Bites causing blisters

[Toddy]

When the Romans came here the average temperature was two degrees C warmer than it is now.
That tiny difference was enough to make lands that are now considered sub-marginal and only of use for trees, sheep and grouse, arable farmland. Our hillsides are covered in the evidences of the agriculture of our ancestors….indeed that henge monument I spoke of was the focus for an agricultural community with enough spare energy/food/people to built monumental things by human labour. Now the field it's in is only grazed for three months a year.

Thing is though, even with all that, Scotland does not appear to have had a problem with mosquitos. We're wet, windy, on Atlantic Islands here, and with very changeable seasons. We don't get the deep hard cold of the continent, we just get semi frozen mud fortunately it appears to destroy a lot of insect pests that otherwise would make life a misery.
We joke and complain about the biting blighters, but taken on a world scale, we're very fortunate really.

M

 

[santaman2000]

When the Romans came here the average temperature was two degrees C warmer than it is now.
That tiny difference was enough to make lands that are now considered sub-marginal and only of use for trees, sheep and grouse, arable farmland. Our hillsides are covered in the evidences of the agriculture of our ancestors….indeed that henge monument I spoke of was the focus for an agricultural community with enough spare energy/food/people to built monumental things by human labour. Now the field it's in is only grazed for three months a year.

Thing is though, even with all that, Scotland does not appear to have had a problem with mosquitos. We're wet, windy, on Atlantic Islands here, and with very changeable seasons. We don't get the deep hard cold of the continent, we just get semi frozen mud fortunately it appears to destroy a lot of insect pests that otherwise would make life a misery.
We joke and complain about the biting blighters, but taken on a world scale, we're very fortunate really.

M

That "windy" thing also has a lot to do with suppressing skeeters.

 

[Tengu]

I was bitten, -cant see my bites, they are around my waist at the back.

They itch a little, I find dabbing with water (or salilva) to cool down is all I need.

Now they are scabbed but not much (due to scratching?)

These bites havent bothered me but a couple of years ago I had one come up in a lump that lasted until winter...mercifully painless.

It broke up into a big hard lump of pus and a bit of blood (again without any more distress than a small wound in that area would have been.)

It was nearly a full year before it healed fully.

For all that, some insect bites I have seen on others makes me count myself lucky.

 

[awarner]

As I drink Herb Robert on a regular basis and if I see a lot of biters flying about I rub the leaves on me as yet I have only been bitten one night this year and that was at home.
Other people who help me in the woods get bitten and stung all the time, either I am now very lucky or the wonder plant is really doing it's job.

 

[dwardo]

On one of my permissions they started to use the outlaying fields for horses and cattle. Ever since then in the milder months we regularly got hammered by harvest mite bites.

You can tell the mite bites by their location. They love the ankles, waist bands etc, places mozzies just wouldn't make it through. My personal reaction is a much smaller swelling radius but still a good inch, then then turn firm as they start to heal. They itch like nobody's business but as long as you can avoid the itch they heal ok. Mozzie bites for me tend to swell much more and are in more obvious un-protected places. Also the number of bites tends to be more located to one area and multiple bites with mites.

They have a pretty fascinating life cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombiculidae although I hate them with a passion!

 

[Tony]

I'm going to resurrect this thread as I've been bitten and it's still Winter!!!

I was walking with Lithril in his local woods on Monday and got nailed on the back of my leg about 15 cm up, I'm not sure by what as i've got two holes about a cm apart, they're swollen and hard and my leg is inflamed for about 15cm all around, from my heel to where my calf starts.
It's rather like i got nailed by two horse flies at the same time but they shouldn't be about... Any thoughts?

Lithril thought it was all very funny

 

[Broch]

I'm going to resurrect this thread as I've been bitten and it's still Winter!!!

I was walking with Lithril in his local woods on Monday and got nailed on the back of my leg about 15 cm up, I'm not sure by what as i've got two holes about a cm apart, they're swollen and hard and my leg is inflamed for about 15cm all around, from my heel to where my calf starts.
It's rather like i got nailed by two horse flies at the same time but they shouldn't be about... Any thoughts?

Lithril thought it was all very funny

Welsh dragons in the larval stage are emerging about now

 

[Tony]

Ha ha, that would explain it if I were at home in Wales, but this was in Hampshire, I thought it was supposed to be pleasant there

 

[MartiniDave]

A vampire hobbit?

 

[oldtimer]

A very early or desperate female Blandford blackfly bite. I suffered this in my own garden last year. Very nasty.

The females suck blood before they go out to mate. Why do I find myself posting this on Valentine's Day?​

.
Blandford fly - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blandford_fly
The Blandford fly (Simulium posticatum) is a species of black fly, a biting insect found in Europe, Turkey and western Siberia. It spends its larval stage in the ...

 

[BJJJ]

Just browsed through this and realised what has been biting me around the waistband . I thought mosquitos but apparently the culprit is the berry bug/chiggers/harvest mite. Similar red itchy spot to mosquito but I haven't seen anything doing the biting. Thanks to Toddy, I now have a suspect I can defend against. I had never heard of these critters before and having checked they are really prolific this year.DEET loaded.

 

[Billy-o]

Deet, After Bite and Benadryl ... they become more or less condiments for the bugs at this time of year.

Every now and then one bite will rampage and I assume it was just a different type of bug. But it is true that some places just have meaner insects. I can remember a few trips where I have been bitten the regular amount by what look like the regular insects, but the bites come up in great solid red lumps.

 

[dwardo]

It's that time of the year again

Waist, ankles, backs of knees. And do they itch!

 

[woodstock]

Thanks for that all. Last year I was popping anti-histamines every day as a just in case, wish I had done it this year as well and I bought a few tubes of Eurax but didn't have any handy this year, well, to be honest I thought I'd managed to get away with it, crafty blighters!

Did no one have any Stupidy Simple Bug oil we have not been bitten once this year

 

[stevec]

I gave mine to the sister in law for her trip round some of the mba's finest. Been bitten round the waistband. Also different bites one by my knee was redder than usual and hot. Not bad for itching though. If they itch I splash on alcaldo glacial, it seems to numb the itch and has the added advantage of sterilising the site to boot.

 

[Sundowner]

I know mozzies have their place in nature, but, why can't we nuke the lil bast@@@s anyway ??? Haven't put anything preventative onto my skin over the last few days and have now the blisters to show as a result. Hope it's snowing soon

 

[leon-1]

We've had a lot of deer flies in the woods recently and I got savaged on a couple of occasions. I take anti histamines anyway, but I still had quite a large swelling with a small blister. I used an anti-septic firstly because the skin was broken and I used anthisan (antihistamine cream) around the bite area. I don't normally suffer either.

Why can't the females be like the males and just feed on pollen and things.

 

[woodstock]

I gave mine to the sister in law for her trip round some of the mba's finest. Been bitten round the waistband. Also different bites one by my knee was redder than usual and hot. Not bad for itching though. If they itch I splash on alcaldo glacial, it seems to numb the itch and has the added advantage of sterilising the site to boot.

The one's around the waistband is most probably chiggers,

 

[Janne]

At least you guys are safe from Chickenganja and Dengue....

I have always wondered if the biting insects have tastebuds and can taste the difference between ( for example) a human and a sheep?

 

[Tony]

First night at the Moot I got nailed bad around the ankles and my back, I'd been expecting horseflies but this year there was mosquitoes and other things. I only got a few more after that, whenever I went into the deeper woods I put on the DEET, I took antihistamines and had cream and used icecubes, managed to keep on top of it and left the moot in good condition.

Loads more horseflies generally this year because of the hot temperatures, some of them huge as well.