Let’s say I ate lunch at a cafe or pub, it had a nice outdoor garden setting, bit of shade but open to the breeze. Perfect place to enjoy lunch… but for the bloody flies!

Let’s move the setting instead to a rooftop garden on a tall building. How high would the building need to be to avoid the worst of the flies? 5 stories, 10, 20 … or will it make no difference and they’ll find food anywhere?

party_pants said:

Let’s say I ate lunch at a cafe or pub, it had a nice outdoor garden setting, bit of shade but open to the breeze. Perfect place to enjoy lunch… but for the bloody flies!

Let’s move the setting instead to a rooftop garden on a tall building. How high would the building need to be to avoid the worst of the flies? 5 stories, 10, 20 … or will it make no difference and they’ll find food anywhere?

Well, bees find rooftop vegetable gardens on the top of high rise buildings.

I can seen no reason why flies wouldn’t.

A fan is your friend.

Interesting question.
The redoubt varies between 300 and 400m ASL but plenty of flies in summer if there is a dead animal about.
Even in the high country there are flies about, however how high they fly above ground level is another thing.
I’d say they wont be active much above the tree line.

party_pants said:

Let’s say I ate lunch at a cafe or pub, it had a nice outdoor garden setting, bit of shade but open to the breeze. Perfect place to enjoy lunch… but for the bloody flies!

Let’s move the setting instead to a rooftop garden on a tall building. How high would the building need to be to avoid the worst of the flies? 5 stories, 10, 20 … or will it make no difference and they’ll find food anywhere?

Well do the experiment and report back.

My gut feeling is that it is going to depend on other buildings around. If you live in an area with a lot of residential high rise with balconies then flies are going to have ample elevated space for finding food scraps and places to lay, whereas if you are on the rooftop of a building that is clearly the highest building in town, then your odds are better.

Certainly flies are not going to be intrinsically troubled by altitude for the first few kiometres.

dv said:

Well do the experiment and report back.

I was kinda hoping somebody else already had.

The answers on Google seem completely contradictory.

HINT: There’s a reason they’re named that: FLIES

er… because they’re supremely and exquisitely good at it : FLYING
if you don’t get it, try catching or even swatting one with your bare hand

even birds are not called “FLIES” purse’

indeed, AFAIK there aren’t crawls, walks climbs or even swims

Ogmog said:

HINT: There’s a reason they’re named that: FLIES

er… because they’re supremely and exquisitely good at it : FLYING
if you don’t get it, try catching or even swatting one with your bare hand

even birds are not called “FLIES” purse’

indeed, AFAIK there aren’t crawls, walks climbs or even swims

Once you know they take off backward swatting them becomes much easier.

Tamb said:

Ogmog said:

HINT: There’s a reason they’re named that: FLIES

>snip<

Once you know they take off backward swatting them becomes much easier.

THANK YOU!

Flies drive me to distraction!
I’d rather have spiders crawling on me
than to be repeatedly harassed by a single fly.

party_pants said:

Let’s say I ate lunch at a cafe or pub, it had a nice outdoor garden setting, bit of shade but open to the breeze. Perfect place to enjoy lunch… but for the bloody flies!

Let’s move the setting instead to a rooftop garden on a tall building. How high would the building need to be to avoid the worst of the flies? 5 stories, 10, 20 … or will it make no difference and they’ll find food anywhere?

Different species different answers.

There have been cycling experiments that determined the speed at which these pests fly.

Perhaps you could do your own experiments on height. eg. Fly a kite with onboard camera. Or a quadcopter.

Ogmog said:

Tamb said:

Ogmog said:

HINT: There’s a reason they’re named that: FLIES

>snip<

Once you know they take off backward swatting them becomes much easier.

THANK YOU!

Flies drive me to distraction!
I’d rather have spiders crawling on me
than to be repeatedly harassed by a single fly.

How to get rid of a fly

Find an excuse to visit someone nearby. The fly follows you. You then have a brief conversation then move quickly away. The fly stays with your victim.

I’d just like to say that today I had both breakfast and lunch on a 15th storey balcony today and not one fly…