Flying things!

I gather if you cut open ale on and put cloves into it the flies don’t like the smell
Haven’t tried it but worth a gp

The insect population is very greatly reduced, bees and bumble bees especially, my fruit bushes were always buzzing with them. I provide lots of flowers via the fruit and at least I am keeping them alive.

The one or two bees have been extremely busy and there are dozens of tiny apples, hundreds of gooseberries and blackcurrants and today I saw very many swelling blueberries. My autumn raspberries are already producing flowers so that will help. Its a topsy turvy world for these small vital creatures

I don`t kill any insects, they are part of the cycle of nature. Eg my roses are full of greenfly and soon the predators will come in, ladybirds, hover flies, birds, lacewings, wasps

I don`t like flies in the house though and was thinking about getting some of those door curtains made from strips. Nothing that needs to be drilled or stuck onto the frame, am thinking suckers might work

I had special fly net roller blinds on the outside of all my last windows, I could raise and lower the net, By the time I left that house, the nets were starting to deteriorate, I would not go for anything that permanent again

I always rescue bees when I find them, but we seem to have a proliferation of small wasp-like creatures this year that I haven’t seen before. They appear to be nesting under the steps in the garden. I’m keeping an eye on them. If we get a fly in the house I will pursue it relentlessly - can’t bear them! I bought some fly traps from the garden centre but they were useless, so it’s back to leaping about with the fly swatter!

NotSpaghetti

shysal - is the mesh small enough to keep out the "no-se-um" type bugs or, (given that they are really for cats) are they larger holes than bug screens?

The web site says they are insect proof. I have used my screens for years and are not bothered by the bugs you describe. The only problem are the big flies which come in via the open French window downstairs and find their way upstairs. Vintagegirl up thread mentions something similar which sounds finer.

Reported, reported and reported.

Though who knows, some of those substances might work well as creepy crawly deterrents.

Flies drive me mad as soon as the weather warms up. I’ve tried little tricks like vinegar and peppermint oil but they only helped a bit.

What’s made the biggest difference here is putting mesh on the windows. We got ours from Screens and it means I can actually have the windows open without wasps or blue bottles making themselves at home.

Warm weather = fly invasion in my house. I tried the usual vinegar traps and peppermint oil, which helped a little, but nothing major.

What really worked was adding mesh to the windows. We ordered ours from Premier Screens, now I can keep the windows open without battling wasps or giant blue bottles every day.

Reported