The unseasonably warm end to winter has sparked millions of flying bugs to swarm across parts of New South Wales.
Southern Cross University entomologist Nigel Andrew said the weather conditions had been perfect for insects to emerge from their larval life forms earlier than usual.
"The winter has been reasonably mild and wet, so a lot of the conditions needed for insects to prepare for spring has been perfect for them," Professor Andrew said.
"With this unseasonably warm weather, the swarming insects are just loving it and coming out in full force."
Swarms of flying insects
On the NSW Mid North Coast this week, thousands of flies carpeted the walls of Rhiannon Mills' home at Toormina, south of Coffs Harbour.
"I was in the bedroom and my seven-year-old son ran in and said, 'We're being invaded by flies,'" she said.
"I was expecting a couple of flies … but it certainly wasn't that."
Ms Mills walked into the kitchen to find the space swarming with thousands of small black flies which she said coated the entire ceiling.
"We don't know how they got through the screen door … but they were everywhere where there was light."
She said family and friends had reported similar, though not as extreme, insect problems.
"Thousands" of Monolepta leaf beetle's have swarmed a home on the Mid North Coast. (Supplied: Robyn Wren)
Further south of Coffs Harbour at Talarm, Robyn Wren was also bombarded with tiny bugs, later confirmed as Monolepta leaf beetle.
"There were so many of them, they were just crawling all over my face," she said.
"I had to go sleep in another room with no lights on."
At Laurieton, near Port Macquarie, Faith Bell's ladies' tennis game on Tuesday night was interrupted.
"Hundreds of little black bugs were swarming around the light [over the courts]," she said.
"We were waving away more [bugs] than we were hitting the ball."
Professor Andrew said he had received reports of outbreaks "everywhere".
"We've noticed mosquito activity increasing in Goonellabah, the insects are very localised and different insects will be emerging in different parts of the country," he said.
Keep windows closed
Professor Andrew said the earlier-than-usual insect outbreak may have caught out insect predators.
Professor Nigel Andrew has been researching insect responses to climatic changes. (Supplied: Nigel Andrew)
"[They] have evolved to synchronise their life cycles with the typical emergence of their prey, so they may not be in the right stage of their own life cycle to hunt them."
He said some insects also used large numbers to overwhelm predators, or they simply might not have received the same cues to become as active as their prey.
Professor Andrew said it was common for the insects to be drawn to the light, but the increased use of LED lighting had made the lure more forceful.
"[Any] light confuses them; it's called a dorsal light response," he said.
"When they're flying, they're trying to keep the light on their back and because every time they move, it stays in the one place, [so] they keep swarming around it."
To battle the bugs, Professor Andrew recommended using screens or keeping doors and windows closed and lights to a minimum after dark.
For those like Ms Mills, who failed to avoid inundation, she warned the clean up could take days.
"I'm still dealing with it, when we sprayed them, thousands dropped everywhere, I've had to move all the furniture," she said.