What are these yellowy flies?

[kunnagh]

Hi all

It seems a bit of a shame that my first post here should be to ask for assistance, but I hope you'll all be nice...

Planted some marigolds into pots today, as another step in the anti-bug battle, but they seem to have attracted a fly all of their own. The attached pics show the beastie in question and they are concentrated around the marigolds, even, er, breeding, on the soil of the pot that they're in. As you can see from the pic, they are a dark yellow/orange colour and they behave just like houseflies, with the back leg rubbing thing going on.

Are these good? Bad? New to science?

Many thanks

Kunnagh

[Two_Sheds]

that's a dung fly ... what did you plant them in?

They chase me round the plot in their 100s when I'm sloshing the comfrey tea around

Nice big pic here: Dung Fly - Yellow - Insects Pictures

[kunnagh]

that's a dung fly ... what did you plant them in?

We got some new bags of peat-free from the big shop with a Q and a B in its name today, and it does smell kinda 'rich' - we noticed the scent while it was still in the bags! Are they anything to worry about, or should we be more worried about what's in the compost? Everything we planted today (veg as well as flowers) is at least partially in this stuff now - are we likely to get some sort of breakout of these little fellas (and presumably lasses)?

Thanks for the response, by the way.

Cheers

[Two_Sheds]

I think the compost has nothing to do with it, they've probably been attracted by something else. They eat other flies, and don't sting

[kunnagh]

Splendid news.

Thanks v much for your help.