A SWARM of flies is making life "hell" for besieged residents in a Worcestershire village.

Hundreds of homes in Wyre Piddle are believed to have been plagued since the invaders struck on Sunday.

And villagers are blaming either the nearby Hill and Moor landfill site, or the foot-and-mouth carcase burial site at Throckmorton airfield for causing it.

Pub landlord Nigel Green said the village had to endure fly invasions every year as the weather grew warmer and he was at his wits' end over the situation.

He had been forced to buy fly screens and has borrowed some "electric bats", high voltage large mosquito swatters, shaped like a tennis racket.

"I heard some customers saying they had to literally shovel loads of dead flies out of their houses," said Mr Green, landlord of The Anchor, in Main Road. "It's disgusting.

"It's getting embarrassing. We have to give customers beer mats to put over their drinks so flies don't fly into them."

He had to close the pub for two hours during a busy bank holiday weekend last year and feared the same could happen again.

"I also feel sorry for the people in the village who won't be able to sit out and eat meals in their gardens and enjoy the nice weather because they'd be swarmed by flies," he said.

"This isn't a Third World country. We shouldn't be having these problems."

Lynda Kirk, aged 52, of Ryelands, was fed-up with the "inadequate" action Wychavon District Council and the Environment Agency were taking over the matter.

"I called the council and they said they'd received over 120 calls in one day alone, which shows how frustrated the public are about the situation," she said.

"This is a living hell. There are hundreds of flies everywhere.

"I've had visitors and I'm serving them lunch at the same time I'm having to ask them to swat away the flies and wipe dead ones off the dining table. It's embarrassing.

"I'm constantly having to disinfect everything and every time I look at the window there's another swarm of flies waiting to get in."

A Wychavon District Council spokeswoman said: "Along with the Environment Agency we are assessing and investigating all complaints.

"We believe the most likely source is the landfill site. We've also involved the site operator to agree suitable fly control methods on site."

Environment Agency spokeswoman Holly Smith said inspectors were continuing to investigate various sites.

"There's no definite evidence to suggest that the flies are coming from Hill & Moor, but this site has now been sprayed with insecticide earlier than normal," she said.

"We suspect the recent warm weather has brought the flies out."