People living in Blue Anchor have been battling a week-long invasion of their homes by millions of bugs - thought to have come from nearby oilseed rape fields after the crop was harvested.

One home-owner said: “It’s like something out of a science-fiction movie. They arrive in waves as the sun comes up, become very active around mid-morning, are determined to get into the house and then disappear in the evening to get ready for another attack.

“Until the hosepipe ban, we spent days using hoovers and hosepipes trying to keep the insects out and had to keep all our doors and windows shut during the heatwave.

The tiny brown insects have been identified as immature seed bugs of the Nysius species - known as False Chinch Bugs - often found in oilseed rape crops. They have a life-span of two or three weeks..

It is believed that the early harvesting of crops in fields bordering Blue Anchor and the intense hot weather has forced the bugs to seek food and moisture elsewhere and invade the village.

They are known to be harmless to humans, live on plants and seeds and present a nuisance rather than a health hazard.

Residents Tim and Margaret Taylor said they woke last Thursday to find the front of their house “almost solid black” with hundreds of thousands of bugs.

“Many houses in Blue Anchor have been infested and the bugs seem to prefer white and pale frontages and largely ignore dark coloured properties,” Mr Taylor said. “We had to hose down the entire front of our house.”

Helene and Andy Potter, who live next to an oilseed rape field, were shocked to find the back of their house alive with hundreds of thousands of bugs climbing up door frames, windows and walls.

Mrs Potter said: “I had never seen anything like it. I looked online trying to figure out what to do. The general advice was the douse them with soapy water, which was what we did.

“It was initially effective but thousands were more waiting to take their place!

“We started hoovering them up on Saturday afternoon but by then they had got into the house and were swarming into the rooms, making the carpets look as though they were moving.

“For two days we did very little else but hoovering and sweeping and trying to stem the tide of literally millions of bugs which seemed intent on getting into the house.

“Things have tailed off a bit now, perhaps due to the cooler weather, but when it was at its worst we were constantly outside hoovering, trying to keep them at bay,” Mrs Potter added. “The number of them was quite incredible.

Another resident reported that the bugs had been so thick on her home, the walls were no longer green. The insects also managed to get into the house and swarm up the curtains.

The Potters have now surrounded their house with a ring of Diatomaceous earth (chalk-like powder), which deters insects, and say it seems to be effective.