What is it......black ball inside netting cone hanging in field?

[Cheiro1]

My horse is liveried on a road which has a lot of yards as you go down the road.

In the fields of two separate yards, hanging in the fields is what appears to be a hard black ball with a white netting cone which comes down from above the ball and then covers the top half of the ball (the bottom half is uncovered).

If my description makes any sense.....does anyone have any idea what it is? I've been fascinated riding past them for weeks and not seen anyone at either yard to ask!!

 

[Shooting Star]

Horse fly trap?

https://www.electric-fence.co.uk/ho...n-x-eco.html?gclid=CJST9cTM6tACFZEy0wodflAACA

 

[Cheiro1]

YES!!!

Thank you so much, it's been driving me nuts for such a long time, I never knew such a thing even existed! Might have to persuade yard owner to invest.....

 

[FfionWinnie]

They have them somewhere i go for clinics. They also still have significant numbers of horse flies (or clegs as we call them up here!). Have asked them if they think they work and they've been really vague!

 

[Gazen]

Does anyone know if they actually work? Do they work on all biting insects not only horse-flies? We are surrounded by streams and even now, in December, we still have loads of flies. I have a horse that is still scratching due to fly bites and I was hoping for a little bit of respite.

 

[Shay]

They certainly work on horse flies - but because of the way the fly behaves. They are attracted to warmth and small amounts of movement so the free hanging ball absorbs heat from the sun because of its colour and sways in the wind. (Obviously you have to put them in the right place - not in shelter.) The fly lands, discovers it isn't interesting after all. Then they only take off upward and so become trapped in the cone.

Other flies might not behave quite the same? Midges for example are attracted to the odour plume not the heat - although clearly you don;t have an odour plume without body heat.

 

[smellsofhorse]

Interesting.

We get a lot of crab flies.

It would be good if something like this worked with them.