tabanidae). The male of the species does not bite. The female however has all the necessary equipment to rip open your flesh. They seem to take great delight in biting Lisa. Eight bites tonight. The bites can swell the size of golf balls. I have a few as well. Future dog walking by the sea till September?

Diet
Adult horse flies feed on nectar and sometimes pollen. Females usually also feed on blood which aids in egg development. Males lack the necessary mouth parts (mandibles) for blood feeding. Most female horse flies feed on mammal blood, but some species are known to feed on birds, amphibians or reptiles. Immature or larval horse flies are fossorial predators of other invertebrates in moist environments.

Sight
The females' primary sense for locating prey is sight, and they have large compound eyes that serve this purpose well. The flies usually lay waiting in shady areas for prey to happen by. They are attracted to large, dark objects, and to certain animal odors and carbon dioxide. They are also attracted by motion, their eyes being well adapted to its detection. The eyes of horse flies are generally brightly colored, and this coloration is one of the means entomologists use to identify them to species, though the colors rarely persist after death. Sex in most species can be distinguished based on shape of the eyes relative to the frons. Male horse flies are usually holoptic, meaning that their eyes meet and take up the majority of the head. In females, the eyes are separated by a space called the frons.

Bite
The bite from a larger specimen can be singularly painful, especially considering the light, agile, and airborne nature of the fly. Unlike insects which surreptitiously puncture the skin with needle-like organs, horse flies have mandibles like tiny serrated scimitars, which they use to rip and/or slice flesh apart. This causes the blood to seep out as the horsefly licks it up. They may even carve a chunk completely out of the victim, to be digested at its leisure.

The horsefly's modus operandi is less secretive than that of its mosquito counterparts, although it still aims to escape before pain signals reach their mark's sphere of awareness. Moreover, the pain of a horsefly bite may mean that the victim is more concerned with assessing and repairing the wound, than finding and swatting the interloper.

Habitat
Horse flies are most active in hot weather, mostly in summer and autumn during the daylight hours. Most species also prefer a wet environment, which makes it easier for them to breed. The female lays eggs on vegetation overhanging moist soil. The larvae hatch and drop onto the soil, where they feed on smaller organisms until pupation.

Predators
Aside from generalized predators such as birds, there are also specialist predators such as the Horse Guard, a type of Sand wasp that preferentially attacks horse flies.

Reproduction
Eggs are generally laid on stones close to water or on plant stems or leaves. On hatching, the larvae fall into water or moist earth, feeding voraciously on invertebrates, such as snails and earthworms, and small vertebrates.

Diseases
Some horsefly species are known to transmit disease and/or parasites. Species in the genus Chrysops are biological vectors of Loa loa, transmitting this filarial worm between humans. They have also been known to transmit Anthrax among cattle and sheep.

A common problem in some animals, though, when large flies are abundant, is blood loss. Some animals have been known to lose up to 300 ml of blood in a single day, which can severely weaken or even kill them. "