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No problem identifying these and it's a pity they aren't edible because there are loads of them in the woods near me. My question revolves around their use as a fly killer. I've picked a few and put them in milk as per " instructions" to see if they actually work. Has anyone tried this and what was the result? The other question ( assuming it works) is can they be dried for use when there are actually a lot of flies around , does the poison remain intact in a dried mushroom?

From what I've just read, the active ingredient (as far as insecticides go at least) is ibotenic acid which does kill flies. Unfortunately, the same substance also attracts the flies in the first place, so fly agarics may not be what you're really looking for, Skippy

On the other hand, I have no personal experience as I'm probably one of the very few people who've never set eyes on a fly agaric.

Yes I'd read about the active ingredients and tried to read about the effectiveness or otherwise. Searching on the net brings up a lot of contradictory articles some say it works some say it doesn't but I thought I'd give it a try. We don't have a huge problem with flies but in the summer normally have a fly paper up in the kitchen which works but is a tad unsightly. If these mushrooms work then maybe a bowl out of sight , perhaps on top of the units , could be an alternative. However , gauging if it works is awkward at a time when there are fewer flies around.

Do you know, I'd never wondered why fly agaric were called fly agaric... Now I know. Thank you very much for enlightening me!

Only wish I could enlighten you as to whether they actually deserve the name

We had a stand of old Silver Birch at the old place,and the attendant lines of Fly Agaric,I could never bring myself to pick them.A bit tangential,as ever,but isn't it strange that a tree as crappy as a S birch(short lived,lousy firewood etc.etc)attracts such amazing flora.And Fauna,come to think about it,cos every late March/early April,a flock of long-tailed tits would turn up to feed on some bug or other...Ain't Nature Brilliant!

Well the "experiment" has been going on for about a fortnight and in all honesty I can't say there are any concrete results. We haven't found dead flies in the mush or elsewhere , but that said other than a couple of fruit flies we haven't really seen any flies either. I suppose I should dry a few caps and repeat in the height of summer. One thing we did notice , well my wife noticed it more than me , is that after two weeks it tends to stink to high heaven , presumably that's the milk going off so hardly a long term approach to insect control.