clegs

[BorderReiver]

I use tea tree shampoo and pine tar soap and I've been bitten remarkably little this year.

When out in likely spots I use my bug stuff which is a mix of citronella, tea tree and eucalyptus which seem to work well for me.

With regards having tasty blood you could always try lacing it with garlic which they don't seem to like. Apparently this works just as well from capsules as it does from your diet and might be worth a go.

It seem like anything that makes you smell like a plant instead of a meal is the best tactic.

But you might get savaged by hungry aphids.

 

[Toddy]

I cut what ought to be the last of the roses and sweetpeas this afternoon, brought them into the house and guess what? both greenfly and eariwigs
Oh well, I suppose it's food for the birds

cheers,
Toddy

 

[woodstock]

The best deterrent to date is stay well south of the border ,,,,,,living in Forth which is midge city our house backed onto woodlands and was a nightmare for clegs, midges, try avon skin so soft believe me it works better than deet ,jungle formula. etc

 

[gaspode]

sorry to hear about the bite toddy ... over here in airdrie my missus gets bitten regular ... i aint been bitten in a few years now ... i put it down to a daily garlic capsule ... the wee buggers dont like the smell... neither does missus gaspode .. but im sure thats how its working ..

hoppe the swelling goes down soon..

 

[Toddy]

The world just gets smaller, doesn't it?
I think we have so much bother with the biting thingies because, despite Lanarkshire's industrial heritage we are on really good land with lots of water and trees around us. The high grounds are cold, E.K. and Forth for instance, but get near the rivers and it really warms up. I do eat garlic, and marmite, etc., etc., but I still get bitten very badly.
Mrs Chainsaw's back is a really classic midgie fest Not funny
The swelling on my forehead has gone down enormously though the skin just looks bruised now. I think the anti histamine's got to it quickly enough this time.
Red, the soap sounds lovely.

atb,
Toddy

 

[SimonM]

I remember as a young TA recruit - my first overnight field exercise, Ohh the excitement! Anyway it was my turn to stag on and after about 20 minutes a horsefly bit me above the right eye. After a while I could feel my eye start to swell up as if Tyson had punched me. Anyway the corporal came to check up on us and I mentioned that I had been bitten. Big mistake - I was called every name under the Sun and told that when we got back to camp he would make my life a misery as I obviously wasn't cut out for this! (Remember it was dark and he could not see my eye).

Next morning my eye will not open and is weeping pus - same Cpl gives me down the banks for NOT telling him about it and was taken back to camp in a Landie.

REALLY SAD BIT - I was forced to repeat the exercise because i didn't finish it first time round - I only missed the last 3 hours of a 48 hour exercise!

Simon

 

[Dr Onion]

Loading yourself up with Vitamin B12 seems to help too - apparently!

Cheers

Dr O

 

[Sleepy Weasel]

We Welsh call them "Pry Llwyd" The grey fly, a name wich doesn't even come close to describing what they can do with a bite, perhaps we should have called them ""diawliad bach gyda adennydd llwyd sy'n brifo fel procar poeth!"(little devils with grey wings that hurt like a hot poker!)
Luckily I haven't been bitten for quite a while now, dunno why. The last time I remember someone getting a bite was my missus, on the elbow, when we were, ahem, enjoying the countryside and the fresh air.
I remember gettin slapped on my back by my father as he killed one of the buggers, but he said that you have to wait untill they start to bite you otherwise you'll miss.
Hateful things

 

[Bob the Blacksmith]

We used to get clegs and wood hornets in the coal mines. They would come down with the wooden pit props. When one came after you, you had nowhere to run!