Flies in compost

Greg4

I have noticed small flies in my compost bin, very tiny ones not your regular house fly or blue bottle. Is this normal?

I never put cooked food in the compost.

Dovefromabove

Perfectly normal - they'll be fruit flies and compost gnats and they're helping with breaking down the vegetable matter.  

Alan4711

the temperature was about 1 outside ,we turned on the new radiator in the nearly finished kitchen and the first thing we got was a huge meat looking fly where the heck did he come from in Jan winter, in all this weather funnies were now getting why am i surprised, flies in January would u AdamnEveit

Garden Maniac

Alan ... We have also had a meat fly in the new kitchen.  Don't have a clue where its come from and just one!!  In the Conservatory, we also have mini flies in and around the compost in pot plants and trays - these are usually taken care of by the organic traps (ie spiders) which are effective controls.  Think when the heat rises, these lazy individuals come out...  don't know the cause though... 

Dovefromabove

I don't usually mind the occasional fly - got to feed the spiders with something - but those big fat Blow Flies that appear on warm winter days  they buzz around lazily and appear so malevolent 

Heather Michaels

Having read all of your comments here I realised I was completely ignorant about the different species and varieties of flies. So I googled them. Eeewwww! lol Funny thing is they never really bothered me before, don't get me wrong I never tolerated them in a kitchen where there was food around but other than that they just weren't an issue. I might be viewing them a little differently now! Ignorance is bliss, as they say!