Deterring flies, moths and other such winged annoyances?

[delasi]

Our flat is very warm (not just lately, since about April, despite no heating ) so we keep some of the windows open pretty much all of the time. I only close them at night because I'm paranoid. As a result we keep getting various insects flying in. It's not just one or two, as I probably wouldn't even notice that. There's nothing particularly serious about it but it annoys me and I'd like to reduce the number.

So how? What deters them? We used to have citronella candles as a kid but they were for outside (we have no outdoor space) and I haven't seen any specific indoor citronella stuffs.

Or alternatively, is there some sort of thing I can hang by the window to attract them so they are less likely to fly about indoors?

mesh screens.

I read somewhere that a zip lock bag half full with water and some pennies in the bottom hung at entrances or windows works
Seriously !
Flies see stuff so magnified by the water they won't come near !

I got some stick on velcro and some cheap muslin and made my own screen for my bedroom.

Twas dead easy, just stick the rough velcro side to the window frame, cut out the muslin to fit the window, hem it if you fancy, and sew the soft velcro to the muslin.

I read that pennies in a ziplock bag thing too, 'twas on Pinterest. I even pinned it but forgot until jesstheworstmum mentioned it.
I thought it was silver coins tho as the tip was American and their "pennies" are silver.
I have just done it with two 10p pieces and so far so good, I will update later

Ooh will now look into this pennies-in-a-bag thing.

What are fly traps etc like? I saw these but perhaps I'll just be left with lots of dead flies on my window...?! It doesn't look like you can wash them off!

Would happily have mesh or a screen but it might be tricky - some of the windows here have a strange design which means that mesh can't lie flat, and the tops aren't easily reached in some rooms so I would have to get on a step ladder to put the mesh up and take down each time I open/close the window.

Pennies are copper Hun - sorry but I'm originally from the us and they use 1 cent coins

US cents look just like UK pennies (not silver)

I bought a door screen which closes with magnets from ebay, delasi - I wonder if one of those might work for your awkward windows?

\link{http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAGNETIC-INSECT-DOOR-CURTAIN-FLYING-WASP-FLY-BUG-MESH-DOOR-SCREEN-HANDS-FREE-/370835028393?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Garden_Plants_Weed_Pest_Control_CV&hash=item56577d79a9\this}

the magnets are surprisingly powerful; they close behind you with a loud click after you walk through

Ah I see, mixing up my international coinage! Well I have stuck with the 10p coins as it was such a faff filling the bag (probably just the bag I have not the actual process!) and still no sign of the dirty beggars.
Earlier this morning (before I read this thread) I was surrounded by them.

So FreshWest, what exactly did you do this morning? I'm trying to get a grip on the bag thing but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do once I fill it with water and various sparkly things. Is it supposed to hang? Or can you have it on the window sill?

Hi delasi I just put the bag on the windowsill which due to the design of our house is at a right angle to the back door. |_ with | being the door. I tried to make sure the coins were on the sill rather than floating away to the back of the bag.
You are supposed to hang them I think but I couldn't manage that. Dh reckoned he would be able to fashion something though.

It seems to work up to a point. I still had some determined little ones come in (or not so little) but there were certainly less.

Curses, that should be on the edge of the sill not on it. Almost hanging off the edge so they were more visible.

I tried the bag of water thing too and it worked! There were none and then one turned up and I thought, oh well it was worth a try but when I looked the sun had moved and the bag was in a shadow, so I moved the bag and hey presto there were no flies again!!

Will try again tomorrow to see if today was a coincidence or not!

Going to see if I can knock some sparkly water stuff together, I gather from the above posts that I should preferably have light on it so will try to work out how. It would now seem that they largely join us at night and it looks like they're actually mainly mosquitoes Maybe this sounds silly but I just don't think of the UK as having mosquitoes...

delasi not sure it will work the same for mosquitoes, however I know they don't like citronella candles.

I was thinking about citronella but wasn't sure if I could leave it burning on the windowsill unattended.

I've just re-read that and it sounds ridiculous, right?! Off to find some citronella...