One annoying staple of British summertime is bugs making themselves at home indoors. Flies and all sorts of winged insects take an open window as an open invitation, but experts have called for mercy.
A recent report has warned of an almost 60 percent drop in flying insects in the UK from 2004 to 2021. Despite how irritatingly they enter through the smallest of cracked windows, scientists have reiterated the purpose they serve.
Although they don't make any delicious honey to make up for their irritating buzzing, flies help pollinate plants, making them an important part of the food chain. But with experts warning not to kill them, how can you get them to go back outside - and stay out?
Fortunately, there are several harm-free ways to get rid of flies and other winged insects, YorkshireLive reports.
Use lights to your advantage
The best and most fly-safe method is to use different light levels to get them outside. Flies are a bit like moths in that they are drawn towards lights and away from darkness.
So if you find a fly, bee or wasp buzzing around your TV or lamps at night and you want it out, the quickest way to get rid without harm is to throw open your doors or windows and turn off the lights in the room (and the TV). This will make it easier to waft or chase the flies back out - they will head outside to chase the light instead.
Pack the house with herbs
Flies are naturally repelled by herbs like cloves, citrus, basil, pine and mint. You can create a repellent by smashing cloves or mint into an orange and hang it from window ledges or doors. The flies will take one whiff and head in the opposite direction to get away.
Create a natural fly spray
You can mix a few hundred ml of water with a teaspoon of pepper, such as cayenne or chilli pepper. Put the solution into a spray bottle and squirt it towards the flies. They will hate it, and zip in the opposite direction (hopefully to the open windows) but it shouldn't hurt them.
Make a humane DIY no-kill fly trap
To trap flies without killing them, empty a 2L pop bottle (or drink it, then save the bottle). Cut the top off the bottle about a third of the way down. Put something flies will be attracted to inside, like an apple core or some leftover food scraps.
Then put the top of the bottle upside inside the bottom of the bottle. Tape it in place and leave the trap out. The flies will go inside and won't be able to get back out. Then - and this the key 'harm free' bit - take the bottle outside and set them all free away from your house.
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