Swarms of tiny white flies have swarmed across the county of Essex in the past week with residents comparing them to 'something from the upside down in Stranger Things'. The tiny insects are hard to make out and are often mistaken for ash but people have been left perplexed as to what they are.
They're simply known as 'whitefly' are a relative of the aphid often seen around cars and coats. In the past few days however people have reported them in their thousands with some people accidentally swallowing them when walking out.
The sudden surge has lead to speculation on Facebook, reports Essex Live, with people asking where they have come from. It was a person on the social media platform that likened them to 'something in the upside down' referring to the show Stranger Things.
The boring reality is that there is probably more than usual due to the hot summer. Back in October 2018, after a previous hot summer, Tim Sexton, manager at Attenborough Nature Reserve explained why there was a sudden surge. He said: "They are particularly fond of cabbages and other types of brassicas and they feed on the underside of leaves.
"Usually a pest to greenhouses and house plants, they love warm sunny conditions and it seems that the extended hot weather the UK had this summer created the perfect breeding conditions for them. Although they may be annoying for some people, the glut of tiny insects creates a great source of food for our beneficial invertebrates such as ladybirds, lacewings, wasps and spiders – that do a great job of controlling pests for us.
"While there seems to have been a string of negative news stories in the media about such creatures, we are always keen to point out that without them, the world would be a very different place."
Whitefly bugs, which are around a millimetre long, are completely harmless to humans but can be a pest to gardeners.
According to the Royal Horticulture Society (RHS), whiteflies are sap-sucking bugs and adults are typically white and fly up from host plants. There are around eight species found in Britain with some restricted to a limited host range whilst others are found indoors on a wide range of indoor plants.
